Apartment613

Courtesy of Jake Morrison

Written by Dan Arnott, a Spirit of Rasputin’s volunteer and participant.

While the global, all-inclusive nature of the genre makes it hard to call any place a “folk music institution”, Rasputin’s on Bronson just might have qualified.  For 27 years, owner Dean Verger coaxed such names as Fred Eaglesmith, Lynn Miles, Stephen Fearing and Colin Linden through his doors, as well as countless performers from around the neighborhood who paid their dues at open stages or just played for the joy of it.

In July 2008, a fire prompted the closure of Rasputin’s.  Dean retired from the business shortly thereafter, and Ottawa lost not only another great live music venue, but a community meeting place and rallying point.  However, a group of musicians and volunteers are proving that the spirit of the place is as hard to kill as the eponymous Mad Monk himself.

Since November of 2009, a group known as the Spirit of Rasputin’s has been hosting Monday night open stages and Tuesday jam nights at the well-known Elmdale House Tavern.  Attendance has grown steadily, and so has the variety of musical instruments: guitars, banjos, mandolins, accordions, pianos, ukuleles, and even a seven-foot-long DIY didgeridoo made of black ABS pipe have all made appearances.

Starting on February 7, the Spirit launches its bimonthly Sunday night concert series by presenting Ottawa’s own Juno-winning Lynn Mile, a veteran of the old Rasputin’s Folk Café on Bronson Street. Other events will include  the Weekend Wrap-up - a community-building event featuring an artist followed by an open stage in support of CKCU Radio - and Rasputin’s Beard, a showcase to discover up-and-coming bands that are “right under your nose .”

What’s been working so well?  At Rasputin’s Folk Café, and now at the Elmdale House, performers felt they were being listened to.  Rasputin’s was renowned as one of the few places in town where a performer could walk in off the street and play to a quiet, attentive audience.  And to any singer-songwriter who’s tried to perform their magnum opus of love and loss while the Sens/Leafs game is on the TV over the bar, that means a lot.

It’s this unique listening environment that the Spirit of Rasputin’s is trying to preserve.  “Much was lost when Rasputin’s closed - more than many of us realized” says George Laing, the general manager of Spirit of Rasputin’s.  “It may have been taken for granted.  But there is no doubt Rasputin’s made a huge difference to the folk music scene in Ottawa.”

George, with the help of some other refugees of the original Rasputin’s, some new recruits, and Nat and Bruce Myles of the Elmdale House Tavern, is well on his way to rebuilding the music community that was scattered after the fire. Even more encouraging than the multitude of events is the multitude of people – young and old, volunteers and performers, even a few photographers from the local print media – who have turned out so far, showing once again the popularity of folk music in Ottawa. It is, after all, the music of the people.