Tickets go on sale today for Capilano University's Global Roots Series, a six month musical extravaganza that will bring some of the best talent from around the world right here to the Lower Mainland.
Featuring 11 different acts, the 18th season of the Cap Global Roots Series kicks off Oct. 2 and runs until April 14. It will feature a barrage of artists, both from Canada and countries as far abroad as Mauritania, Portugal and Ghana, a line up Cap's director of programming, Fiona Black, has worked hard to ensure will be a very special experience for those in attendance.
"I set the bar pretty high, I have to say," says Black on the line up she has selected for this year's series.
"It's one of those things being a programmer, I really do need to think it's special. If I don't think it's special, why would I expect our audience to think so too?" This year's line up will feature names such as António Zambujo of Portugal, 34 Puñaladas of Argentina and, the opening night show that Black is particularly excited about, GetYerYa-Ya's Out!, a new spin on The Rolling Stone's classic 1970 album, led by Vancouver native Steve Dawson and The Black Hen House Band.
"I'm really, really excited about the Ya-Ya show. It's a chance to produce an original show that's not a band. .. We've got a killer line up of guest artists who are going to be re-imagining The Rolling Stones," says Black, who explains this show is far from any corny tribute night.
"If people are thinking this is a tribute night where a band comes out and pretends to be The Rolling Stones, that's not this show."
Among those featured in the multitude of artists performing their takes on Stone's classics are local musicians Jim Byrnes, Craig Northey of The Odds and Shawn Hall of The Harpoonist the Axe Murderer.
"These are some of Vancouver's best artists coming and putting their spin on some great material. This is a home-grown project with Steve who I enormously respect and we have so many wonderful local artists and I think it just shows how strong our music, our roots scene is in this city. Sometimes we under-appreciate our local heroes."
Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! opens Oct. 2 at the Kay Meek Grosvenor Theatre in West Vancouver and will be going for a second night Oct. 3. Roughly half the shows will be performed at Cap's own BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts while others will take place in other North Shore and even a couple Vancouver venues.
Closing the series in April will be Lemon Bucket Orkestra, a 15-piece folk band out of Toronto that Black says will make a great bookend to cap off the series.
"I've seen them perform in Montreal, they're excellent musicians, they sure know how to get an audience excited and having fun - I love the two bookends this year, the beginning and the finale, because they're both really big sort of celebratory nights."
Black has long been trying to secure American folk artist Greg Brown to perform in the series and finally got her wish this year, with Brown performing Oct. 10 at Vancouver's Electric Owl. Brown's material has been covered by the likes of Carlos Santana and Willie Nelson.
"Greg Brown is a pretty eclectic singer/songwriter out of the U.S. I've been a big fan for. He's one of those artists I've made inquiries about for years and it just, for whatever reason, hasn't happened until this year. So I'm thrilled to have him come."
Making his Vancouver debut at Vancouver's St. James Hall on Feb. 11 is Australian artist Jeff Lang who has gained international attention in the music world for his unique blend of genres he incorporates into what he calls "disturbed folk."
"Jeff Lang is brand new, it will be his Vancouver debut and I have to say when I bring an artist in for a Vancouver debut, those are the ones I'm super proud of when they actually are successful and we get a decent audience out because sometimes that's a really hard one if people don't know the artist," says Black who describes Lang's work as "amazing."
On top of the Global Roots Series, Cap will also be hosting its Jazz Series, Theatre Series and Classical and Choral Series over the same time period. Among the Jazz series, which begins Sept. 26, is Louis Hayes The Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band out of the U.S., Norma Winstone out of the U.K. and the Brad Mehldau Trio, also out of the U.S. Just in time for Halloween, Cap's theatre department opens the Theatre Series with The Rocky Horror Picture Show, running for four dates between Oct. 14-17 at the BlueShore Financial theatre, just one of four shows it will be performing over the course of the series.
Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased in advance at the BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts box office at Capilano University.
For a musical taste of what's in store this year check out the Off the Cuff blog: http://www.nsnews.com/entertainment/dossier/taste-of-what-s-in-store-for-cap-u-arts-season-1.2043779
