Housefilk Report
The GTA has a healthy filking community, unlike the previous city I lived in. Filk, for the uninitiated, is the musical culture of the sci-fi/fantasy community. It's a dying culture, sadly, due to changes in fandom culture and generational shifts. The folk singing circle culture it grew up it is firmly a thing for the Boomer generation and earlier.
A housefilk is gathering at someone's house to have a potluck and to share songs we've written or learned in a low-pressure setting. Musical talent does not matter; it's the act of sharing individual culture that matters, at least to me. Each person has their own set of songs they've written or liked that resonate with them, and they can reflect a bit of who they are.
At this housefilk, around 12 people showed up in total and I got to perform maybe six or seven songs, some even on my baritone ukulele. The in-person contacts I have are quite rare these days and it's nice to hear everyone's musical output. We even had new people who were young, so I got to break out a song I know that uses a recent popular tune.
Sadly, given the enduring pandemic, I sing wearing an n95 mask. This is damn hard to do, especially when CO2 levels are rising in a small room and you've been breathing into the mask for a few hours so it's damp from your breath. I still haven't narrowed down whether it's the mask, the lack of air circulation, or both that makes it tough to sing after a little while. We forgot to bring the CO2 monitor to check.
Also, we didn't get smacked by the cold yesterday. But today is supposed to bring a lot of snow. My partner wants to practice songs today, so we'll have something to do inside.