Get ready for an eclectic concert mix that’s sure to delight.
Starting Thursday, Brookside Music Association and the Midland Cultural Centre are partnering to present the World Music Series Cabaret.
"Music is a universal language and this series will give the community the opportunity to discover and explore several distinct cultures through music,” Brookside artistic director John French said.
“I’m delighted that Brookside Music and the Midland Cultural Centre are able to partner on this diverse series of world music.”
This year’s World Music Series will be in a cabaret style, which will give the audience an intimate and unique musical experience, putting them up close with some of Canada’s finest world music performers including the 2021 Juno Award-winning group, OKAN.
The series kicks off on March 2 with Toronto’s Beyond the Pale, which for more than 20 years has been making its distinctive brand of boundary-busting Eurofolk fusion.
Inspired by Klezmer and Balkan styles, and additionally influenced by everything from jazz and classical music to bluegrass, 'newgrass' and reggae, Beyond the Pale’s music traverses a vast and exotic musical landscape, according to a release about the band.
Beyond the Pale features Aleksandar Gajic (violin), Bret Higgins (bass), Milos Popovic (accordion), Eric Stein (mandolin, mandocello), and Martin van de Ven (clarinets).
The following Thursday, the series resumes with OKAN. Taking their name from the word for heart in the Afro-Cuban religion of Santeria, OKAN, is a Juno Award winning ensemble that fuses Afro-Cuban roots with jazz, folk and global rhythms in songs about immigration, courage and love.
Elizabeth Rodriguez was born in Havana, Cuba and is a classically trained violinist. Since moving to Canada in 2013, she has been pursuing her musical career as a singer and violinist.
Drummer/percussionist Magdelys Savigne was born in Santiago de Cuba and is classically trained in orchestral percussion. She is an award-winning percussionist, vocalist and composer.
The series continues the following Thursday with É.T.É.
Drawing from their backgrounds in classical, jazz and traditional Québecois music, Élisabeth Moquin, Thierry Clouette and Élisabeth Giroux came together in 2015 to create a new and exciting group. The instrumentation of their unique and modern sonority consists of fiddle, cello, bouzouki, voice, foot-tapping and step dancing.
“Audiences appreciate their amazing energetic style, performance complicity and their up-to-date musical style,” a release about the group stated.
To wrap up the series, Eliana Cuevas and Jeremy Ledbetter perform on Thursday, March 23.
Originally from Venezuela and through years of touring around the world and collaborating with Juno and Grammy Award-winning performers, Eliana Cuevas has grown into an accomplished singer-songwriter and bandleader with “unlimited colours in her compositional and lyrical palette.”
An engaging and fiery performer whose music knows no boundaries, Canadian pianist Jeremy Ledbetter has made a career as a pianist, composer, and producer. At the piano, Ledbetter’s playing features unrelenting energy and a playful spirit.
With funding support from Canadian Heritage and Ontario Presents, concert-goers can buy a pass for all four concerts for $60 plus taxes and fees. Tickets to individual concerts can also be purchased at $20 per show, plus taxes and fees.
For more information and tickets, click here.
