Vancouver World Music Festival, April 6-8 at various venues. For more information visit worldmusicfest.ca.
Musician Tom Landa says the upcoming third annual Vancouver World Music Festival will offer ample opportunity for concert goers to experience other cultures, something more important than ever before given the world’s current state.
“I think the time is right and I think this is a really good year to be focusing on multiculturalism, especially given the current political climate out there with what’s going on in the States and racism being up on the rise,” Landa says.
Landa, who is one of the founders of the festival and will also be performing this year with his Latin fusion band, Locarno, says celebrating cultural diversity is one of the goals of this year’s event.
Another goal is simply to enjoy and experience international music at its finest.
This year, audience’s will get a taste of world music courtesy of musicians and bands from Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Iran, Nicaragua, Spain, London, Chad and even B.C.
The three night festival will play at venues Guilt & Company, the Rickshaw Theatre and the Vancouver Academy of Music.
Although Vancouver is no stranger to world music performances, it’s only been since 2015 when the festival had its inaugural year that the city has had a festival officially and solely dedicated to world music.
Landa says the idea for the festival came about one day after a conversation with bandmate Robin Layne. The pair worked up enthusiasm to create a world music festival and started moving on the idea quickly to get something happening that year.
“One day we were just talking about having a festival,” Landa says. “We started on a small scale by just doing one night. We reached out to our local community here of world music musicians here in Vancouver and we asked them all, ‘Would you come and do this on spec? Meaning, I can’t guarantee a bunch of money, we’re trying to launch this. Would you come be a part of it?’”
Now in its third year and continually growing, Landa expresses excitement at this year’s stellar lineup.
He says a performance of note this year is the Montreal-based band H’Sao, a group that has its roots in Chad and blends world music with traditional African influences.
“I’m really excited about them. I saw them a couple of years ago at the Vancouver Folk Festival and was really impressed by their musicianship and their musicality,” Landa says.
His own band, Locarno, is playing the Friday show at the Rickshaw Theatre.
The Vancouver-by-way-of-Mexico band is Landa’s outlet for showcasing Latin music, a genre his other band, the Canadian folk-roots outfit The Paperboys, only dabble in.
“I got to sort of stretch that muscle a little bit within The Paperboys, but I really wanted to create a project dedicated exclusively to that genre, to that musical idiom,” he says. “Locarno does Latin fusion, if you will. A big emphasis of that band is to showcase Mexican music.”
One of the festival’s biggest and most special performances will be by the BC World Music Collective, a collection of 13 musicians that come from all over the world but now reside in the province. The group will perform Saturday night.
“For all of us to come together it’s a really unique thing that really shines a light on our local British Columbia talent and with a specific emphasis on it being world music,” Landa says, who is also a member of the collective.
Landa says the festival is very community-orientated and this year it will be offering workshops and performances at the Sarah McLachlan School of Music that will be free and open to all ages.
“Musical gatherings and festivals are always places that do bring together community, which is very important to us,” he says.
Although Canada has largely eschewed much of the racist and xenophobic attitudes trickling to the forefront in other parts of the world, Landa says it’s still important to showcase world traditions and cultures here at home through music.
“By doing that, we’re I think setting a good example for the way I would like this world to be, which is more accepting of other cultures,” Landa says.
Those looking to check out this year’s Vancouver World Music Festival can do so April 6-8 at performance venues Guilt & Company, the Rickshaw Theatre and the Vancouver Academy of Music. Tickets are $25 per night or $45 for a weekend pass and can be purchased through Brown Paper Tickets at brownpapertickets.com/event/2725746 or at Highlife, Zulu or Red Cat Records.
