“I Heard Them Play Our Song. . .”

I hope Justin Rutledge forgives me for borrowing a fragment of his lyrics to open. However, last night at Central United if felt as if every song played by Melissa McClelland and Justin Rutledge simply was “our” song.

There is no doubt that the setting in Central United Church contributed to the evening. It is a Methodist Meeting Hall built to heroic proportions. The pews are arranged Greek amphitheatre style, curving around the central wall and stage. As the floor is slopped, we all have a sense of intimacy with the performers. Wood floors and wall panels create a sense of warmth and keep the sound lively. And the sound technician travelling with the show had the room precisely and finely tuned, enhancing the magnificent artistry of the musicians.

On offer on Friday the 13th – 21st Century Madrigals by two troubadours who seem to have figured out that we North Americans are shaped by movement, geographic and emotional. We research our family stories by tracing the places our ancestors moved from and to. We build our own stories moving from place to place, and leave companions to search for the hope of a new relationship. We build new families as we go. Both Melissa McClelland and Justin Rutledge can observe and spot the precise image that holds the definition of a journey and set the lyric to music that makes it live. Even those songs which were first hearings seemed to be resonating with a core experience, as if I must have heard it before. Yep, all the songs played last night were our songs.

Escorted by richly described images in the lyrics set to music that illuminated the meaning, we, the audience, accompanied the musicians on a richly textured journey. From ballads, through blues, into folk rock, there was a treasure of musical stories to be absorbed.

Were You There?

SAIT, The Gateway Lounge, October 16th. . .

A triple bill show that built through the evening to a fully energized experience of shared music.

Jon Amor opened facing a daunting task - solo, and armed only with his guitar he let his songs of personal experience capture the room. It always surprises me how far the blues have traveled from the U.S. south, and this guy just proved again that reflecting on life and love is hard, but with music in it there is no dragging us down for good.

Mark Berube and the Patriotic Few then dazzled again. I was surprised, but should not have been, by how many of the precise images in his lyrics were still fresh in my mind from last summer's hearing. Is this artist his own muse? He explores how the big world stories reflect on the front porch, storefront, street and highway. The cabaret style pulls you in so you can hear the poetry better. Totally engaging and satisfying.

Lee Harvey Osmond - Tom Wilson and friends - then proceeded to pump up the energy in the room to yet another level. Rediscovered that acid folk is one of those exciting genre mutations that opens the mind, heart and soul to fresh perspectives on what it means to be human. Truly this was our collective brains on music and we jumped with excitement for a bravura performance.

Once again, the SAIT Gateway sound technician had the room perfectly tuned. Thank you!

And thank you, Calgary Folk Festival for sponsoring this show. I was still talking to people about it at the train station when I ran into the lady who had been at the SAIT President's Ball just across the campus. It seems they got Kalan Porter - and I thought, wow, my ticket only cost $25 (plus the CDs - but hey - support live music) for a much better evening!

Les Violons Du Roy

After raving about the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, I decided it was time to revisit the Quebec City group - Les Violons Du Roy. This is certainly Canada's most famous youth orchestra. Their gig is to play early music using modern instruments but with baroque bows. The conductor, Bernard Labadie, is immensely imaginative in the ways he brings these works to life through these young musicians.

I have been fortunate enough to hear them live twice.

The first occasion was the Christmas season that they brought their version of the Messiah to Toronto - competing with the TSO Victorian warhorse version and the canonized rendition by the most famous baroque group in Canada - Tafelmusic (think music rendered in a bell jar - dead and sterile). What we heard was an energetic, impassioned performance of the work. It was almost like hearing it for the first time it was so fresh. Even the music critic for the Toronto Star was on his feet cheering at the end and wrote the next day that it was certainly the most authentic sounding and entertaining rendition that he had heard that season.

The second live hearing was a performance of Bach's St Matthew Passion. A work rarely heard anymore. Partly because of its musical challenges. Partly because of some unfortunate bigoted theology embedded in the lyrics. However it is a powerful piece when performed well. Les Violons Du Roy performed it exceedingly well. For once I heard it as a religious ceremony, not a concert piece. The experience was transporting. The soloists who were performing with the orchestra and choir were extraordinary that night. Pure gates of heaven beauty in their solo arias.

Tonight I am listening to the group's CD - a recording of Handel's Water Music. The setting was a royal barge party on the Thames River and you can feel that in this recording. A stately party to be sure, but the subtle energies are all there.

Delightful again.

FIESTA

That is the title of a marvelous CD that I was given this summer. The recording is from the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela under the leadership of their enormously talented young conductor Gustavo Dudamel.

Presented is the music of Latin American composers - spanning the last century. By and large the selections reference the local dance rhythms in a symphonic setting. Some pieces are simply exquisite; others bring the full sense of a town festival being celebrated with energy. All of the pieces deserve repeated hearings. This orchestra is ideally suited to present this material. The musicians play with a high degree of precision and clarity melded with an obvious genuine love of music.

The most famous piece on this CD (among North American listeners) is "Danzon No.2" composed by Arturo Marquez. The energy in this piece is on full display. Listening I was transfixed but yearning to stand and dance. You can find the orchestra performing this piece on the web - a video from the BBC Proms several years ago. Search it out and enjoy!

Next up was to pick up the Orchestra's recording of Beethoven's Symphonies No 5 & 7 just because I like the pieces and thought a spirited rendition would freshen them up. The performance is better than that - precise and passionate. Even though such a large orchestra never existed in the composers day, this performance sounds very authentic.

So where did this come from, that very young musicians perform with magnificent technique and elan? The liner notes tell me. Thirty years ago one man started in an underground garage to teach street kids how to play. At the height of Venezuela's oil boom, he convinced the government to support the program. Today there are 15,000 music teachers participating in a country wide music development program that can start as early as age two. One focus is to give children at risk an alternative to gangs and drugs. For example, a story from the liner notes:

"Lennar Acosta, now a tutor at the Simón
Bolívar Conservatory, had been arrested nine
times for armed robbery and drug offences
before the Sistema offered him a clarinet. “At
first, I thought they were joking,” he recalls. “I
thought nobody would trust a kid like me not to
steal an instrument like that. But then I realized
that they were not lending it to me. They
were giving it to me. And it felt much better in
my hand than a gun."

To think that at the height of the Alberta Oil Boom, our government chose the opposite direction and abandoned music in the public education system. Shame. And of course the streets of downtown Calgary, with the gang initiations and drug wars, reflect just how shortsighted that decision was.

Planning an Early Fall BBQ?

Here is a playlist for you:

~Black Eyed Daisy from Colored Aristocracy by Carolina Chocolate Drops
~Everybody Does It Now from The Sparrow Quartet EP by Abigail Washburnzzzzzzz
~Everybody Move It from Separate Ways by Teddy Thompson
~Fire on the Mountain from ASA by Asa
~Shelter from Sounding a Mosaic by Bedouin Soundclash
~Say Hey (I Love You) from All Rebel Rockers by Michael Franti & Spearhead
~Your Love from Songs for Reggae Lovers by Bushman
~Shake Me Like a Monkey from Big Whiskey the GrooGrux King by Dave Matthews Band
~Love at the End of the World from Love at the End of the World by Sam Roberts Band
~Right Moves from The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter by Josh Ritter
~The Only Way from Hope & Other Casualties by Mark Erelli
~Stay with Me Tomorrow from Everyone's in Everyone by Patrick Park
~Sausalito from Conor Oberst by Conor Oberst
~Down in a Cold Dirty Well from Holly by Justin Nozuka
~If I Live or If I Die from Sidelines of the City by Cuff the Duke
~All About You from The Road We're On by Sonny Landreth
~Blues Overtook Me from One Night in America by Charlie Musselwhite
~Love Grown Cold from Standing Room Only by Roomful of Blues

Let's Help Save BeatNiq

I must admit that I have not been at BeatNiq as often as I could have. However I will be there on Sept 10 with my $100.

Some wonderful memories of magical performances - just one to mention, Colin Storey last year playing "Sumertime" - almost forgot to breath it was so mesmerizing.

And as with others, have shared moments with a significant other, when the music performance, the place, and the crowd all built an elemental evening for us.

We need this club!

Summer Joy

Last night sat on my balcony snacking on nectarines, riopelle cheese and caribou-cranberry pate while I listened to some John Coltrane. What a wonderful way to relax into a warm summer evening.