Make your voice heard! Support this exciting new venture to build a music venue in Vancouver by filling out the survey and connecting with us through social networking! Let us know what you need in a space to enjoy music!

We hope the coalition will grow as the shared needs of the community, values and vision for a music centre become clearer through this and future studies.

We are still in the early stages of community consultation. Please sign up for our mail list located on the right sidebar and stay tuned for updates on this exciting project. Any questions about this study and the music centre project in general should be sent to info@vancouvermusiccentre.ca or call 604 683 8240 for more information.

Thanks for your participation in this exciting venture!
Vancouver Independent Music Centre Society
www.vancouvermusiccentre.ca

The Pacific Bluegrass & Heritage Society Presents

The Kathy Kallick Band

Tom Bekeny mandolin ♦ Dan Booth acoustic bass

Greg Booth dobro, banjos ♦ Annie Staninec fiddle

Kathy Kallick guitar, vocals

Monday Oct.18, 2010, 8pm at the ANZA Club, 3 W.8th Avenue, Vancouver

Tickets $20 PBHS Members / $25 Non-members

Tickets Available at the DOOR ♦ more info: www.pacificbluegrass.ca

HOT BLUEGRASS & COOL ORIGINALS!  www.kathykallick.com

Kathy Kallick and her exciting band are making a stop in Vancouver to share the music from their new album, Between the Hollow & the High-Rise, which is currently riding high on both US national bluegrass charts.  Bluegrass, old time, and folk music fans alike will enjoy their compelling original songs and distinctive treatments of classics, in a memorable showcase filled with soulful singing, sizzling playing, and an engaging presentation.

Kathy Kallick has been leading bluegrass bands (including the semi-legendary Good Ol’ Persons) since 1975. She continues to evolve as one of the music’s extraordinary composers and vocalists, releasing 15 albums, which include over 100 of her original songs, and garnering international recognition.

Along the way, she has … won a Grammy and two IBMA Awards for her part on True Life Blues: The Songs Of Bill Monroe … had three title tracks and albums (Call Me A Taxi, Walkin’ In My Shoes, and Warmer Kind Of Blue) each spend close to a year in the upper echelon of the Bluegrass Unlimited National Bluegrass Survey (“the charts”) … performed and recorded with the Frank Wakefield Band … appeared on three high-profile Rounder collections of bluegrass songs by women … written and recorded award-winning music for children and families … toured throughout North America, Europe, and Japan … received a “Lifetime Membership Award” from the California Bluegrass Association … and … collaborated with some of the country’s top acoustic musicians – including her fabulous current band.

A profound songwriter and expressive singer, San Franciscan Kathy Kallick is a mountain gal at heart. Her singing has always been earthy and passionate. As a songwriter, she knows how to pen beautiful impressionistic pieces with memorable contemporary messages. A troubadour and exquisite storyteller, (her) arrangements are tightly crafted, with each song given its own non-formulaic treatment. —Joe Ross, BLUEGRASS NOW

Praise for Between the Hollow & the High-Rise:

A selection of material that should leave most any fan of traditional bluegrass yearning for more, with a great mix of well written, heartfelt originals, and arrangements with some subtle twists and turns that are sure to please a mindful ear. The Kathy Kallick Band plays hard-drivin’ traditional bluegrass that harkens back to the dirt-floor rural up bringing of those who laid the music’s foundation long ago. And make no mistake they do a great job of it. – Travis Tackett, BLUEGRASS JOURNAL

Presenting The Point of It All, a new recording from the rich creative collaboration between Talking Pictures, singer-pianist Robin Holcomb, and keyboardist Wayne Horvitz.  Together they create a musical tapestry weaving free improvisation with lyrical compositions.

In a post-modern world of sometimes gaudy mix-and-match stylistics, yet another record that confounds easy categorization may not seem unusual. But The Point of It All is unusual. For one thing it takes its time to get where it’s going, and this slow build has a cumulative effect. And, as the title suggests, there’s a lesson of sorts being expounded. There’s certainly something archaic about it, almost as if these songs had already existed as prototypes in another time and place, a lost America of long ago (of course one of them, Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier, actually dates from the American War of Independence).  You can hear this in Robin’s voice, which seems to lament even as it celebrates, and you can hear it in the sometimes circus-like and gospel-like tones and timbres of the instruments. Yet this music is very much about now, a symbolic distillation of the present. It does not mince words, and its catharsis is hard-earned, not nostalgic. It is also, at times, joyful and exuberant, even raucous. It seems to light up from the inside.

Robin Holcomb’s last release on Songlines was Solos (2004) on which she and her husband Wayne Horvitz shared a program of their solo piano compositions and improvisations. Meanwhile Vancouver guitarist Ron Samworth’s quartet Talking Pictures (which released Humming on Songlines in 2000) had been performing some of Robin’s music and had concertized with Wayne (documented on the CD Intersection Poems); in 2006 Ron invited Robin and Wayne to collaborate with them in creating a collectively arranged concert of Robin’s work in Vancouver. Peggy Lee was already part of Wayne’s Gravitas Quartet, and after the concert everyone felt that this new initiative shouldn’t just be a one-off. Peggy and Robin started performing occasionally as a duo, and in 2009 a second Vancouver concert and a recording session were organized. Ron and Peggy each composed a new song for the occasion to complement 9 pieces of Robin’s (only one of which had been recorded before) and her arrangement of After the Gold Rush.

The results throw a different light on the music of one of America’s most distinctive yet ultimately elusive musicians and lyricists.

As Robin puts it, “Talking Pictures share an intimacy and intuition that is staggering and which they apply with joyful abandon in not only our mutual improvisations but also in their interpretation of my compositions. It was a wonderful experience for me, one of those rare situations wherein I can not only improvise and do whatever arises in the moment, but can also bring to the table any music I want to – the end result doesn’t have to be only an improvised project, or a chamber music project, or a songs project or a jazz project. There is great logic in their coloration and sense of balance, no matter how seemingly chaotic or contrary….Wayne and I have been playing each other’s music for more than thirty years. Talking Pictures have played together for over fifteen years. There are a lot of historical strands at work.”

Ron adds, “Robin’s music is the perfect vehicle for a band like Talking Pictures. There is such a wealth of information in any given phrase – melodic, harmonic and rhythmic, not to mention the extraordinary richness of lyrical imagery in her songs. It’s an improviser’s dream. Our band greatly values ensemble playing where we create unified improvised pieces that explore a variety of textures and moods. Robin and Wayne seem to share that open, collective spirit.”

For more information: www.robinholcomb.com, www.waynehorvitz.net, www.answers.com/topic/ron-samworth, www.dkam.ca/artists/talking-pictures,  www.dkam.ca/artists/peggy-lee-band.

The interview with Robin and Ron is at songlines.com/interviews/pointofitall.html.

Press support: Cary Goldberg, GoMediaPR, (434) 293-6633, cary@gomediapr.com

Tony Reif/Songlines Recordings
3036 W. 6th Ave., Vancouver, BC V6K 1X3, Canada
(604) 737-1632 • treif@songlines.com • www.songlines.com
Distributed in the US by Allegro, allegro-music.com, in Canada by Outside Music, outside-music.ca

Katari Taiko • Winter Workshop

Sunday, December 5, 2010, 10am-4pm

at the Taiko Space in East Vancouver

Info 604.683.8240

Learn about taiko history, notation, and basic rhythms at this one-day, hands-on workshop. At the end of the workshop, participants will have learned a taiko piece. No previous experience is necessary.
Participants must be a minimum of 16 years of age.  Applicants will be accepted on a first come, first served basis to a maximum of 15.   To register, please call 604-683-8240 or email koralee@dkam.ca.

www.kataritaiko.bc.ca

BoP photo from the Georgia Straight, July 6

We’re pleased to announce that Birds of Paradox’s new self-titled cd has been nominated for a Western Canadian Music Award in the category of  Instrumental Recording of the Year.

The WCMA’s will be held in Kelowna, BC this year October 21-24.  You can find more about the conference & awards show here.

There’s been a flutter of press about the new cd.  Check out this article in the Georgia Straight (July 6,2010) and this review in The Province (July 5, 2010).

Congratulations Birds!

Buy the CD online at CD Baby and iTunes.

www.birdsofparadox.com

Birds of Paradox

Debut self-titled album, released in spring 2010.

Birds of Paradox was formed in 2007 to explore the fusion of composition and improvisation, incorporating three very distinct voices and cultural backgrounds into a creative whole. The trio synthesizes elements of jazz and improvised music, traditional Chinese, Western and Indian music into a collective expression of life in post-millennial Vancouver.  Their new cd was nominated for a 2010 Western Canadian Music Award in the category of  Instrumental Recording of the Year.

Neelamjit Dhillon tabla, alto saxophone, flute, bansuri

Ron Samworth guitar, effects

Lan Tung erhu, vocals

“It’s so vivid, you can almost feel the heat and the surging press of bustling humanity. “Asian Market: Chapter 1 China”, from the Vancouver trio Birds of Paradox’s new, selftitled CD, mixes discordant cries, half-heard conversations, the rattle and clatter of traffic, and the whirring and clanking of mysterious machinery into a startling, abstract portrait of a Beijing streetscape. Even if you’ve never been to the Chinese capital, it’ll put you there…” – Alexander Varty, The Georgia Straight, July 6, 2010

“Both gorgeous and adventurous at the same time, the dozen tracks on this disc provide a wealth of unique entry points into where classical, modern and improvisational styles meet.” -Stuart Derdeyn, The Province, July 5, 2010

Buy the CD online at CD Baby and iTunes.

Bios

Neelamjit Dhillon

Being born and raised in Vancouver has given me a unique and interesting perspective on music.  Having extensive training in two different musical styles [jazz and classical Indian], and being from one of the most multi-cultural places on the planet, I don’t see barriers that others might.  It’s all just sound, expressions of emotion and it is all valid.  Music doesn’t have a nationality; it comes from the human experience, which is tied together at all corners of the world.  No matter where we come from, it is our humanity that leads us to create, explore and discover, humanity that surrounds us and which is within us at all times.  Neelamjit Dhillon tabla, alto saxophone, flute, bansuri

Ron Samworth

The music on this CD is a conversation between three artists who are a product of Vancouver, Canada in the early 21^th century. Needless to say, there is an intercultural aspect to it, but like the city itself, diversity is a given. Musicians, in general, have a particular quality of discovering natural affinities among themselves. Strong melodies, interesting grooves, cool sonic textures are our common currency. Playing together, bringing whatever you have in your musical arsenal into play, is what it’s all about. The personal narratives that constitute any community, musical or otherwise, are what give the world of human relationships its nuance and fullness. Being open and engaged is all that’s required to get on board.

Nightface is a composition of mine originally written as an instrumental then adapted, with lyrics by Elizabeth Fischer, into a beautiful haunting song that was performed and recorded by the band DarkBlueWorld. It is in 7/8 time, a 3-2-2 pattern with one bar of 6/8 at the end of the verses just to keep you on your toes. The verses are in G minor – the bridge in E major.

It’s a great pleasure playing with Lan and Neel – two gifted and wonderfully expressive musicians. Listen and enjoy!   Ron Samworth guitar, effects

Lan Tung

After moving from Taiwan to Canada in 1994, I have been surrounded by great music of different genres – from western contemporary music to various ethnic styles – which feed my ever-growing musical appetite. I am inspired by the western violin’s ability to transform itself in Indian, Gypsy and Middle Eastern music, jazz and even Cantonese opera. This, as well as travels and studies in the “exotic” lands of India, Egypt, Amsterdam and Berlin, has led me to look outside Chinese traditions to develop new vocabularies on the erhu and to countless interesting collaborations at home and abroad. In both composition and improvisation, I experiment with contradictions by taking culturally specific music outside its context and fusing it with other genres. Ba Ban Variations, inspired by traditional Chinese music, embodies the paradox of many opposite characters: chromatic vs pentatonic, composed vs improvised, contemporary vs traditional, with sudden shifts between a mysterious quality and an exciting 3+2+3 rhythmic cycle. Asian Market begins by using the basic four tones/inflections in Mandarin to develop vocal patterns to depict a vibrant market scene. Colourful Clouds Eating the Moon is an incarnation of Colourful Clouds Chasing the Moon from China, with an Indonesian twist. Temple Bells colours Cantonese melody with blues chords. Xia He (Flowing River) gives occasional hints to its Chinese roots. By incorporating improvisation with Asian traditions, I see a whole new territory in which to discover fresh sounds.  Lan Tung erhu (Chinese violin), vocals

Nightface – excerpt -  from Birds of Paradox

Ba Ban Variations – excerpt -  from Birds of Paradox

Charukeshi – excerpt -  from Birds of Paradox

Colourful Clouds Eating the Moon – excerpt -  from Birds of Paradox

Improvisation I – excerpt -  from Birds of Paradox

Xiao He – excerpt -  from Birds of Paradox

Recording Credits

Recorded by Sheldon Zaharko at The Factory Studios, Vancouver, BC Canada on August 6 and 7, 2009

Mixing and mastering: Dylan van der Schyff

Design and Layout: John Endo Greenaway

Cover Art: Aleksandra Dulic and Kenneth Newby

Photography: Nenad Stevanovic

Birds of Paradox was co-produced by Ron Samworth, Lan Tung and Neelamjit Dhillon.

We would like to thank Ken Pickering and Diane Kadota who have supported this project since its inception.

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts through the Specialized Music Sound Recording Program and the Department of Canadian Heritage Canadian Music Fund through the Canadian Musical Diversity Program of the Canada Music Fund.

Gamelan Madu Sari and

Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad present

MARATHONOLOGUE

Norman Rothstein Theatre

950 West 41^st Ave (at Oak)

February 18, 19 & 20^th 2010

tickets  $20 (general)  &  $15 (students/seniors)

ticketstonight.ca • 604.684.2787

info 604.683.8240

www.marathonologue.com

Naoko Takahashi drank an extract distilled from Japanese giant killer hornets (Vespa Mandarina Japonica) just before she won the women’s marathon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Marathonologue, an interdisciplinary production inspired by this ultra-marathon runner energized by killer hornet extract, combines highland bagpipe, Japanese taiko and Balinese gamelan music by composers Michael O’Neill, Boyd Seiichi Grealy and I Wayan Sudirana, in live synchronization with computer-animated projections by Kenneth Newby and Aleksandra Dulic. The production brings to life the interplay between the physical landscape and a runner’s internal ‘mindscape’ as it develops and transforms in the experience of running a global marathon.

Marathonolgue zooms in on the creative powers of imagination catalyzed by motor-rhythmic physical exertion, the enzymes of hornet juice, the landscape, and the solitude of long distance running. Performing live with a tri-cultural ensemble of 7 musicians, and using additional animation by Oliver Szeleczky, Brendan Edward Wingrove, and Melissa Ftrzelec, Newby and Dulic use digital animation techniques to produce a startling array of images, envisioning both the runner and the hornets’ chameleon-like transformations, and reflecting the terrain and human physical/ cultural differences encountered. Image and sound combine to transport the audience to a realm of heightened imagination.

Michael O’Neill and Kenneth Newby have a long history of inter-arts collaborations originating with their involvement with the gamelan community in Vancouver in 1986.  In keeping with the Indonesian tradition of using gamelan in an interdisciplinary capacity, their initial collaboration was a shadowplay presented in the context of a large interdisciplinary outdoor work Journey to the New World, a Vancouver Public Dreams Society production.  Their collaborative work has continued over the years to include works involving dance, theatre, and many shadowplay productions. In 2005 they were principal artists in the development of a major new cross-cultural, collaborative multi-media shadow play with gamelan, shadow puppetry and media performance, Semar’s Journey, which was premiered at the Roundhouse in 2007.

Videographers Newby and Dulic, leaders in  the field of interactive audiovisual installation, received critical praise for their work, in a thousand drops… refracted glances, presented in Genoa, Italy in 2008.  Their collaborative interdisciplinary performance work Triaspora, was presented at the National Arts Center in Ottawa in 2009, their visual music work, Symmetry, was selected as a finalist in the Punto y Raya animation festival in 2007.

The three composers creating music for Marathonologue are each immersed in rich cultural music traditions; Balinese gamelan, highland bagpipe and Japanese taiko.  The music in Marathonologue gives the composers, who will also be performing in the show, an opportunity to explore the relation between these musical styles both in theory and in practice. I Wayan Sudirana was born in Ubud, Bali and is regarded as one of Bali’s most gifted musicians.  He has composed and taught actively in Bali and abroad and has been artist in residence at the University of British Columbia since 2004.  Vancouver composer-performer Michael O’Neill is a founding member of Gamelan Madu Sari and performs both Javanese gamelan and Balinese gender wayang.  Michael also performs with and composes for his own highland bagpipe ensemble Mearingstone.  A native of Victoria, Boyd Seiichi Grealy is a multifaceted taiko drummer and percussionist.  He has spent seventeen years as an international touring artist and co-artistic director of Vancouver ensemble Uzume Taiko, Canada’s first professional taiko group.  Together, in collaboration with musicians Sylvia DeTar, Elaine Ng, and Eien Hunter-Ishikawa, they create a mesmerizing river of sound and texture, trance-like and rhythmic, expanding the sonic landscape.