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Needles//Pins

 

The "F" Word Rules at the Salmon
Arm Roots and Blues Festival

There's a lot more than just
blues and roots at his festival
By Jim Dupuis

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Jim
JimThe 13 th annual Salmon Arm Roots and Blues Festival was held from Friday, August 12- Sunday, August 14, 2005 in the small town of Salmon Arm , BC. Weekend temperature highs were in the 30-33 C range. Salmon Arm is located on the shores of Lake Shuswap and is about a five hour drive from Vancouver . It was expected that around 18,000 people would pass through the gates during the festival. Music and other entertainment was performed on seven separate stages. While roots and blues music are the main fare there were many musical fusions taking place at different times throughout the weekend. Members of different bands were thrown in together to create interesting musical collaborations. The line-up included big names such as Buddy Guy, Colin James and Johnny Clegg, but it also included local boy Greg Sczebel, punkers The Weakerthans and bands from as far away as Poland , Scotland , Africa and nearby Vancouver and Alberta .

I managed to track down three bands that musically have nothing in common, yet their music is a fusion of a variety of genres. Generally festival interviews are short. Usually the musicians have just finished a set and they may well have to play again soon, or they just might want to get out of the 33C heat. I spoke with Suba Sankaran who plays piano, percussions and sings and Ed Hanley, classically trained on the tabla of Autorickshaw from Toronto . The band fuses North and South Indian music with jazz and Middle Eastern music. I also spoke with guitarist/vocalist John K. Samson of the Weakerthans, a Winnipeg/Toronto group, who are a punk band whose influences are rock, folk, alt-country and � more fusion. My other interview was with Sara Marreiros from Victoria who is performing Portuguese fado music and bossa.. She sometimes puts her own spin on it, or as she puts it, "a west coast feel." Need I mention fusion. All three groups played a variety of shows throughout the weekend and reported that they enjoyed themselves.

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Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - Autorickshaw
Part 3 - The Weakerthans
Part 4 - Sara Marreiros
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