Getting Medieval

Music, festivities take Q-C back to Renaissance

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By Katie Vaughn | Saturday, October 7, 2006 1:39 AM CDT | () comments

Since moving to the Quad-Cities five years ago, William Trotter has plugged himself into the local music scene, regularly playing his mix of Celtic-influenced folk music at coffee shops and art exhibition openings.

But a few times a year, Trotter’s music helps take listeners back centuries in time. He performs at a handful of Renaissance festivals in the Midwest, including the Four Kingdoms Renaissance Festival in Rock Island this weekend at a troubadour.

Trotter, who also performs at the Iowa Renaissance Festival and the Des Moines Renaissance Faire, had his first introduction to such events when he and his wife attended a festival in Larkspur, Colo., in 1992. He was so taken with what he saw that he was inspired to participate.

“I thought it would be fun to play,” he said. “I’d get to be part of it.”

Originally from the American northwest, Trotter and his wife Pam, a biochemistry professor at Augustana College, lived in Boston, Denver and Austin, Texas, before moving to the Quad-Cities.

Having recently completed his master’s degree in mathematics, Trotter tutors at Western Illinois University-Quad-Cities, and is an adjunct faculty member at Muscatine Community College.

But Trotter enjoys the creative opportunities the area affords for his off hours. He said musicians can play for the pure joy of it in the Quad-Cities, whereas in other cities he has lived, he would have had to compete with musicians who were trying to make it big as professional recording artists.

“Here, you can play because it’s fun,” he said.

To segue into playing at Renaissance festivals, Trotter trimmed down his musical repertoire, omitting songs with references to modern places and events. Fortunately, he said, the majority of his music made the cut.

“I use mostly Celtic stuff and modern and original music that fits well,” he said. “It’s pretty much anything that doesn’t mention something modern.”

During performances, his wife helps out with some songs, playing the penny whistle or tambourine or providing back-up vocals, Trotter said.

Trotter said playing at Renaissance festivals often requires relaxing his sense of history. For instance, if he were going to be completely true to the period, he would play a cittern instead of a guitar, he said.

“As far as historical accuracy, there will be some ups and downs inherently,” he said.

According to John Downing, a producer of the Four Kingdoms Renaissance Festival and owner of Camelot KOA Kampground in Rock Island where the event will take place, the festival will incorporate elements of both Medieval and Renaissance eras, which range from roughly 450-1450 and 1450-1600, respectively.

The festival – named for the “four kingdoms” of Rock Island, Moline, Bettendorf and Davenport – is held this weekend and is packed with music stages, food vendors, entertainment and actors, and much more, said Jamé Kettering, one of the festival’s producers.

“We have a mile and a half of entertainment,” said Kettering, who along with his fiancé Shani Dyer will serve as the festival’s royal couple.

Music options range from Istanpitta, a band performing music from the 10th to 14th centuries in Europe and the Middle East on reproduction period instruments, to the female duet The Nightingales. Scurvvy Dogs offers performances of sea shanties, comedy and fighting, while the Blue Cat Brew Pub’s tavern stage brings bawdy adult songs.

Live swordfights, a storytelling tent, merchants and artists, food vendors, and a reproduction of a Viking long ship also will be found at the festival. And fortune teller, idiot minstrels and other characters will wander the grounds, Kettering said.

Traditional Celtic games will be held on Saturday, with workshops conducted on Sunday. Meanwhile, full-contact jousting competitions will take place the same days.

Kettering encourages attendees to dress in period costume to enhance the experience of traveling back in time. But anyone is welcome to attend, and those who do will learn a lot about what life was like during the Renaissance, he said.

“We like to enlighten people on the way it really was,” Kettering said. “We’re trying to create the illusion that you are literally stepping back in time.”

Katie Vaughn can be contacted at (563) 383-2282 or kvaughn@qctimes.com.

If you go

What: The Four Kingdoms Renaissance Festival

When: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. today-Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday.

Where: Camelot KOA Kampground, 2311 78th Ave. West in Rock Island.

How much: Tickets purchased in advance are $8 for adults, $4 for children 8-14 and free for children 13 and under; bought at the festival gates, tickets are $10, $5 and free.

Information: (309) 787-0665 or www.fourkingdoms.com.