Estelle Klein (February 3, 1930 – June 17, 2004) was an advocate and supporter of folk music in Canada and held numerous influential positions with cultural and heritage organizations during her lengthy career.

Life

Klein was born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, and moved to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada, with her parents in 1933. She attended Camp Naivelt, a Jewish camp known for advocating socialist ideals, in

Brampton, Ontario Brampton is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario, and the regional seat of the Regional Municipality of Peel. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#L ...

. The camp was known for supporting folk music culture and Klein would have gained exposure to musical styles and people who later figured in the folk revival in Canada. There Klein also met the man who would later become her husband. She married Jack in 1950. During the early 1950s, Klein worked at

Settlement House The settlement movement was a reformist social movement that began in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s in the United Kingdom and the United States. Its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity an ...

in Toronto. She organized music for children as well as advocated for better employment conditions for local musicians. This early involvement with the labour movement provided an important influence for her later work in advocating for the folk music community in Canada. Klein became the artistic director for the

Mariposa Folk Festival Mariposa Folk Festival is a Canadian music festival founded in 1961 in Orillia, Ontario. It was held in Orillia for three years before being banned because of disturbances by festival-goers. After being held in various places in Ontario for a fe ...

from 1964, and remained in the position until 1980. She instituted a number of changes and she did not share the "purist" vision of folk music, as espoused by the previous artistic director of the Festival. She is also noted for shaping the Festival format, one that included more interaction with folk musicians through the development of workshops, as well as including aboriginal artists in the festival. This was a format that was replicated at many other folk festivals in Canada. The workshops were intended to bring together artists who might not normally perform together and often put them close to their audiences. This is a format that has been retained today. Her wider view of what constituted folk music influenced the artistic programming and saw the festival include American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

artists such as the

Reverend Gary Davis Gary D. Davis (April 30, 1896 – May 5, 1972), known as Reverend Gary Davis and Blind Gary Davis, was a blues and gospel singer who was also proficient on the banjo, guitar and harmonica. Born in Laurens, South Carolina and blind since infanc ...

Inuit throat singing Inuit throat singing, or ''katajjaq'' (), is a distinct type of throat singing uniquely found among the Inuit. It is a form of musical performance, traditionally consisting of two women who sing duets in a close face-to-face formation with no i ...

as well as

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

dancers. Klein formally incorporated indigenous content into the Festival in 1966 with an appearance by the Canadian Indian Dancers. In recognition of her contributions to folk music in Canada, the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals established the Estelle Klein Award as their highest award, intended to honour those who have provided major contributions to folk music in Canada.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Estelle 1930 births 2004 deaths Artistic directors (music) People from Buffalo, New York