We got a note from Lila Music Centre this week, letting us know about three different events they are hosting with special guest Moira Smiley on Feb. 26, 27 and 28.
First up on the 26th is a vocal workshop with Smiley, starting at 6 p.m. at Lila Music Centre in Duncan. On the 27th there will be a house concert with Smiley starting at 7 p.m., also at the Music Centre. Then, on Feb. 28, there is a concert and workshop at the Church of Truth in Victoria from 1-3 p.m.
What’s all the fuss about? “Moira Smiley weaves her banjo, accordion and piano around her magnificent voice,” organizers say. “Singing and storytelling through her own timeless, original songs and traditional folk songs, we travel through songs of home and exile; longing and belonging. Themes of real and metaphorical border-crossings are seen through Anglo-Celtic ballads, American spirituals, European folk laments and sharp, poignant original songs. Expect to be welcomed to sing or hum a few times with Moira as she inspires any room — anywhere — to sing.”
Smiley’s workshops are described as fast-paced and fun and “will explode your assumptions about your own voice.”
“You’ll sing extraordinary parts of unusual traditional songs. Eastern European and Appalachian songs will root you, while call and response, vocal improvising and movement will keep you discovering ever more inventive parts of you. Moira playfully draws out techniques, timbres and styles you always knew were in you as a singer or writer, but maybe hadn’t felt you could bring out! Expect group and individual (optional) singing and sound-making.”
Tickets for the show range from $10 for kids to $25 for adults at the door. The workshop costs a suggested $30-$35 per person.
For more information, contact Cari Burdett at 1-250-710-4174 or email joythroughmusic@shaw.ca, or check out the website www.joythroughmusic.com/moira-smiley-workshops-concerts.
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There’s more fun coming up in downtown Duncan in March at the Duncan Showroom.
Guitarist and composer Brad Prevedoros is showcasing his 15th album Cloud Hidden with a performance at The Duncan Showroom on Friday, March 13.
Prevedoros will be joined by Paul Wilkinson-Teel on bass and Brad Hawkes on percussion. The concert will feature ensemble work and solo guitar performances from Cloud Hidden, in addition to selections from Brad’s earlier albums, including his top selling Fire Dance and his WCMA-nominated In Motion.
Cloud Hidden has been three years in the making, comprised of all original compositions, with a strong leaning towards jazz, blues, and a smattering of Prevedoros’s own west coast flamenco style. The album title is derived from the book Cloud Hidden, Whereabouts Unknown: A Mountain Journal, written by philosopher Alan Watts.
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For those interested in out-of-the-mainstream films, Reel Alternatives has a showing for you coming up on Monday, Feb. 24 at 7 p.m.
On the big screen at the Cowichan Performing Arts Centre will be The Farewell, described as “a poignant story of love, loss, and the lies we tell to protect our families that deftly explores the cross cultural realities of the bonds between Chinese Americans and their mainland families.”
Tickets are $14.
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Don’t forget about the ongoing Cowichan Music Festival, which continues until March 2.
The festival’s Gala concert is coming up on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 2 p.m. at the Duncan United Church. Tickets are available at the door and are $5 for adults and $3 for children.
Then, on Sunday, March 1 at 2 p.m. and Monday, March 2 at 7 p.m. there are the Highlights Concerts, which are just as billed. Hear choirs, see dancers and singers strut their stuff at the Cowichan Performing Arts Centre. Tickets are $17 for adults and $10 for children. Get a two-concert package (adult tickets only) for $30.
Call 250-746-2722 or visit www.cowichanpac.ca.
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Do you remember Woodstock? Do you wish you remembered Woodstock?
Head to the Cowichan Performing Arts Centre on Friday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m. to relive the golden days of the Age of Aquarius with 1960s tribute band My Generation in The Woodstock Experience.
Hear the music of Janis Joplin, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Joe Cocker, CCR and more.
Tickets are $35.