“Kanatal” means island in the language of the Amis people from the east coast of the Island of Taiwan, some 9.500 km across the Pacific Ocean.
Kanatal is also the name of a quartet of Indigenous musicians from a different ethnic backgrounds in Taiwan who have made that trip this summer to perform their unique blend of traditional and modern music around B.C. including at Spirit Square on Thursday, July 7. The performance is co-presented by Vancouver Island MusicFest in the Comox Valley, where Kanatal will be playing July 10-11 as well.
Earlier this year, Spirit Square programmer Lucas Schuller asked MusicFest Artistic Director, Doug Cox, about bringing one of the performers to Campbell River just prior to the festival.
“Doug was really supportive of the idea, and when he asked what sort of artist I was interested in I said: what’s something wild that we’d never otherwise get a chance to see in Campbell River?” Cox replied that he had the perfect group in Kanatal.
The four members of the group all sing in multiple languages and play numerous instruments including percussion, guitars, cello, and incorporating electronic elements.
Then for something completely different, on Thursday, July 14 Spirit Square welcomes Paris Pick, a North Islander, who grew up in Port Hardy, but has been based in Whitehorse for almost a decade.
Pick’s music has been described as yacht-pop or modern motown. Last year she released her second album “Hope for the Best” packed with honest, cheeky and uplifting songs about personal growth, life, love and heartache. Each one delivered with her strong and distinctive vocals and woven together with crunchy-cute fuzz guitar, and the ultra-funky rhythm section and 70’s style backup vocals from her band the Pricks (named for the exes Pick sings about, rather than her bandmates themselves).
Spirit Square hosts free live music in downtown Campbell River every Tuesday at noon and Thursday at 7 p.m. all summer long. For more details, news and updates go to www.spiritsquare.ca or @CRSpiritSquare on facebook.