Modern flamenco trio Calle Verde plan to bring the heat to Surrey Fusion Fest, Toronto-based Eastern European all-female folk quartet Blisk will share their cultural blend at the Polish Friendship Centre and sister duo PIQSIQ will perform their live improvisational looping with katajjaq, Inuit throat singing, at the Indian Summer Festival.
What do all three acts have in common? In addition to performing in B.C. this summer, each group brings their own experience and unique approach to traditional cultural forms of music.
Calle Verde
Maria Avila has always loved both the art of song and dance. While flamenco wasn’t her first experience with either art form, it has become a primary focus for Avila in both domains, presenting what she feels is a challenging yet rewarding form of artistic expression.
“I always want to be better at it. Achieving a higher technical skill, learning more about the history and the song. I just feel like it’s endless what you can create from it, so that keeps me interested,” says Avila.
In the mid-2010s, Avila formed Calle Verde with guitarist Peter Mole and dancer Michelle Harding, a duo who had already been performing together for some time. While Avila is the only member with Spanish heritage, she says the group would hardly be lost without her. For Avila, the vibrant, authentic flamenco scene in Vancouver offers an excellent place to learn and grow as a performer.
“My father’s Mexican, I have some Spanish roots, but really it’s like, I [also] could not have that,” says Avila. “I’ve trained in Spain, but I’ve also had lots of amazing teachers here. So I have that lineage, but it doesn’t always come into play.”
Both Avila and Mole note a boundary-pushing trend in the flamenco scene, a trend that offers space for innovation and personal expression while offering a steady base of tradition.
“I’ve listened to so many different styles of music, and if we see something that would fit rhythmically, with the movement and the tempo, which is important, anything that fits in that would work,” says Mole.
Avila says the innovative approach represents the true spirit of flamenco.
“I think one of the greatest things about it is really showing who you are, and delivering a truth. And so if your truth is inspired from another genre, or from another movement quality, that’s sometimes [even] more flamenco.”
Blisk
For Blisk, however, cultural heritage is more readily apparent in the music performances. Each member of this all-female group brings their own experience, history and Eastern European connection. Singer Ewelina Ferenc, for example, was born and raised in Poland, and as such, brings her heritage to the traditional
folk group.
But Ferenc is also well-traveled, having explored much of Eastern Europe before moving to Canada three years ago. So while her Polish roots comprise a key piece of her experience, Ferenc brings herself to the group not only through her heritage, but also through her travels and her experience as an immigrant.
“It’s not that everything is traditional, sometimes we’re just inspired by our traditions. The fact that I’m Polish doesn’t mean that I’m bringing only Polish, because I also know a lot of Ukrainian and Balkan music,” says Ferenc. “I feel like we bring our life experience to this project. We all have such different backgrounds and experiences in terms of life that it’s just working nicely.”
For singer and dancer Stephania Woloshyn, a major goal of the group is creating a shared experience both with the performers and the audience. Whether it’s through performance, story-telling or workshops, she feels it is a rewarding experience to bring one’s unique personal experiences as embedded within cultural heritage.
“I just think it’s really fascinating to share that with people. With Western music being the only thing you really hear unless you seek out other kinds, I don’t know how much people realize that music is significant to other cultures and traditions,” says Woloshyn.
PIQSIQ
PIQSIQ is the performance moniker of sisters Kayley Inuksuk Mackay and Tiffany Kuliktana Ayalik, two members of the Juno Award-winning group Quantum Tangle. The name refers to a phenomenon wherein stormy winds blow snow in a certain way that makes it look as though snow is falling up instead of down. Mackay and Ayalik say the choice in name makes reference to difficulty in navigating culture and the effort taken to maintain the Inuit throat singing tradition.
“[An] otherworldly phenomenon made from something familiar,” says Ayalik, describing the music the duo creates.
Ayalik says this is how their name reflects their music as well as their culture.
“There are some elements that are familiar, with the throat singing, but then it also is put in the context of different arrangements or different situations that are otherworldly,” says Mackay.
From beatboxing to storytelling to the occasional appearance of the traditional Inuit Glockenspiel, the duo aren’t afraid to push beyond the general expectations of a katajjaq performance. But Ayalik and Mackay are very conscious of tradition as well, noting that the Inuit system of values, Qaujimajatuqangit, allows for flexibility and thus creativity, given that the system is based more so on values rather than rules or laws.
“It is so liberating because it can take any direction, any form, any style that we want because it’s fundamentally based in this value and belief system that we have,” says Mackay.
This has allowed the sisters to not only partake in the renaissance of katajjaq in recent years, but to also do so in their own unique and personal way.
“Practices change, but Inuit values are timeless. They hold fast for us, regardless of the changing times,” says Ayalik.
For more information on the groups and upcoming performances, please visit:
