Many thanks to the organizers and staff of the19th annual Festival International! As an avid music fan, I am incredibly proud to live in a city with such an outstanding festival. As proud as I am of the festival, I'm even more proud of the Festival organizers. I never cease to be amazed with the high quality and the variety of the acts that perform every year.
I would like to give a special thanks to the organizers for introducing me to my new favorite band, The Mammals.
The intensely euphoric feeling I got from the traditional sounds of The Mammals put a smile on my face that won't leave anytime soon. Their stage show did everything a good one should ' it made me raise my fist, dance, sing along and think a little too. Thanks for treating festivalgoers with respect in allowing a dissenting voice among the line-up. Some other organizations would have felt the need to censor or steer entirely clear of a group with direct lineage to [Pete Seeger], one of America's premier protest singers. It would have been easy to settle on another (surely less talented) band with no political or social stance.
Thanks for letting us experience The Mammals for what they are ' a kick ass authentically modern traditional band with songs that matter.