BV Concert Association is excited to present the BC World Music Collective. If ever there could be a world music supergroup, this is it. Thirteen musicians combine instruments and voices from Cuba, Mexico, Brazil, Zimbabwe, London and more. These talented artists from across the globe now make their home in the beautiful province of B.C. and are coming on tour to the Della Herman Theatre on Wednesday, Oct. 24.
The BC World Music Collective (BCWMC) formed in the summer of 2015 when Doug Cox asked the artists to come together to perform at the Vancouver Island Music Festival. After their set, they were all elated with how it went, and decided one performance just wouldn’t be enough. A few weeks later, a plan was hatched to turn the one-off project into the province’s most exciting World Music band.
“These 13 musicians, all with their own careers in world music, brought energy and new life into musical traditions from around the world. The collaboration, musicianship and enthusiasm on stage was exciting and our audience was up and dancing from the first song.” - Dierdre Atkinson (Hornby Music Festival)
The Collective is comprised of Adonis Puentes, Celso Machado, Tonye Aganaba, Kurai Blessing, JP Carter, Locarno (Tom Landa, Pedro Mota, Robin Layne, Liam MacDonald, Nick La Riviere, Kalissa Landa, JeanSe LeDoujet) and First Nations (Stō:lo/St’át’imc/Nlaka’pamux Territories) rapper, Ostwelve and has ties to our local community.
Adonis Puentes and his fraternal twin Alexis, or Alex Cuba, were born in Cuba. Adonis has received Juno and Grammy Award nominations as lead vocalist with Mongorama. The Puentes Brothers’ award-winning 2001 CD, Morumba Cubana and Adonis’ 2005 solo debut Vida were critically acclaimed, the latter earning Artist of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year in the Island Music Awards.
A Juno Award winner with his band, The Paperboys, Tom Lando also brings the members of Locarno, the WCMA nominated Latin dance band, to the BCWMC mix. Hailing from Mexico, Tom plays guitar, jarana and provides vocals.
Ronnie Dean Harris aka Ostwelve, is a Stō:lo/St’át’imc multimedia artist based in Vancouver. As an actor and composer for the APTN/Showcase series Moccasin Flats he played a character named Red. As rapper Ostwelve he has opened for Snoop Dog and K’naan, among others.
Virtuoso Brazilian guitarist, percussionist, multi-instrumentalist and composer, Celso Machado, transports his audiences through the richness and diversity of Brazilian music and beyond. Considered one of the most versatile and exciting musician/composers of Brazilian music today, his guitar technique is but one of his passions.
Nick La Riviere plays trombone, conch shells, bass, and sings with award winning bands including The Paperboys, Locarno, The HiFi, and Michael Kaeshammer. He’s also known for using a programmable harmonizer with his trombone to make one horn sound like a three piece horn section.
Liam McDonald is on drums, pandeiro and percussion. Playing drums in clubs since his teens, Liam has recorded and performed with artists as diverse as DOA, Ridley Bent, Dehli to Dublin and local favourites, The Fugitives. Although Liam’s quest for new sounds and rhythms from around the world is ongoing, his primary focus has been that of Afro Brazilian and Afro Cuban percussion and frame drums from the Middle East.
Tonye Aganaba, a singer/rapper originally from London, is a woman who has lived and performed all around the globe. Her pure, lush voice dances across addictive melodies infused with classic R&B, an undeniable groove touched by hip hop flourishes.
Kurai Blessing from Zimbabwe, plays marimba, mbira and percussion and is the lead musician for ZimbaMoto and the Zhambai Trio.
Robin Layne on marimba, congas and percussion plays with Locarno, Mazacote and Tambura Rasa, who performed at Midsummer Festival in 2010.
Award-winning Chilean-Canadian fiddler and vocalist Kalissa Landa’s fiddling mentors have included names familiar to Valley residents: Oliver Schroer, Gordon Stobbe and Daniel Lapp.
Mexico’s Pedro Moto adds vocals, guitar and percussion to the mix, while JP Carter, JeanSe LeDoujet and Ronnie Swirl on bass complete the ensemble.
This is truly an exciting band with impressive talent. Their performance is a collaboration that sees all the musicians playing with each other, and backing each other up as they sing their own songs and tell the stories of where they are from, and how they got to B.C. They take listeners on a worldwide journey without ever leaving home.
Tickets are on sale at Mountain Eagle Books and (if they don’t sell out) at the door.
–Submitted article