Acrpost: A Project of the Pacific Association of Artist Run Centres

Event Description

Sunday May 27th will see the Cowichan Valley filled with harmonies to celebrate community. The Lila Music Centre’s Community Choir, directed by Cari Burdett, with the support of the Cowichan Tribes Elders Gathering Team, will present a multi-cultural program of songs as a fundraiser for the 42nd Annual BC Elders Gathering.
The Lila Music Centre’s Choir regularly sings at community events. Director Cari Burdett believes everyone can sing when provided with a safe, nourishing, supportive and joyful environment. The choir is part of the Ubuntu Choirs Network, honouring Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Ubuntu means “I am because we are” – a theme resonant with One Heart One Mind Nuts’a’maat shqwaluwun that is so important to the Cowichan people and this community.
The May 27th concert will feature the community choir singing songs from Estonia, Sweden, and Ghana, well-known versions of pop songs like “Let the River Run,” by Carley Simon, and songs by the Wailing Jenny’s. Special Guests include the talented youth duo of Quin Etheridge-Pedden on fiddle and guitar, and Tai McGillivray on mandolin and guitar, who at the young age of 15 will perform original folk-inspired, up-tempo music, along with local multi-instrumentalist Tania Gillespie on piano.
The concert will also feature a rarely-seen act of the Blue Eagle Drum Group, which plays traditional Dakota songs on a Pow Wow Drum. The group members are from Nanaimo and Duncan and are generously sharing their sacred music with us for this special event in honour for the Elders.

“This is an excellent opportunity for our community to come together with our neighbours in the spirit of celebration, reconciliation and partnership,” says Chief Seymour.