Street Music

Though I forgot to mention it, you may have guessed from the plethora of busking musician photos I've been posting that we are currently in the midst of the Victoria International Buskers Festival, an event which draws acts from all over the world to perform on Victoria's Ship Point Pier (right next to the Inner Harbour Causeway). Pretty well all the photos I've posted however have been of our own local buskers, who are fully as talented as those who come for the festival. For whatever reason, the streets are full of musicians and I especially enjoyed the sounds produced by the couple pictured above. I think what they were playing might be called Zydeco - it was fast, nostalgic, and had a hint of gypsy in it - great stuff! On the left above is Lolita Froissart and that's Jef Gasse (D'Jef) on the right.

Signs of Spring - 2

Though Sunday afternoon was bleak and gray, here's another sign of spring on the Inner Harbour - the first busking musician I have seen this year. I think his fingers must have been getting pretty cold after playing for awhile. Mine were getting numb by the time I had taken out my camera and snapped this shot.

THUMPRBUNNY

Here's another sign of spring - the re-appearance of buskers on the Inner Harbour. THUMPRBUNNY here was offering some high energy music to passersby on Tuesday. He sings as well as accompanying himself on a variety of percussion instruments, including a marimba. Sounded great to me and lots of other people stopped to listen and warm up to his rhythms.

SlideManBlues

While trudging around in a cold wind downtown last week I suddenly tuned in to some blues and shortly afterwards found a bench near this talented street performer, a blues guitarist/singer who performs as SlideManBlues. Ambrose Gardener is his name and you can find out more about him on his website, slidemanblues.com. I couldn't stand the wind chill for long but what I heard sounded good and my hat's off to any musician who warms up the streets in this winter season.

Jean Bedard

There's a wide variety of musicians performing in the streets and downtown tourist venues. Generally, however, the best are those who live here and who scrape a living doing what they love to do, performing for the public in the open air. I haven't met a rich busker yet but none of them are beggars. In fact, most of them give far more than they receive. Jean Bedard (above) is a good example. Here he is performing on the Inner Harbour Causeway. When I sit down and listen to Jean I'm always amazed that such artistry is so freely given away to casual passersby. Take a listen to "Lay Down by the Water" and you'll hear what I mean. You can find out more about Jean HERE
"Lay Down by the Water" was written by Jack Williams.

Picker (Landen Shaw)

Here's summer coming to an end and I feel like I missed a lot of it this year. I regret not visiting the Inner Harbour quite so often since I have missed some new artists and performers as well as not getting quite enough of my old favorites. Above is a young fellow whose guitar picking is worth listening to. I've captured a bit of it on the video below but I didn't have my good quality microphone with me so the sound doesn't do justice to his playing. This is the Inner Harbour's youngest busker, Landen Shaw, age 12. Click HERE to read a local news article about him.

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This is the first of a series of posts that will include videos. Visitors will please be patient with me while I learn how to edit video with some new software - Pinnacle Studio 15. Tomorrow we'll have a video of our local dulcimer player, Metro Semeniuk, and I have two more videos lined up for later in the week.

Shelley Vaags

Here's a musician who's returning to the Inner Harbour after a 15 year hiatus, Shelly Vaags. Both her voice and her demeanor are reminiscent of Dolly Parton and she sings country and western with the same vivacity and sincerity. I never saw her back in the day but I'm glad she has returned. Below is a brief video sample of her music.

Prodigy

In the summertime an incredible number of talented performers take to the streets of Victoria and provide passersby with a wide variety of entertainment. For many performers the streets are a place to fine-tune their performance abilities and may serve as a stepping stone to greater things. Unlike performers on the Inner Harbour Causeway, street performers are not required to audition.* Nevertheless, most of our street musicians are quite talented. But occasionally I come across a young performer who is exceptionally talented, such as the remarkable musician pictured here. He was playing with another guitarist on Government Street but I neglected to get their names. If you see him, you won't be disappointed if you stop and listen. In five years it will cost you a lot of money to hear this young man play.

(*This information comes thanks to an anonymous commenter who kindly corrected some misinformation in the original post.)

UPDATE: I was lucky enough to catch him again the day after I wrote the above. His name is Quinn Bachand. You can hear Quinn and his fiddle-playing sister Qristina on their CD, called "Relative Minors." Quinn and his sister are online at http://qbachand.com and on myspace. Lots of videos can be seen on their YouTube Channel, TheBachands.

Swan Walker

The hands above are playing the steel drums accompanying another remarkable causeway performer, Swan Walker. Swan's Caribbean roots are expressed in his wide repertoire of reggae music, particularly the songs of Bob Marley. But his renditions of songs by R&B performers such as Brook Benton indicate the wide range of his talent. Those blue steel drums with their penetrating bell-like tones are the perfect acompaniment for his formidable singing but he also plays a mean guitar. I was lucky to catch Swan jamming with Dave Harris yesterday as the sun was setting over the causeway. I wish you'd been there.

Visitors or Victoria residents can always check the Busker Schedule to find out when to catch Swan Walker and/or Dave Harris on the causeway.

Dance to the Music

In the courtyard of the Greater Victoria Public Library's central branch.

Have a Nice Day

This is Honky Tonk Tom and his miniature piano adding a little musical warmth to Wharf Street.

Causeway Artist #11 - John McCallum

In yesterday's post about Fisherman's Wharf I mentioned entertainment. There's often a fortune teller and palm reader, and usually there's a musician. If you're lucky you'll catch a performance by singer/songwriter John McCallum. I've really enjoyed his music and the wry wit and wisdom that make his songs worth listening to.

Causeway Artist #10 - Country Dave Ryerson

It may seem that there are a lot of musicians playing on the Inner Harbor Causeway because so many are appearing on this blog. However, there are usually not more than three or four at any time and they are generally widely spaced enough so that they don't interfere with each other. This doesn't happen by chance. Entertainment on the causeway is controlled by the Harbours Board and the space is divided up into locations that artists can "book" for certain times of the day. This ensures that it is not necessary for artists to defend their "spot" and also that there is a reasonable distribution of artists in the space that is available. A musician can play in a certain spot for about two or three hours then must give up the space to another performer. This arrangement also means there is a good variety of music at any given time, including everything from a dulcimer to a didgiridoo.

It's all good and I like the variety but I must confess to a special fondness for country and western music. On the Inner Harbor Causeway that means Country Dave Ryerson. From Hank Williams to Kris Kristofferson, Country Dave can play it so just sit yourself down and enjoy those sweet melodies and down home strumming. If you've got a favorite, feel free to make a request. If it's country, Dave probably knows it.

Country Dave's music is available on a CD entitled "Country Dave Ryerson: The Millgrove Sessions" produced by another causeway artist, Dave Harris, who also performs on the CD.

You can find out more about the CD and Country Dave Ryerson by clicking HERE.

Causeway Artist #9 - Sarah Tradewell

A remarkable aspect of musicians on the causeway is the way that many of them can create a space around themselves where their music triumphs over all the many distractions, busyness and street noises (see photo below). Sarah Tradewell, pictured here, is a an excellent example of this and all the moreso because at sixteen she performs with skill and maturity that belies her years. She is a wonderful musician with a wide repertoire, though she specializes in "fiddle music." Her Celtic and Irish melodies are as delightful to the ear as she is to the eye.To hear and see her play, click HERE. You can also visit her YouTube Channel (many videos of Sarah performing) by clicking HERE. Sarah also has a MySpace page where there are some good recordings of her fiddle playing that you can download. Well worth a visit. Click here.

Causeway Artists #8 - Squeezebox Serenade

Squeezebox Serenade is trio that produces a unique and evocative sound. The first time I heard the silvery trumpet dueting with the accordian it reminded me of the Dalmation coast and long evenings in vine-trellised trattorias.

But then they segued into a very jazzy version of Route 66 with all three singing and I realized their versatility. This is a charming musical group that is a great counterpoint to the otherwise rather guitar oriented music prevalent on the causeway.Trio members are (from the left): Adam Weinmann, Tara Kannangara, and Georgia Johnson.

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(Here follows an aside to my fellow City Daily Photo Bloggers: The strange assortment of photos above illustrates a photographic difficulty. Most of the causeway is north/south oriented and musicians generally face east when performing, with the sun at their backs (see first photo above). Unfortunately, the best photos are also usually with the sun at the photographer's back and the best angle to shoot from produces a photo like the top one above. Sometimes one can get away with shooting directly into the sun as in the photo on the left above but one ends up with a bleached sky and too much contrast and other problems. Fill flash doesn't generally do it for me and I try to avoid flash generally since I like to remain inconspicuous. Shooting from the side can be good as in the photo on the right above but shooting a group of people from one side or the other often means some of them are obscured by others. In desperation I asked the group to turn towards me, which they very kindly did, and allowed me to take the photo directly above. Nice people and good musicians: Squeezebox Serenade)

Causeway Artists #6: BB Blues Band

If I seemed a little negative about the big BC Day celebrations centered here in Victoria's Inner Harbor, it's only because I so much like the normally relaxed, uncrowded atmosphere. And, while BC Day celebrations brought some big-name talents to the Inner Harbor, there are some equally talented though less famous performers every day on the causeway. Here's another one of my favorites, Ian Bennetts of the BB Blues Band. If you're strolling on the Inner Harbor causeway, slow down, sit down, relax, and let Ian waft you away to "margaritaville" with his mellow voice and 12-string guitar stylings.

Victoria Day Weekend 1

Victoria Day is a nation-wide holiday in Canada, now celebrated on the last Monday before May 24th, which was Queen Victoria's birthday. Probably nowhere in Canada is it celebrated with such fervor, however, as here in the city that bears her name. There are so many events that it is difficult to know where to go or what to look at and photo opportunities are everywhere. Today we have the Highland Games and to celebrate that as well as to doff my hat in memory of Queen Victoria's long time Scottish companion, John Brown, I offer a photo of a bagpiper playing above the Inner Harbour Causeway. Click the video below to hear a sample of his music.

Young Violinists - Bastion Square

Bastion Square seems to attract violinists. These two, while providing excellent entertainment, were probably not licensed because of their youth. However, it seems a good and harmless way for young performers to earn a little spare change and gain some experience in the challenges of playing for the public (see short video below).
Below is a 40 second sample of the music these kids were playing. It seemed particularly appropriate for the nautical flavour of Bastion Square (that's an old light house light beside them and the Maritime Museum behind them on their right.)

Jean Bedard - Musician

The Inner Harbour Causeway has become such popular (and lucrative) venue for buskers and musicians that performers must now audition before they are granted licenses. This musician's name is Jean Bedard. You can get some idea of his music from the video below, although the sound quality is poor (I'm working on it!) I take this opportunity to thank Jean for his permission to use this photo. I hope he gets his license because I'd like to hear more.

Metro - Ukrainian Dulcimer

Today I had the pleasure of meeting Metro, a street musician playing on the Inner Harbour causeway. He plays the Ukrainian Dulcimer, an instrument I had never heard before. Below is a video I took to give you some idea of what a dulcimer sounds like and how it is played.