Spend a musical day in Polebridge

The Polebridge Aurorafest celebrates its five-year anniversary on Saturday.

This year's festival highlights some of the favorites from the past five years. The day starts at 1 p.m. with world grooves from the Brothers of the Baladi, from Portland, Ore.

Cincinnati funk sensation, Freekbass returns to the stage as well. New to the festival this year, is singer/songwriter Danny Freund and band.

The night ends with the reggae group, Clinton Fearon and the Boogie Brown Band.

Tickets for the event are $23 in advance or $25 at the door. Purchase tickets at Montana Coffee Traders in Columbia Falls; Rocky Mountain Outfitters in Kalispell; Runner Up Sports in Whitefish; Heaven's Peak in Eureka; Glacier Raft Company in West Glacier; and in Polebridge at the Mercantile or the Northern Lights Saloon.

Camping, food and drinks and local arts and crafts will be sold.

No pets, glass or alcohol; bring a chair, rain or shine. Car pooling is encouraged.

Call 888-5105 for more information.

Brothers of the Baladi is a Middle-Eastern and world music band based in Portland, Ore. that has been performing for 30 years.

First known internationally for their traditional Middle-Eastern recordings, the brothers now mix traditional ethnic acoustic instruments with Western instrumentation, vocals in seven languages and exotic rhythms with familiar grooves.

The Brothers of the Baladi have headlined at hundreds of festivals, concerts and colleges throughout the years. They have shared the stage with artists such as Leon Redbone, The Mamas & The Papas, Zachary Richard, Maria Muldaur, 3 Mustaphas 3, and Paul Horn. Credits also include work for the Tony Award-Winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival's "Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Comedy of Errors."

Freekbass is a funk band, led by bass player of the same name, from Cincinnati.

The current Freekbass lineup includes Freekbass on bass and lead vocal, guitarist/vocalist Josh Knarr and drummer Ry Stephenson.

Freekbass has opened for acts such as George Clinton & the P-Funk Allstars, Nikka Costa, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Cowboy Mouth, VHS or Beta, and Liquid Soul. The "Cammy Awards," Cincinnati's version of the Grammy's, has awarded the band "Best Urban/Hip Hop Band" for three years in a row, and Freekbass was also awarded the Cincinnati Entertainment Award in 2002 and 2003.

Freekbass was featured in Bass Player Magazine in March 2004 in an article entitled, "Keeper of the Funk Flame." Tracks from "The Air Is Fresher Underground" are currently featured on episodes of MTV's "Pimp My Ride" and VH1's "Bands Reunited."

Freekbass has also collaborated with funk legend Bootsy Collins for several projects, the most recent being "The Air Is Fresher Underground," released in October of 2003.

Clinton Fearon is counted among Jamaica's most talented musicians by peers and professionals in the reggae music industry. His infectious bass riffs, guitar licks, percussion accents and powerful vocals make him a living legend among reggae musicians and fans.

As a youth, Fearon went to Kingston to eventually become a well-known bassist, vocalist and lyricist for The Gladiators as well as a house musician for Coxsonne Dodd's Studio One and Lee "Scratch" Perry's Black Ark Studio.

Fearon recorded many of Perry's best known songs, including Roast Fish and Cornbread which features one of Fearon's most famous bass lines. He also composed some basslines for Yabby You, Jimmy Riley, Max Romeo, Junior Byles and many others.

Upon coming to the United States, he was co-founder of the popular reggae group, the Defenders. Since then he has formed Boogie Brown Band, based out of Seattle.

Coming from a rich musical history, Fearon's roots reggae group, Boogie Brown Band, has been performing together since 1993. Original lyrics and rock steady, hard-driving, stainless rhythms comprise the foundation of their music which appeals to people of all ages and from all walks of life.

With Fearon on lead vocals, guitar and percussion, the band also features Barbara Kennedy on harmony vocals and keyboards, Jeff DeMelle on bass, David "Davee C" Carpenter - drums, Izaak Mills on tenor sax and Johnathan Cuenca on trombone.