Taj Mahal “The Natch’l Blues” 1968. Today, May 17th, is Taj Mahal’s birthday (b. Henry Saint Clair Fredericks, 1942). I met Taj Mahal once, back in June 1976; I was just shy of my 5th birthday but it was a truly memorable experience. My parents are of the Vietnam War-era generation – my dad went into the Army reserves and was not deployed but some of their friends did see active combat while others left for Canada. One of their friends lived in Canada for several years (I don’t know how many but by the late 70′s he was back in the States, living not far from Three Mile Island when the nuclear meltdown happened in ‘79) and we traveled fairly frequently to Toronto to visit. In 1976 we all went to the Mariposa Folk Festival, an annual music fest that took place at a variety of locations in and around Toronto over the years (it’s still going on, this year in Orilla, Canada). In ‘76 it was held on the Toronto Islands and access to the Fest was by ferry (no automobiles except for some service vehicles are permitted on the islands). Though 1976 was the dawning of the punk and disco era, grassroots, blues and folk music associated with 60′s hippie culture was still pretty strong and fests like Mariposa flourished; here’s a group shot of my parents and their friends outside of their Toronto apartment the weekend of the festival (I’m the little girl in the pink dress).

Check out this homespun pamphlet chock full of events from that summer: headline performers of course but also music workshops, “song swaps,” kids’ events, arts and crafts, indigenous peoples presentations, comedy, storytelling, and on and on. I remember a lot of sitting around on blankets, picnics and music. Here’s a few photos of me, the crowds and a music stage.

Me eating raisins: You Can’t Push Me Down (you probably could, I was really little)

Me napping

My mom looking at the program, me napping (again).

My parents’ friends from Toronto.

Picnicking (my Dad has the white t-shirt on)

This photo is labeled “Harmony 101″ – I’m not sure if that is the name of the group or if it’s some kind of Master Class.

Anyway, Taj Mahal performed that weekend, as a solo act but also as part of some of the interactive music forums that were sprinkled throughout the Mariposa programming. Here is the one photo I could find in our collection – he clearly was super-popular (people are standing up!) so it was hard for my parents to get a good photo shot.

The curfew for Mariposa on the Islands was 8:30 pm and the venue needed to be cleared out by then. Everyone would troop to the ferries, crowd on and go back to the mainland – the Toronto city center isn’t far from the Islands. The last evening – Sunday June 26th – Taj Mahal performed on a couple of stages, including as part of the last performance of the event: Making Music Together along with several other artists including Ken Bloom, Penny Lang, John Arpin, Bill Usher and Gilles Losier. I’m pretty sure at some point during the concert it started to rain. Hard. Torrential downpour. I don’t know where they came from but someone had massive clear tarps for people to hold over their heads, under which about 10-12 people could walk. I found myself walking under a tarp (not holding it of course, I was like two feet tall!) next to Taj Mahal through puddles and mud. We boarded the ferry and I remember standing next to him, dripping wet, during the ride back to the mainland. I have no idea what we talked about but I do know that he was genial – laughing and looking down at tiny me.

I’ve only seen Taj Mahal perform one other time, in either ‘91 or ‘92. During college I occasionally volunteered at the Barrymore Theater in Madison, WI so I could see free concerts (some friend hooked me up with that sweet deal). I think at that show my job was to check people’s wristbands or hand stamps for re-entry at the door, causing me to miss a large portion of his performance but I did get to see a few songs, standing by the door at the back of the venue.

The Natch’l Blues was Taj Mahal’s second album. It’s really good, classic Delta-style American blues but brought into modernity (in this case, 1960′s modernity) with electric guitar. It’s the sound that bands like The Rolling Stones and other rock groups in the late 60′s were keen to emulate and capitalize on. Some tracks to check out: “Corinna,” “Going Up to the Country, Paint My Mailbox Blue,” “Done Changed My Way of Living” and “The Cuckoo.”