BeatRoute Magazine AB Edition July 2019

More documents

Recommendations

Info

MUSiC CONCERT PREVIEWS NORTHERN LIGHTS Nunavut trailblazers The Jerry Cans want Canada to hear the unique Inuit voices of the north By JAIME EISEN I t’s soundcheck on Monday night during Toronto’s NXNE music and gaming festival and the back room of the Horseshoe Tavern feels like a family reunion. A tight group of smiling musicians are onstage jamming with Josh Q of Iqaluit blues outfit The Trade-Offs. Each member is taking their turn to solo before coming back together. “I feel like I haven’t hung out with my buddies in a long time,” says Q into the mic with a laugh. His buddies are The Jerry Cans, pioneers of the burgeoning Iqaluit music scene and curators of the second Nunavut Music Week, which ran from April 25 to 28, and its subsequent NXNE showcase. While Jerry Cans bassist Brendan “Dotes” Doherty and drummer Steve Rigby play onstage, frontman Andrew Morrison dances with his infant daughter to songs she obviously knows well. They’re far from home, but they’re in their element. Friends since childhood, Dotes, Morrison and Rigby started The Jerry Cans around a decade ago, playing classic rock covers at Iqaluit music hub, the Legion. Their self-described “Northern sound”—Celtic-inspired folk rock with reggae beats paired with traditional throat singing and lyrics sung in Inuktitut— THE JERRY CANS Sunday, <strong>July</strong> 28 Squamish Constellation Festival didn’t emerge until Nancy Mike (accordion and throat singing) and Gina Burgess (violin) joined the group. The combined punctuation of Burgess’ high-energy fiddle and Mike’s throat singing give the roots rock base a distinctive cross-cultural feel. Their sound may have many shifting influences, but it’s always pointedly indebted to their home. Mike and Morrison—also romantic partners—write most of the lyrics together in Inuktitut, one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada, considered “vulnerable” by UNES- CO. They rarely sing in English, even translating covers. “We’ve gotten hate mail about how the frontman of this band is white,” Mike says. “But he speaks Tix: $80, single day pass, constellationfest.ca Saturday, August 3 Canmore Folk Music Festival Tix: $45, single day pass, canmorefolkfestival.com Inuktitut because my family was supportive of him learning it throughout our relationship.” Conversations about accountability are essential to the group, even more so after a group of Inuit artists boycotted this year’s Indigenous Music Awards over cultural appropriation concerns. “We always try to listen to what our communities are saying these days about how we should move forward as a band,” says Mike. “We don’t ever want to move forward if people are uncomfortable with what we are doing.” Mike and her bandmates want to make sure Inuit voices are being heard—across the country, but also at home. “When you come from such a small place where there’s absolutely no history of this music business infrastructure, you have to figure out how to do it yourselves, and that’s what we did,” she says. “When it comes to Nunavut Music Week, our goal is to make sure the younger artists don’t have to struggle through the same shit we had to go through.” Inuit Association executive director Brian Winters echoes this sentiment in between sets later in the evening. He’s a huge fan of The Jerry Cans and the lineup of Indigenous artists they’ve curated for their showcase. “One of the biggest issues with the country we live in that we now call Canada is that it’s never recognized or made space for our languages or the things we’re saying,” he says. “The things we’re saying are so important—especially in our language. For people to hear that and respect that is just really beautiful.” The crowd swells around the stage when The Jerry Cans start to play. Some are fans from back home, wearing hats that proudly say “Inuk” and singing along in a language they all seem to know well. Many are hearing the band play for the first time. Everyone is transfixed. When asked how they approach bringing their unique northern sounds to a southern audience, Mike is quick to respond. “Do I have to explain anything to a southern audience?” she asks with a shrug. “Just hear it and feel it. That’s all.” , 20 BEATROUTE JULY <strong>2019</strong>
YOUR OLD FLAMES ARE BACK JOHNFLUEVOGCALGARYTHAVESW·· JOHNFLUEVOGEDMONTONAVENW·· FLUEVOGCOM
Page 1: JULY 2019 FREE RISING STAR JESSIE R
Page 4 and 5: The Guide JULY Whitney Rose: Bound
Page 7 and 8: Drink THAT’S AMARO Often made wit
Page 9 and 10: 1460 WHO Released April 1, 1960, th
Page 11: That’s Dope THE WEED LOVERS’ KI
Page 14 and 15: MUSiC CONCERT PREVIEWS HAVIAH MIGHT
Page 16 and 17: MUSiC CONCERT PREVIEWS M FAT e i S
Page 18 and 19: MUSiC CONCERT PREVIEWS JIM CUDDY Th
Page 22 and 23: COVER STORY CANADA’S NEXT HUGE
Page 24 and 25: I like keeping the people who know
Page 26 and 27: FF19BRSpread.qxp_Layout 1 2019-06-2
Page 28 and 29: SEBASTIAN BUZZALINO Live MUSiC SLED
Page 30 and 31: NMC JEAN-MICHEL BLAIS MONDAY, JULY
Page 32 and 33: MUSiC ALBUM REVIEWS Interview KILLY
Page 34 and 35: 34 BEATROUTE JULY 2019 ALL AGES!
Page 36 and 37: TRAVEL CROSS-CANADA CAMPING MUSIC F
Page 38 and 39: 38 BEATROUTE JULY 2019
Page 40 and 41: • SCREEN TIME LEONARD COHEN’S L
Page 42 and 43: SCREEN TIME THREE CHORDS AND THE TR
Page 44 and 45: 07.19YYCSTAMPEDE SPECIAL The Quarte
Page 46 and 47: 07.19YYCSTAMPEDE SPECIAL CORB LUND:
Page 48 and 49: 07.19YYCFRINGE 07.19YYCMUSIC Calgar
Page 50 and 51: Savage Love BY DAN SAVAGE Tie Point
Page 52: CANADA’S LARGEST INDEPENDENT CONC

BeatRoute Magazine AB Edition July 2019

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?