Samba, reggae, cumbia! Welcome to a world of music
KITCHENER — Though 2016 was a tough year for Neruda Arts, the world music agency managed to raise enough money to keep their annual Kultrun Festival going for another year.
The festival, which takes place July 7, 8 and 9, will feature both local and international touring performers, musicians who bring everything from samba to reggae and cumbia to this annual event in Kitchener.
“I want people to get excited and come to the festival,” said Isabel Cisterna, Neruda’s founding artistic director.
Toronto-based Amanda Martinez opens the festival on Friday night at Themuseum in a gala event. Martinez’s music has a unique blend of influences: Mexican and South African with a touch of flamenco. Opening for Martinez is First Nations artist Elsa Jayne. The Kitchenerbased singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist is “one of the rising talents of this region,” said Cisterna.
Saturday and Sunday will be non-stop music with two stages set up at either end of Victoria Park.
As one performance ends on Stage 1, audiences pack up their chairs and head to Stage 2. The idea of two stages means there is no interruption of the music, no waiting for a band to leave and the next band to set up.
This festival will feature a strong First Nations presence, starting with Elsa Jayne’s Friday night performance followed over the weekend by Banakonda Kennedy, Mino Ode Kwewak N’gamowak (Good Hearted Women) and Aaron Bell, Ojibway Storyteller.
One of the headliners on Saturday at 6:15 p.m. will be The Jerry Cans from Iqaluit, Nunavut. The band’s music, often sung in Inuktitut, is inspired by their northern home and features throat singing. “They are the highlight,” said Cisterna. The weekend will feature 16 bands playing music from Argentina, Brazil, Philippines, Turkey, Mexico, Zimbabwe, Peru, Indonesia, Columbia, Ecuador and South Africa.
Cisterna is excited about several of the groups the festival managed to attract such as the Brazilian singer, Gustavo Amaral, a master of the samba which is a Brazilian style of music just made for dancing.
“It’s samba so he’s going to be super lively,” said Cisterna.
Saturday, from 2 to 6 p.m., a number of workshops and interactive demonstrations will fill the day including a ukulele workshop with Jojo Worthington at 3 p.m. and a Balinese Gamelan ensemble at 3:45 p.m.
Closing out the festival Saturday night at 9:45 p.m. is the Peruvian band, Bareto, nominated for a Latin Grammy Award in 2012.
The Angolan-born Vivalda Dula, known as the “Queen of drumming for Angola” will perform 5 p.m. on Sunday and also run a drumming workshop at 4 p.m.
The term Kultrun, pronounced cool-troon, comes from
the Mapuche people of Chile and though it means a drum, there is deeper symbolism to the word as the heartbeat of life.
Sunday will also include dance workshops by Olga Barrios at 4:45 and Mateo Galindo at 6 p.m.
For the first time, Kultrun will run a panel discussion entitled “The Conversation.”
Cisterna explained the topic will be “talking about what kind of legacy do we want to leave Canada over the next 150 years.”
Two First Nations artists will be part of the panel, speaking about the country from an Indigenous perspective.
The event takes place at Open Sesame, beside Kitchener City Hall, Friday from 2 to 5 p.m.
Kultrun will also feature several craft vendors and food trucks including a new face in local food trucks, chef Kevin Thomas’s The Big Jerk Caribbean food.
With such a large festival planned, Neruda needed to be on stronger footing than last year and they successfully raised enough money in 2016 to retire much of their debt through crowd funding. Cisterna said the debt, which stands at just under 10 per cent of their income, cannot be ignored but it means her organization is still a going concern and she is grateful to government grantors such as Celebrate Ontario, Canadian Heritage and the City of Kitchener. She also praises local companies for supporting arts.
“They are the bread and butter of our sponsors,” she said “They provide the seeds.” vhill@therecord.com