Sid Dolgay

Brief Biography

Ontario - Folk

Sid Dolgay performed at the very first Mariposa Folk Festival in Orillia in 1961 as a member of The Travellers, a Canadian folk singing group that formed in the summer of 1953. They are best known for their rendition of a Canadian version of This Land Is Your Land with lyrics that reference Canadian geography. The group was formed as a result of singalongs at Camp Naivelt, a Jewish socialist vacation community operated by the United Jewish Peoples' Order. Pete Seeger was a regular visitor to the camp and encouraged the group.

Wikipedia

In 2005 he was inducted into the Mariposa Folk Festival's Hall of Fame. As a musician, builder, organizer, advisor and an all-round great person, we welcome Sid back to Mariposa, as we do every year and hope to do for many years to come!

Sid's band, The Travellers, was a Canadian folk singing group which formed in the summer of 1953. They are best known for their rendition of a Canadian version of This Land Is Your Land with lyrics that reference Canadian geography.

The group was formed as a result of singalongs at Camp Naivelt, a Jewish socialist vacation community that was operated by the United Jewish Peoples' Order in the village of Norval located west of Brampton, Ontario. Pete Seeger was a regular visitor to the camp and encouraged the group.

They made their debut on Canadian television in 1954 and, in 1956, achieved national exposure when they reached the finals of CBC Television's Pick the Stars contest They performed at the first Mariposa Festival in 1961. In 1962 they were invited by the Canadian government to tour the Soviet Union as part of a Canada-USSR cultural exchange performing 19 concerts. The next year they toured Canada and, in 1964, were part of a Royal Command Performance during the Queen's tour of Canada.

Their repertoire included protest songs, folk songs, children's songs and international tunes.

In all the group produced 16 albums and performed five specials on Canadian television.

They continued to perform at labour rallies and political events into the 1980s as well as touring schools and performing concerts for children.