Justice and equality: sound and song

The Good Noise Vancouver Gospel Choir will be performing Jazz Meets Gospel on June 2 at the Christ Church Cathedral. The choir will explore connections between the two inextricably linked genres in their many forms, with songs made popular by Nina Simone, Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong. For former lawyer, social justice advocate, active community…

Music with a message

“We’re kind of like a family band at this point. These people have been in my life musically and personally for a long time,” says Malcolm Aiken, trumpeter and co-founder of Mazacote. Mazacote is performing at the Vancouver World Music Festival on April 26, 2018 at Guilt & Co, GroundUp at 10 p.m.–1 a.m. Who…

Anatolian folk songs revisited

To celebrate the Turkish National Sovereignty and Children’s Day, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey and the Turkish Consulate General in Vancouver presents Arpanatolia, the Turkey-based musical, at the Chan Centre Apr. 24. “The Turkish government is inviting children from all around the world, every April 23rd, to celebrate it…

Charting new musical territory

Densabi takes the stage at Visual Space on March 10, bringing their improvisatory blend of traditional Japanese instruments and ambient electronic music. The electro-acoustic musical approach of the trio, composed of Alcvin Ramos, Bernie Arai and Chris Gestrin, centres around the beauty of impermanence and decay. “Each performance is never the same. We never know…

Sound installations, settings, beckon listeners

Sound artist and instrument builder George Rahi and keyboardist and composer Robyn Jacobs will be performing a concert with the installation pulses // patterns at the Western Front on Dec. 14. The installation features a set of rotary speakers connected by a MIDI interface to a wooden pipe organ, reconceiving these separate musical inventions and…

Live music, multimedia performance of cosmological stories

Orchid Ensemble and the Centre for Culture and Technology of UBC Okanagan will be presenting Music of the Heavens, a collaborative fusion of live music and multimedia animated visuals at the Norman Rothstein Theatre in Vancouver on Nov. 23. Lan Tung, founder of Orchid Ensemble, says it took five years for a team of students…

Raucous camaraderie: collectif9 puts their own spin on classical music

On Nov. 12, collectif9, a Montreal-based nine-piece string band, will take the stage at the Kay Meek Centre in West Vancouver to perform their latest acoustic concert entitled VolksMusica. The band has found a performative middle-ground between the intimate and the grand, aiming to share an engaging, entertaining approach to classical music. It has been…

Speaking through calypso music

Kobo Town, Toronto-based band fronted by founder-songwriter Drew Gonsalves on ukulele and vocals, will perform its own blend of calypso, dancehall and reggae music Nov. 2, 2017 at the Evergreen Cultural Centre in Coquitlam. Originally from Trinidad, Gonsalves writes songs based on places and events specific to the Caribbean and its history, but also incorporates…

Borrowing and re-purposing sound

On Oct. 18 at Western Front, Akio Suzuki and Aki Onda will be performing fu-rai. The sound artists, who draw influence from genres such as ambient music, drone music, and musique concrète, will be performing the highly improvisatory piece using field recordings, found objects such as hammers, nails and jars, as well as instruments of…

Beatboxing for empowerment

“Music is a tool that can give a voice to people who are underrepresented in this world,” says interdisciplinary artist Rup Sidhu, who will be performing twice at Vancouver’s Indian Summer Festival. This year’s festival theme is ‘Tales of War and Peace’, and artists from all over the world are part of the culturally rich…

Artists’ community contribution

Adanu Habobo performs a blend of traditional African music and dances at the Roundhouse Theatre on May 11 and 12. The group, headed by co-directors Curtis Andrews and Kofi Gbolonyo PhD., will feature a variety of dance styles and music from Ghana, Zimbabwe and be joined by Cote d’Ivoire native Kesseke Yeo. “For me, dance…

Behind the art of Shakuhachi

Shakuhachi flute music contains a rich history and meaning that is waiting to be explored and shared among musicians around the world. Alcvin Ryuzen Ramos is one of many Shakuhachi players who have been practicing the art for 25 years. He will be sharing his passion for Japanese flute music at the Sakura Days Japan…