This fifth in-person sliver of a festival day of our 2021 Something Else! Festival Series at the Bay, merged with a Watch it Burn! event, has one of our all time favourites; avant-folk heroine, violinist, vocalist İVA BITTOVÁ, return with family, her talented pianist son ANTONIN FAJT; plus our old friends, the inimitable avant-rockers RONLEY TEPER & THE LIPLINERS returning in full force as a 7-piece, for the first time in 5+ years, and a special addition, NIMAL AGALAWATTE, on no-input mixing board… Following dinner, we will screen part 2 of director Tony Gatlif’s marvellous film on the Romani people, LATCHO DROM!

PAY WHAT YOU CAN… Suggested donation $15-25 at the door…or $15 in advance via Eventbrite …NO ONE WILL BE REFUSED ENTRY FOR LACK OF FUNDS.

Sep 11
4:00 pm —> ANTONIN FAJT
4:30 pm —> NIMAL AGALAWATTE
5:00 pm —> İVA BITTOVÁ & ANTONIN FAJT
6:00 pm —> RONLEY TEPER & THE LIPLINERS
7:00 pm —> Dinner Served
7:30 pm —> İVA BITTOVÁ
8:00 pm —> Film: LATCHO DROM (part 2)

We are delighted to welcome back one of our avant-folk heroines, İVA BITTOVÁ, who has a rare, ineffable two-fold gift; She’s versatile enough to have collaborated with esteemed artists across the spectrum of musical expression, yet her sonic signature remains deeply imprinted, no matter what the context. Best described as a storyteller who seldom uses discernible language, her intimate, engrossing narratives unfold in a unique personal folk idiom of her own deriving—inspired by her northern Moravian roots and countless other traditions.

“… a forward thinking composer who sings and plays violin simultaneously… Her sound isinvigorating, urgent, and also soothing; it is a fusion of Old World and new-music sensibilities,infused with the spirit and language of Czech, Slovak, and Moravian music.”–New York Magazine

“With intimacy and grace, she bridges the gap between the Czech folk tradition and the avant-garde. Her voice can gently and beautifully warble oblique poetry one minute, garrulousabstractions the next. Bittová’s unique charm gives her work a constant air of accessibility.”–Request

“Iva Bittová is an extraordinary artist. Raw and refined, passionate and contained, she has the soul of a gypsy, the voice of a troubadour, and the mind of a genius.”– NPR/All Things Considered

RONLEY TEPER acoustic guitar, vox
TIM POSGATE banjo/electric guitar
DAVE CLARKE drums
VIVIENNE WILDER bass
GORDON HYLAND tenor saxophone
CHRIS PRUDEN keys
CALEB HAMILTON trumpet, accordion

“The Ronley is quite a peculiar creature”… read her bio. We love The Ronley around here! A brilliant mish-mash of roots, folk cabaret, world, jazz, blues & electronica… like an old pair of silk slippers, Hamiltonians will slip into this sweet-voiced, inventive Toronto artist’s creative work, … of this, we’re certain… what exactly will happen on stage on this day, we’re not so sure, as every night she creates a thing of one-off beauty!

RONLEY TEPER is one of Canada’s most unique and interesting musical artists. At once a storyteller, a performance artist, and a singer/songwriter, she combines these disciplines into provocative stage shows as a ringleader with the help of her improvisational band, THE LIPLINERS. The Lipliners began as a monthly residency at the legendary Tranzac Club in Toronto. Teper invited some of Toronto’s finest musicians to publicly improvise around her storytelling and songwriting. Over the past two decades, this process has developed a body of work that listeners often compare to Tom Waits, Frank Zappa and Laurie Anderson.

Czech composer, pianist and electronic producer. Born in Brno, he moved to the U.S. at age 15. Drawing on his Moravian heritage and transient upbringing, his music explores for rhythmic and melodic nuances in folk song interpretation and translates them into an improvisational language informed by the American diasporic musical landscape. As a soloist, he likes to work with prepared piano, modified keyboards, and live sampling. His own bands include Mantis, a collaboration with Niloufar Shiri (Iran) and Ben Finley (Canada), and Window with Matt Norman and Carolyn Hietter.

Our esteemed sound technician, who is also a musician in different projects and varied settings, joins us for a palate-cleansing, short, intense set on no-input mixing board.

LATCHO DROM

LATCHO DROM is a unique musical documentary tracing the Romani people’s migration from Northwestern India to Spain over the course of more than a thousand years. Through an extraordinary variety of song, music, and dance director/writer Tony Gatlif brings Romani history to life. This vibrant musical heritage stands as a counterpoint to the darker realities of persecution faced by a nomadic culture in which family, honour and tradition are as essential to survival as water, transportation and food.

This event was made possible with kind support from Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, the City of Hamilton, as well as partnerships with Musicworks, The Whole Note and The Hamilton Spectator.