Rain or shine, Granville Island is hosting its 7th annual Winterruption festival from Feb. 24 through Feb. 25 celebrating how fantastically eclectic and multicultural our city can be for all ages.
Pop-up Dances by New Works presents dance in unconventional location.
“Winterruption is about our local arts scene on Granville Island,” says Scott Fraser, marketing and communications officer of Granville Island. “It is a showcase of the amazing work and artistic diversity one can find down here throughout the year.”
Whether you book a food and wine/beer tour or simply walk around you will not be able to look far without something stimulating your worldly senses.
Playing on Saturday and Sunday in the Picnic Pavilion at no charge is Vancouver’s renowned five-member band, Kutapira.
Photo by Winterruption
The band, mixes the pulsing Afro-Cuban drum beats with a full-range of enchanting Zimbabwean marimbas to produce music that Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, described as being “very clever” after a command performance at the Balmoral Castle in 2007.
“[The members of Kutapira] are fun, funky and fabulous musicians,” summarizes Katharine Carol, artistic and executive director of the Vancouver International Children’s Festival. “The marimba/percussion music is infectious – children and adults love to dance to them.”
With an energetic appeal spanning generations, it is no wonder that this youthful band is already loaded with experience of having played hundreds of shows.
Photo by Winterruption
Just further down the road in another free performance, taking the stage at Performance Works. The Vancouver-based Brazilian singer/guitarist/percussionist and 2008 Canadian Folk Music Awards’ World Solo Artist of the Year, Celso Machado, returns for the second time to Winterruption.
“[Machado] is a force of nature, a one-man orchestra with an astonishing musicality,” says John Orysik, media director and co-founder of Coastal Jazz. “He has the ability to transport the listener to a world where anything is possible.”
Machado’s career started in street bands at the age of seven in São Paulo, Brazil, and led to France and then Canada. His style has few boundaries as he makes music out of everything and anything around him.
“I’ve been listening to Celso Machado since his first appearance at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival back in 1986,” Orysik continues. “His guitar playing, singing and his ability to engage an audience never cease to amaze me.”
The Rainforest Procession - Photo by Winterruption
It isn’t only the world music that will captivate you. After you dance with the Rainforest animals and before you take a workshop in glass-blowing, you can make your way to the Charles H. Scott Gallery to view Babak Golkar’s latest site-specific installation exhibition.
This project, which is called Ground for Standing and Understanding is a continuation of Golkar’s previous series of art entitled Negotiating Space. Raised in Iran and now living in Canada, Golkar, explores the connection between East and West with Modernism through Persian carpets and architecture. His ability to transform a space from 2D to 3D may challenge your eyes and mind and leave you to never look at a Persian carpet the same.
The festival is not just confined to stages and galleries. Local and international buskers will be scattered throughout Granville Island, filling spaces, large and small, with their talents of fire juggling, music and magic. The organizers of Winterruption remind us on the festival website, “If you enjoy what you see and hear, please be generous – these artists rely on your contributions.”
