MHPL to host Lotus Wight, a musician with unusual instruments

By medicinehatnews on January 31, 2026.

A “songwriter and revivalist of musical antiquities,” musician Lotus Wight will make his way to the Medicine Hat Public Library stage Feb. 5.

Wight promises to delight audiences with his old-timey music on banjo, guitar, jaw harp and an instrument of his own invention, the contrabass harmoniphoneum. He describes his music as being in the family of folk, blues and ragtime, with his original work sounding as if it is “plucked from the canon of Lomax field recordings.”

He is a nominee for Stan Rogers Traditional Singer of the Year at the 2026 Canadian Folk Music Awards and is presently on tour to promote his recent release, “Original Works for Voice and Banjo.”

Wight finds that out of all of his unusual instruments, the jaw harp in particular tends to delight and intrigue audiences with its simultaneously familiar and alien sound. For those interested after hearing one in action, Wight will have such instruments for sale at the show and offers a free jaw harp lesson to any concert-goer who purchases one.

Wight is the third show of the Home Routes/Chemin Chez Nous Concert Series, to be followed by Iona Lane on March 6 and Kaeley Jade on April 12. Ticket sales from those concerts will support the Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter Society and Root Cellar Food & Wellness Hub, respectively.

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