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Dec. 14, 2007
Words with intensity
Jewish book festival ends with gifted musicians.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
This year's Cherie Smith JCCGV Jewish Book Festival ended with a spoken-word concert. I didn't know what to expect. I had never encountered the scheduled performers before and, while I like reading poetry, I wasn't sure I'd like seeing it acted out – even with (especially with?) musical accompaniment. I was pleasantly surprised.
Arriving a little after start time, I missed some of the opening act, but what I did hear of it sounded promising. Sasha Langford, a member of the Vancouver Youth Poetry Slam team and a participant in the Vancouver Sista'Hood celebration, ably warmed up the audience – an unusually youthful and rowdy crowd for the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver (JCCGV).
She was followed by singer, songwriter, author and poet Gena Perala, who brought her sense of the absurd, and the crude sometimes, to the stage. She did spoken word and sang as well. One of the songs that she performed, which may remain unrecorded, had to do with her new "tradition" of having sex while watching The Simpsons – it elicited much laughter from the audience, who were charmed by her personality and enthused by her energy.
Perala's poetry books include Clean Getaway (2005) and I'm a Worst Case Scenario Type of Girl (2003). She performs in Vancouver with her indie-rock band, Friends Like Us, and she has just released her debut solo album, which is called this ain't pretty.
One of the most memorable songs that Perala sang at the book festival and which is one of the better songs on her CD is "American Way." It has an ominous pulse and an increasing sense of desperation, as Perala laments star culture: "Ooooh, I want to be a star. Yeah, baby, go real far. Make you want to be like me. Green with envy. Fame and fortune every day. American way, American way. Glamor, glitz and magazines...." When she pleads, "Tell me we're more than opposable thumbs," you want to be able to give her more than a cynical response, but it's hard.
Perala is a talented artist and, at the JCCGV, she truly engaged the audience with her intelligence, humor and spirit. The sense of fun that she displayed on stage, however, doesn't come through on her CD. It's a quality recording, with many tuneful and meaningful songs, but she's a little too serious and restrained. She's got a powerful, multi-dimensional personality and hopefully she will be able to let more facets of it shine through on her next CD.
The Fugitives – Vancouver artists Brendan McLeod, Mark Berube and Barbara Adler – handle the different media with more ease, perhaps because there is safety in numbers. As well, they have had much experience, having toured Europe and Canada multiple times. Locally in the past year, they've played the Vancouver Jazz Festival, the Chutzpah Festival and the book festival. Their JCC concert was supported by a few other musicians, including instrumentalist Steven Charles, and together they showed how multi-talented they are and how well they work as a group.
It was a commanding performance, a mix of spoken word and folk music, with an intensity and edginess that makes one of the terms used to describe their music – "slam folk" – understandable even to those of us who had no prior idea of its meaning. The Fugitives' geniality and sense of humor are a nice contrast to the slap-in-the-face feel of some of the songs. They are not angst-ridden, apathetic poets who robe themselves in black and see no reason to live life to its fullest. They scream out against injustice, but also honor the beauty in the world. Having at least three vocalists allows every song to sound unique and Berube's voice is particularly noteworthy, his descants and harmonies adding vital layers to the music.
In Streetlight Communion captures most of the Fugitives' energy and, while you may not stamp your feet quite as vigorously or dance with quite as much abandon as you would at one of their concerts, you will still move to this CD and the lyrics will reveal more of their meaning with each listen. One of the charms of this group, besides their obvious talent, is their honesty and this is captured even more fully on their spoken-word CD Face of Impurity, which was recorded live over three different readings – in Vancouver, Victoria and Langley. Occasionally, words are tripped over and laughter isn't held in check; in one instance, Berube barely makes it through one of his poems, as tears literally choke his words.
For more information on the Fugitives or Face of Impurity, visit www.fugitives.ca or e-mail [email protected]. In Streetlight Communion is available at cdbaby.com/cd/fugitivesmusic and at Highlife Records, Zulu Records and Scratch Records in Vancouver. Perala's this ain't pretty is available online at www.genaperala.com.
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