This eighth in-person sliver of a festival day of our 2021 Something Else! Festival Series at the Bay, merged with a Watch it Burn! event is very special because it encapsulates many of the places we like to go to with our programming, creative, improvised music, world traditions, modern jazz, modern dance, film… will be such a fun outing!
This program was built around SO LONG SEVEN and ADREAN FARRUGIA, both originally scheduled for SE! Fest for June 2020. Projects that made sense to enrich the event were added with great pleasure.
GILLIAM / MILMINE / POTTIE, a more chamber-music-like, gentle, yet fierce composition and improvisation-based unit.
SO LONG SEVEN brings a marvelous marriage of different styles and traditions, a group that would feel at home at jazz, world, and folk festival stages.
ADREAN FARRUGIA TRIO will add another layer, more connected to the jazz tradition, bebop, grounded, with more traditional swing and plenty of fire.
ENGLISH / MORNINGSTAR duo is quite a joyous project and a fine additional layer as the beauty of adventurous movement and music connect with different needs we have as an audience.
VOC SILENT FILM HARMONIC’s live improvised musical performance to Tod Browning’s The Unknown, will take us to yet another time, and plane.
PAY WHAT YOU CAN… Suggested donation $15-25 at the door …or $15 in advance via Eventbrite + dinner by donation …NO ONE WILL BE REFUSED ENTRY FOR LACK OF FUNDS.
Oct 2
4:00 pm —> SO LONG 7
5:00 pm —> GILLIAM / MILMINE / POTTIE
5:30 pm —> Food Served
6:00 pm —> MEGAN ENGLISH & DALE MORNINGSTAR
6:30 pm —> ADREAN FARRUGIA TRIO
7:30 pm —> VOC SILENT FILM HARMONIC (live soundtrack to film, The Unknown)
SO LONG SEVEN
RAVI NAIMPALLY tabla
TIM POSGATE banjo
NEIL HENDRY guitar
WILLIAM LAMOUREUX violin
SO LONG SEVEN is an audible garden where you didn’t realize you needed to escape to until you are there surrounded by the flora and fauna that is…
“What could be more Canadian than the multicultural mashup music of the Toronto quartet called So Long Seven? The band consists of expert players on banjo, tabla, violin and guitar fusing the inspirations of India, West Africa, Spain and Brazil to make dynamic and intriguing original music that draws on folk, chamber music and jazz...”
— PETER HUM, OTTAWA CITIZEN
“Of all the recordings I’ve received in 2016, the debut effort from SO LONG SEVEN was certainly one of the most impressive. Calling this “Original Music” is an understatement: Banjo, Violin, Guitar and Tabla might look strange on paper, but it sure works in reality! This fuse of world music and cinematic jazz is truly exciting and is one of my top three picks of 2016.”
— JAYMZ BEE, JAZZ FM
GILLIAM / MILMINE / POTTIE
BILL GILLIAM piano
KAYLA MILMINE soprano saxophone
AMBROSE POTTIE drums
The string of surnames may read like they’re a one-off collaboration, but this Toronto trio is anything but. Blending spontaneous invention and composition since 2015, their music simmers with quiet, transparent possibility, even in its densest moments. In addition to having been featured at the TD Toronto Jazz Festival and as part of Zula’s past seasons, they’ve documented their lucid ensemble identity on the recording Entangled Pathways.
MEGAN ENGLISH & DALE MORNINGSTAR
DALE MORNINGSTAR, multi-instrumentalist, creates a live artrock inspired sound score, peppered with vocal meanderings and a few funky beats. MEGAN ENGLISH, dancer/choreographer will search for the movement metaphors and the time, space formations. Their set will move along the spectrum of improvisation and choreography, pairing, juxtaposing and blurring the shared elements of their respective mediums.
Originally from Sudbury, Megan is a graduate of York University’s Dance Program. Megan’s choreography has been presented at Dance Matters (Toronto), St Andrews Performing Arts Festival (New Brunswick), Dusk Dances (Hamilton), Frost Bites (Hamilton) and the Hamilton Fringe Festival. Notable choreographies include The Nell Shipman Project (supported by the Toronto Arts Council) and This Dance is Mic’d, both developed in residency at Artscape Gibraltar Point. Megan has performed the works of diverse dance artists both in Canada and the UK, including The Kiss by Tino Sehgal. While living in London UK, Megan danced with the company Zephyr in Zanussi. (Doering, Germany) In 2016, she developed a dance work for medical ethicist/dancer Andrea Frolic of Hamilton Health Sciences, exploring resilience. Megan has created numerous performances in collaboration with musician Dale Morningstar of the Dinner Is Ruined.
ADREAN FARRUGIA TRIO
Juno Award winning pianist, ADREAN FARRUGIA, has been an active member of the Canadian jazz music scene since the late 1990s. He has appeared on more than 40 recordings and performs locally with the Bob Brough Quartet and Ernesto Cervini’s Turboprop among others. He also tours internationally with vocalist Matt Dusk, American trumpeter Brad Goode, and recently, Adrean also leads his own bands Ricochet (whose debut album was nominated for a Juno Award for Best Contemporary Jazz recording in 2011) and the ADREAN FARRUGIA TRIO. Adrean has been on the faculties of Mohawk College and York University.…. with JON MAHARAJ on bass and ETHAN ARDELLI on drums.
VOC SILENT FILM HARMONIC
(The Unknown)
From Kitchener / Waterloo... under the direction of TED HARMS, the project was formed in the summer of 2007 to perform live & improvised music to accompany silent films. The group takes its inspiration from how, many silent movies were originally presented - taking themes and using them as the basis for improvisation. The overall intent is to reflect, enhance and support the movie, not to overtake or distract with the music. TED HARMS bass; NEIL BALLANTYNE keyboards; DAVE HUNSBERGER clarinets; MICHAEL MUCCI guitar; BRADFORD NOWAK drums; WADE WHITTAKER guitar
The sextet will be accompanying THE UNKNOWN (1927), directed by Tod Browning & starring Lon Chaney and Joan Crawford.
Nanon (Joan Crawford) is the literal & emotional target for knife-thrower and sharpshooter Alonzo the Armless (Lon Chaney); however, his love for her is rivaled by the pursuit of the circus’ strong man, Malabar (Norman Kerry). However, Alonzo’s numerous secrets could undo any chance he has of winning her affection. How far will he go in his love for her?
As a director, Tod Browning suffered ups & downs. His best known film (and most notorious) is the 1932 film “Freaks” starring real-life sideshow performers. Browning had a productive relationship with Chaney, directing him in 10 films including this 1927 classic.
Chaney, famous for “The Phantom of the Opera” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”, might be considered the first actor’s actor. While known publically as the Man of a Thousand Faces, he fellow actors knew his acting skill was unparalleled. Crawford was an actress on the rise when this movie was released. However, it was significant to her as, while watching Chaney she “…became aware for the first time of the difference between standing in front of a camera and acting.”
facebook.com/vocsilentfilm
This event was made possible with kind support from Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, City of Hamilton, and Ontario Trillium Foundation. Partnerships include Supercrawl, The Hamilton Spectator, Musicworks, and The Whole Note.