|
|
March 2, 2012
Multicultural music festival
CelticFest founder Rita Albano speaks with the Independent.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
The eighth annual CelticFest is celebrating with a few firsts: two premières that highlight the festival’s multicultural vision and the first-ever partnership with a charitable organization.
Of the premières, festival founder and executive producer Rita Albano told the Independent, “There are two nights of concerts at the Edgewater Casino. On March 15, From Texas to Tipperary celebrates the rich vein of Celtic influence that runs through Americana roots music with an all-star lineup that includes Jim Byrnes, Fish and Bird, the Matinée, T. Nile, Roy Forbes, Babe Gurr, Steve Dawson and many others. On March 16, the San Patricios Concert – From Galway to Guadalajara connects Ireland and Mexico with music from Locarno, Mariachi Los Dorados and the Paperboys, along with the CelticFest house band.”
Albano noted that the third main concert of the festival is also a cross-cultural collaboration. Delhi 2 Dublin, an internationally known group that was launched at CelticFest six years ago, returns to its birthplace, so to speak, to take part in a concert at the Vogue Theatre on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, with special guests Dream Catcher, who are from Luxembourg.
Another new sight at the festival will be volunteers from Coast Mental Health, who will be collecting donations throughout the March 17-18 weekend at the Celtic Village (on Granville between Georgia and Smithe) and at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which begins at Howe and Drake on March 18, at 11 a.m., and heads north on Howe, ending at Georgia and Granville.
Albano said that CelticFest decided to partner with Coast Mental Health “because of the tremendous good work and services they provide to the mentally ill, such as housing, employment programs, social opportunities and other community mental health services. We feel that much of this goes unnoticed by the public and wanted to give them a high-profile venue to educate the public at. Mental illness can occur to any one of us at any time, hence, we wanted to get people talking about it.”
Albano’s business, OneWorld Arts Productions, not only produces CelticFest, but also “has put on various shows, organized cross-Canada music tours, produced a street busker project, big launch events, organized Sport Tourism symposiums, and other similar projects.”
About how she got into the event management field, Albano said, “While working as a protocol officer at Expo ’86, I was recruited by the XV Olympic Winter Games in Calgary, where I managed community relations and produced the venue and torch ceremonies. Soon after the Games, I joined an international fundraising firm, where I managed various large capital fundraising campaigns in the U.K., Australia and New Zealand. It was difficult to not have a home base so, in 1992, I moved to Vancouver, where I continued to manage various funding campaigns and then branched out into event management.”
Albano, who was born in Istanbul, immigrated with her family to Montreal when she was two years old.
“We’re Sephardic and my parents spoke, and still speak, Ladino and French (with the odd Turkish word thrown in) to each other, and English to my sister and me. To outsiders visiting us, our household sounded chaotic!” she shared with the Independent.
“Having been brought up as a Sephardic, attending a Protestant school and bonding with French Canadians and other cultures gave me a broad view and understanding of other religions and cultures. I think this is where my passion for arts and culture stemmed from. My father was a great lover of all sorts of music, which also rubbed off on me from an early age.”
While her family celebrated the High Holidays together, she said she paid little attention to religion in her youth. “As I grew older, however, I took great interest in the history of Sephardics and the Ladino language and am still fascinated by it. I’m constantly researching our genealogy and discovering new data. This was punctuated by my first trip to Istanbul last May.”
Given Albano’s background, it is easy to see why CelticFest features an eclectic mix of performers and events. For those who can’t wait till it begins on March 14, Albano pointed out that, “This year, the festival is branching out from its usual Downtown Vancouver home with a special pre-festival ‘sneak peek’ free event on March 10 at the Village on False Creek, called Celts on the Creek.” Performers include Seattle’s the Gothard Sisters plus Lorne Warr and the Streels, Good for Grapes and the Jocelyn Pettit Band.
“I would like to invite all your readers to experience CelticFest Vancouver – there are almost 70 events, numerous free performances and music workshops and our ticketed events are reasonably priced,” said Albano, also thanking members of the community who have come to past festivals. “It’s a lot of fun and the music is infectious.”
CelticFest runs March 14-18, with a pre-festival “sneak peak” on March 10. Program guides are available at most Blenz outlets and more information is available at celticfestvancouver.com. Tickets can be purchased through the festival’s website or from Tickets Tonight, 604-684-2787 or the Tickets Tonight office in the Tourism Vancouver Visitor Centre Plaza Level, 200 Burrard St. For tickets to the BIG St. Pat’s Night Out! concert featuring Delhi 2 Dublin with Dream Catcher, visit the festival website or contact the Vogue Theatre, 604-569-1144 or 918 Granville St.
^TOP
|
|
