ELEMENTSIRCUS ACTIVITIES !!!
From 6 pm
Crazy Games
Performance Painters
Dance
Video & Film
Solstice Pinata
and much more!!!
MAIN STAGE
6 to 12 midnight
DAMO SUZUKI
with
THE ABSENT SOUND
Video Projection by BRYAN BESANT
HIGH FIVE DRIVE
...AND THEN NOTHING
TONE CANOE & ELECTRIC PADDLE
THE FO!PS
MAIN STAGE TWEENERS
JAHSPLOITATION
DEAD LETTERS
FIREDANCE PRODUCTIONS
FIRE PYXIES
JOSHUA "POOR ANDY" STANTON
ARIYA AFRIKA
ADAM THE JUGGLER
DAVE STUBEL
MAIN STAGE
6 to 12 midnight
Suzuki spent the late 1960s wandering around Europe, often busking, during which time he would only have been a teenager. [1]
When Malcolm Mooney left Can after recording their first album Monster Movie, Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit encountered Suzuki singing on a street in Munich, Germany whilst the two were sitting outside at a street café. They invited him to join the group, and he did, performing with them that evening.[2]
Suzuki was with Can from 1970 to 1973, recording a number of well-regarded albums such as Tago Mago and Ege Bamyasi. His freeform, often improvised lyrics, sung in no one particular language[2] gelled with Can's rolling, psychedelic sound.
Suzuki converted to the Jehovah's Witness[2] faith when he married his German girlfriend, who was also a Jehovah's Witness, after the release of the album Future Days, and retired from music in 1974.
He returned to music in 1983, and currently leads what is known as Damo Suzuki's Network - as he tours, he performs live improvisational music with various local musicians (so-called "Sound Carriers" [3]) from around the world, thus building up a 'network' of musicians that he has and can collaborate with.
Among the musicians at his live shows have been Michael Karoli and Jaki Liebezeit of Can, Mani Neumeier of Guru Guru, Dustin Donaldson of I Am Spoonbender, Cul De Sac, Passierzettel, The Bees, Do Make Say Think, Broken Social Scene, Acid Mothers Temple, the Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Quintet (with whom he has recorded the 2007 EP Please Heat This Eventually), The Skull Defekts, Edmund Ammendola and Dave Williams of Augie March, Gordon J Watson & Simon Doling of Terminal Cheesecake, Gary Jeff of God, Karl Asa of J>A>W> and many, many others.[3]
www.myspace.com/absentsound
www.myspace.com/elementsircus
Engaging, atmospheric, dream-like ambiance are the powerful elements in the music of Absent Sound. These puppet masters wield a musical arsenal creating huge dramatic worlds of sound with organic chants, colossal guitars, hypnotic off-time record scratches, beats, loops, and Lesley speaker keyboard drones: ears open and eyes closed is all the flight attendant requests.
Absent Sound began as a solo project of Robert G. Menard around 1995 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada with friends helping him produce the home recordings in a live setting. In 2002, David Fort joined as a permanent member to the take the band into a much more serious mode. Menard (guitars, samples/loops, vocals and keys) and Fort (guitars, bass, vocals and keys) secluded themselves in the wilds of north-central Manitoba. Over the next year the pair hid from all distractions, meditating solely on the rise and fall of the earth's respirating chest. What emerged a year later was a treasure chest full ideas and music that are still being explored four years later. Their innate community building skills have allowed them to become the hub of one of the more vibrant progressive art and music scenes in Canada.
The Absent Sound's live show puts them in the realm of an art installation: employing at times multiple tv sets, performance painting, film projection, contemporary dancers, and stilt-walking pantomime. Winnipeg's creatively fertile film making community have also perfectly complimented their music.
The group has toured extensively throughout North America and are best experienced live bringing their unique style of sensory art and music to life. Sharing the stage with Do Make Say Think, Feist, Fly Pan Am, Mono, Growing, Clann Zu, and Mahogany Frog portrays the caliber of musical acts Absent Sound melds perfectly with.
The band has released three albums to date, "Another Chapter" (2003), "Music To Live And Die To" (2004), and "It's All True" (2005). No List Records, a Winnipeg based record label, saw the potential in Absent Sound and decided to release "It's All True". The rich and full sound was captured beautifully by recording engineer Craig Boychuk (Propaghandi, Greg MacPherson, Hide Your Daughters) and mastered in Montreal by Harris Newman (most Constellation Records releases). The Absent Sound are receiving nothing but positive feedback and reviews from all over the world.
Absent Sound have showcased at such diverse festivals as Ness Creek, Winnipeg Jazz, JunoFest, and Send & Receive. They have also created two of their own festivals, The ElementSircus, a sonic multi-media and costumed event, and The 20 Guitar Circular Wall Of Angelic Sound.
The Absent Sound have now evolved into a full production joining forces with Kelly Castle (Little Buddies, former National Monument, Room 237) on drums, vocals, guitars, and keys, as well as Josh Butcher on keys, performance painting, and film projections. Since returning to Winnipeg from their musical endeavors in New York City, the band continues to enchant and inspire audiences.
Video Projection
Bryan Besant is a local video artist who has been creating with various performance groups across the province. His most recent collaborations include pieces produced with Camerata Nova for the 2007 New Music Festival in Winnipeg this past February and a new project for Freya Olafson's multi-media dance performance with The Absent Sound at Nuna, a showcase of young Icelandic and Icelandic-Canadian talent held in Winnipeg April 22 to April 29, 2007.
www.highfivedrive.com
www.myspace.com/highfivedrive
www.purevolume.com/highfivedrive
Picture a band with punk-rock, pop, metal and emo influences crammed into a Ferrari racing down the highway...and the car is on fire. That would be Winnipeg’s own speed-rock heroes, High Five Drive. Formed in 2001, High Five Drive is the hardest working band in Winnipeg and a local institution. Fronted by the busiest guy in local music, Greg Rekus, High Five Drive has spent the last five years coming into their own and showcasing their unique brand of high-energy melodic punk-rock to fans across Canada and all over the world thanks to distribution deals in Canada and Japan.
With a sound influenced by Lagwagon, Belvedere, and Strung Out, High Five Drive has built a strong following from the ground up with relentless touring across Canada, local radio play and three international releases. Seeing High Five Drive on stage is a life-changing experience in and of itself. Known for their super-charged, disregard-for-personal-safety, high-intensity live shows, High Five Drive has shared the stage with The Mad Caddies, Rufio, SNFU, Mae, Belvedere, Closet Monster, Slick Shoes, Tsunami Bomb and Satanic Surfers. And their fans are not only coming out to concerts to show their support, there is also a considerable internet following. Though the band website receives its fair share of attention on its own, CDBaby.com sells their full length, and their MySpace and PureVolume profiles boast over 80,000 total song-plays combined.
Somewhere between their frantic energy, meaningful lyrics and catchy hooks, the band has fine-tuned their sound over the course their first full-length album, a sold-out EP, various compilations including comps in Canada and Japan, a North America distributed Warped Tour sampler, and a Japanese split EP with Sentimental. At the moment, our heroes are anxiously awaiting the release of their second full-length record, From The Ground Up, which was recorded with scene veteran Blair Calibaba (Gob, Sum 41, No Means No) and ex-Belvedere frontman Steve Rawles.
What remains for Winnipeg’s fearless speed-rock champions? More touring? Definitely. World domination? Probably. High Five Drive’s plan of attack includes spreading the word of High Five Drive and their new record, From The Ground Up, with their trademark manic energy in their tenth stint across Canada. They’re also planning their very first trek across Europe late this year.
So heads up, because High Five Drive is coming to a stage, stereo and computer near you baring the tightness of wet knots and emo kid t-shirts, that can't be beat!
www.myspace.com/andthennothingmusic
www.100nons.com
...and then nothing is an experimental band that hails from Winnipeg, MB. They often juxtapose film and other visual art forms with music in a hazardous unplanned way to see what effect it will give. Sometimes the results are startling! The band rarely stays the same. Other than Ivan Burke, Derrick Finch and Stéphane Oystryk, the band is in constant change. That's the way they like it. They love to share songs with their friends and see what they have to contribute creatively. They've rarely played more than two shows with the same line-up. The musicians and the songs are always evolving so everything is a snapshot in time.
Cam Baggins plays a strung canoe and electrified paddle which he designed himself. A feast for the eyes and ears!!!
Starting as a three piece "artcore" band, this artistic group of arties has evolved into the best form of art possible; a 7-piece consisting of guitars, drums, horns, keyboards and bass (the fish).
MAIN STAGE TWEENERS
www.myspace.com/jahsploitation
Jahsploitation is the future. Right now, in the present you can experience what is to become of electronic music. Stop what you're doing. Listen carefully and watch for signs of what to do next. The demise of our species is nearly at hand. At least perish with the knowledge that you enjoyed civilization's highest achievement: JAHSPLOITATION "suffer the wicked man".
DEAD LETTERS
www.hamtheband.ca
www.myspace.com/hamtheband
www.nationalmonument.ca
www.myspace.com/nationalmonument
Jim Demos and Al Janusz of Ham & National Monument team up to work on a new project called the Dead Letters...
Birth: 1995
Albums: 3 and two cassettes(out of print but might be released on cd one day)
Members: 4
Ham has played numerous shows with such notible acts such as No Means No, The New Duncan Imperials, Uz Jmse Doma, Tricky Woo, Kittens, to name a few and on April 14th, 2004 in Winnipeg, Ham was granted the opening slot for The Pixies - a sold out concert at the Burton Cummings Theatre.
Ham's style of Beefheart-meets-Polvo math rock will make you reminisce about the mad geniuses of the past - Pere Ubu, Heavy Vegetable, Captain Beefheart, Truman's Water. Ham has to be heard to be believed and believed in to be heard; their innovativeness and ability to not take too seriously puts their music in a league of its own.
Psychedelic, artsy punk rock, pop, dreamy, prog, electronics all have been stated and smacked up-side the head.
Comparisons to the band have been wide-ranging from Jesus and Mary Chain, Television, My Bloody Valentine, Blonde Red Head, The Stooges, Polvo and Sonic Youth. You get the idea. Now come to the shows and see for yourself!
www.firedanceproductions.com
www.myspace.com/firedancepro
Firedance Productions is the largest rhythmic fire and light performance group in Canada. Your senses will be dazzled as dancers spin fire, glow or streamers to the tribal beats of live drummers or to edgy urban electronic music.
The Fire Pyxies Performance Art Collective consists of a group of three women firedancers from Winnipeg. They perform all year long for a variety of events and festivals. They learned to spin fire while travelling abroad in Thailand, India and Mexico. The collective began around 2002 when they decided to start busking around the city and perform together. Their choreography and creativity continues to grow and evolve. The more they learn, the more they try to come up with new ways of moving. They really enjoy playing for people and their audiences are always energizing and encouraging. The Fire Pyxies thank everyone who has helped them along the way... they couldn't have done it without you!
Fire dancing originated from the Maori tribe of New Zealand whose warriors performed certain movements in order to improve their sense of balance and coordination. The fire dancing that this group does is somewhat different in that it incorporates dance, martial arts and gymnastics. Musical accompaniment allows the dancers to move more freely and the various fire tools they use gives them the chance to explore different ways of dancing with fire.
www.myspace.com/poorandysdogandponyshow
www.myspace.com/joshuastanton
www.joshuastanton.com
Joshua Stanton is one of Canada's most dynamic contemporary sitarists. Having studied with legendary ImdadKhani Gharana Ustad Irshad Khan, the nation's preëminent sitar mæstro, he is also a multi-instrumental recording artist & producer; a fine artist, designer, and filmmaker. Stanton's Chaplinesque alter-ego, the skiffle-singing tramp Poor Andy, has become a fixture at many Winnipeg events.
Joshua's invention, the dobro vina, realizes Indian classical guitar for the lead guitarist, being a fretted, upright instrument rather than a lap-slider. He has constantly refined his self-constructed prototype since its origins in 1993. More than a guitar with sympathetic strings, dobro vina includes the defining features of all classical vinas--distinct melody, bass, and rhythm strings. Capably rendering gayaki ang (vocal style) with its scalloped frets; with chikaris, jawari, and unwound bronze in counterpulse--yet fretted and plucked like an electric guitar--the dobro vina presents a true common point for Indian and Western instruments.
Mr. Stanton has had a long and varied career on the Winnipeg music scene, having played as a guest-soloist with Skingerbreadman, the Hummers, and Querkus; scored short films including Shannon Ottarson's The Keys starring the inimitable Ryan Black, and maintained ongoing relationships with kathak legend Usha Sharma & Manohar Performing Arts of Canada, Winnipeg's premiere Indian classical dance troupe (with whom he appeared in Guy Maddin's The Saddest Music in the World) and the Ragpickers / Element Sircus performers' collective. He has performed and recorded with tabla virtuoso Sharmela Parboji and the enigmatic ghazal-vocalist A. P. Nandkishore, and is a founding member of MUST which features such instrumental luminaries as Jagjeet Sroay, Deep Singh, and Pal Chana. Joshua has represented the classical instrumental tradition at Folklorama's India Pavilion since 1995.
Stanton's efforts at reviving the seminal but largely-forgotten genres of British skiffle music and the Chaplinesque have produced the soon-to-be-released album Poor Andy's Dog & Pony Show and the silent comedy Better Bunk, and have eked a place for these lost arts in the 21st Century. He remains among the last of the classically-trained pen-and-ink typographer / illustrators, and ranks among his achievments Heartland Associates' Dancing Backwards and his countless posters, ads, and graphics for Ragpickers Antifashion Emporium.
ARIYA AFRIKA is not new to Winnipeg audiences since its debut performance in 1994 up until this very day. The group feature performances including storytelling, gospel, traditional singing, drumming, dancing and play-acting.
ARIYA AFRIKA CULTURAL DANCERS is registered in Manitoba as a non-profit organization; the group featured through dance performances with Africa Communities Association of Manitoba. The group is comprised of dancers and drummers. The ages range from eleven to forty years old. The group does live performances through the use of drums or musical tapes to educate and entertain the audience of the rich cultural dance of Africa.
