Open Waters Festival 2020
NEW MUSIC FOR THE NEW YEAR / MUSIQUE NOUVELLE POUR LE NOUVEL AN
NEVER THE SAME RIVER TWICE...
UPSTREAM MUSIC ASSOCIATION WELCOMES YOU TO THE OPEN WATERS FESTIVAL 2020
With the confluence of parallel traditions, new musical combinations converge bristling with new possibilities, and where the splash of improvisation brings the unknown into being right before our ears!
Hosting varied streams of contemporary music, from our community and beyond, we are united by being up-stream from the main stream, sharing a common spirit of exploration,and celebrating the many ways we can dive into the unknown.
With open hearts we are honoured to present these artists, each different from one another, yet all sharing this path of searching.
Nous sommes ravis d’accueillir des amis du nouveau réseau Excentrés. La présence des artistes francophones dans notre festival est bien ancrée dans notre histoire et ce nouveau partenariat s’inscrit dans cette tradition et cette ouverture.
Upstream Music Association gratefully acknowledges our festival’s presence in K’jipuktuk, (Halifax) on unceded Mi’kmaw territory, where we have supported new and improvised music for the past 30 years
—Lukas Pearse
Artistic Director, Upstream Music Association
Gordon Grdina's Nomad Trio
the MacAloney Room, Dal Arts Centre, 6101 University Ave, Halifax
Complex, intricate, idiosyncratic, and rockin’—those are the adjectives that best describe this cross-border collaboration between Vancouver guitarist Gordon Grdina, and New York’s Matt Mitchell piano, and Jim Black drums. Juno Award winner Grdina’s compositions give the nod to 20th century classical composition, rock, free jazz, and third stream, and this trio promises to explore those ideas at their highest levels.
Teleet+
The Dunn Theatre, 6101 University Ave, Halifax
The Teleet Ensemble with Janice Isabel Jackson (voice), Arash Delavar (guitar), Mohammad Sahraei (tar, setar, beghlama, and hand drum) are joined by Jacques Mindreau (violin), Matt Gallant (percussion), and Lukas Pearse (double bass) for surprisingly refreshing arrangements of international folk music. In vernacular Farsi the word Teleet, borrowed from Persian cuisine, is used to imply a blend, mix, jumble or a collage of different, even unlikely, ingredients. The Teleet Ensemble is the embodiment of programming music which is a collage of styles and innovative approaches to traditional music from diverse regions of the world. Teleet+ is an extension of our quest to explore and expand upon songs ranging from the Appalacian Mountains to the farmlands of Iran.
Taral Naik and Andrew Miller
the MacAloney Room, Dal Arts Centre, 6101 University Ave, Halifax
Taral Naik and Andrew Miller are two competent musicians of rhythm in their own right. In collaboration, Taral and Andrew perform a series of North Indian classical compositions, along with several contemporary compositions composed for the festival.
Excentrés: co-creation
The Dunn Theatre, 6101 University Ave, Halifax
Excentrés is a network formed by creative music organisations working in areas outside of major Canadian centres. 8 composers/ improvisors from Saguenay, Rimouski, Québec and Halifax assembled at the Centre d’Expérimentation Musicale in November 2019, as a powerful sound hydra, unleashing tremendous grooves and non-grooves through uncanny musical structures.
Personnel:
Pascal Beaulieu (Saguenay), Guitar
Devil Dandy (Québec), Électro/Conduction
Réal Gagnon (Saguenay), Percussion
Geordie Haley (Halifax), Guitar
Carl Mayotte (Québec), Bass
Lukas Pearse (Halifax), Double Bass
Alexandre Robichaud (Rimouski), Trumpet
Robin Servant (Rimouski), Accordion