MUSIC Festival celebrates Canadian sounds
Music from across Canada — polkas from the Prairies, hits from Chilliwack and music from the Mi’kmaq territory of the Maritimes — is the foundation for Daniel Lapp’s Joy of Life Festival this weekend.
There will be more on the musical menu during the threeday event. The festival is split into three parts: Joy of Fiddle on Friday, Joy of Song on Saturday and Joy of Jazz on Sunday.
According to Lapp, whose patriotic passion is wellestablished, the event plays into Canada’s sesquicentennial celebrations. Lapp wanted to use his position of influence in a special way during the fourth annual event, which is why he’s shepherding his students in the B.C. Fiddle Orchestra, Folkestra and the Joy of Life Choir through the core of the Canadian songbook.
“I think it has given me the justification to share with my students the music that has always inspired me,” he said.
“In many cases, with some of the older choir members, this is music they grew up with. But for a lot of our kids … we have 20-year-olds who don’t know who Stan Rogers is. There’s a Canadian identity crisis happening.”
Lapp, who heads the Victoria Conservatory of Music’s Chwyl Family School of Contemporary Music, is the perfect champion for the job.
He leads several choirs and orchestras in his own time, and has been working on material for the Joy of Life Festival for weeks, with numerous groups. He expects this weekend’s program to be among the best projects of his career. Some of the material he has chosen and reworked reads like a best-of-Canada compilation. Fiddle tunes from Cape Breton and old-time folk from Ontario will share space with National Film Board favourite The Log Driver’s Waltz and material from Don Messer, whom Lapp calls “the CBC fiddle godfather.”
“As a fiddle player, it has always been my calling, in a way, to play all these old-time Canadian fiddle tunes,” he said.
Lapp, who lives with his family on Pender Island, tested some of the Joy of Life material during a recent string of concerts with his Pender Island Choir.
“People were weeping,” he said. “It was so emotional for people to be reminded how strong culture is in our country. When I lit into these Don Messer tunes, they almost froze. They had forgotten, and it reminded them that this is a huge part of our history.”
I’s The B’y, a traditional Newfoundland folk song, and The Hockey Song by Stompin’ Tom Connors are sure to draw cheers, as will the array of special guests. The on-stage roll call will reach 100 participants at times, a scheduling nightmare that gets easier with time, according to Lapp.
“As the logistics get easier, the music gets more intricate, the arrangements get better. The challenge I have each year is taking the music to the next level. That’s always exciting.”
Lapp will have help this weekend from fiddler Trent Freeman of Comox, who won a Juno Award with the Fretless; Juno nominee Marc Atkinson; and Can-rock legend Bill Henderson, who will play hits from his career with Chilliwack at Saturday night’s Joy of Song concert.
A house band featuring locals Danuel Tate, Dougal Bain, Peter Dowse and Matt Pease will also supply musical accompaniment.
Lapp had an epiphany during the lead-up to this weekend’s festival. After ingesting months of Canadiana, he is toying with the idea of making purely Canadian content the focus of his teaching.
“I don’t know if I’m going to go back,” Lapp said with a laugh.
“I have a collection of 1,000 oldtime Canadiana fiddle records, and for 25 years I have been collecting original Canadian music and recordings. And for the very first time this year, I started an old-time dance band. I’m loving it.”