The Halifax Urban Folk Festival

The Halifax Urban Folk Festival (HUFF) is an annual event that celebrates the diverse musical talent within the Halifax community. Since its establishment in 2010, HUFF has attracted visitors from around the globe to experience the city's vibrant artistic offerings. The festival is held across multiple venues on both sides of the Halifax Harbor, featuring artists from Canada, the United States, Europe, and Australia. The event has experienced remarkable growth, evolving from a single-club showcase to a prominent musical festival. This year, in collaboration with Marine Drive Talent Management, HUFF introduced the Youth Song Circle, hosted by Jody Upshaw, at The Carleton. Among the performers were two talented students from Citadel High School, including grade 10 Ella Gunning Parker, an exceptional singer-songwriter, and her cousin Nadia Delong, a highly talented guitarist and singer. Given their youth, being in grades 10 and 11 respectively, they are remarkably talented artists and engaging performers. 

These girls are a talented cousin duo; with Ella writing and performing her chord progressions and lyrics, and Nadia writing and performing the bassline, they are such impressive young musicians! They grew up in a very musical family, both of them say that they were “raised on music”. Ella remembers that at the age of 3, she started making up her own songs and singing them around the house, and later on teaching herself the guitar. Ella has always found it challenging to categorize her music within a specific genre, as she believes that each of her songs is distinct, influenced by the diverse range of music she enjoys. She views her songwriting process a lot like journaling; she observes the current events of her life, collects her thoughts on them, and turns them into a song that she loves. The lyrics and melody tend to come along on their own with time. Ella has been involved with the Youth Song Circle for a while now, having sung in a few past Marine Drive Talent Management songwriters' circles. Nadia started off with the piano, picked up bass 6 years ago, and since then has also picked up the guitar. This was her first Youth Song Circle, and she enjoyed performing in the venue. The Carleton is an intimate venue, with the performers and the audience being quite close to each other. Nadia feels that “this kind of venue made it easier to connect with the crowd, and made HUFF a very special experience”. 

Ella has released four songs to date and is planning to release many more in the future. In 2023, she debuted her first single, "Grey," followed by "Nowhere but Everywhere," a collaboration with Jacey Carmichael. The first song she released, “Grey”, was a huge success! It made it to the semi-finals International Songwriting Competition, one judge being Mariah Carey! More success followed in 2024 when she released two additional tracks, "Facade" and "Motionless." Facade has been ranked number one on the East Coast Top 30, making it into the CIOE Hall Of Fame. After the release of “Facade” Brandy Melville Studios reached out to Ella and asked her to come to their studio in New York. At the studio, she worked closely with their producers to record her songs and she modeled their clothing while doing so. Ella says this was “an amazing experience” and that “it was so fun and felt like such a big deal to be able to play in New York.”. 

As the Halifax Urban Folk Festival continues to grow, it not only showcases established artists but also the next generation of musical talent! Nadia Delong and Ella Gunning Parker are two young musicians who exemplify the enthusiasm and creativity that HUFF encourages. Their development from early musical endeavors to appearing on a renowned stage is evidence of Halifax's thriving artistic scene. Consider supporting events like HUFF to help promote talent and create platforms for emerging artists, like Ella and Nadia.