The Winding Rivers Arts and Performance Society (WRAPS) – in partnership with SoundOn.ca – is presenting a series of 5 musical concert videos featuring 5 of some of the finest bands and musicians to be found in the Ashcroft, Cache Creek and the South Thompson River region of British Columbia.
The musicians whose wonderful performances you can look forward to enjoying soon are Nadine Davenport, Billanannee, The Dire Heart, The Melawmen Collective and Jenny & the Gents! Most – if not all – of these artists are familiar to most of us. Most have been performing for concerts and festivals in our area for years, including Ashcroft Music in the Park series, Lytton River Festivals, the Spences Bridge Desert Daze Festival and many others.
These five separate performances (five songs from each artist) will be premiered on the Hub Online Network YouTube Channel every Wednesday beginning July 14th. Links to each premiering video will be shared on the WRAPS Facebook page and other social media platforms. These performances will also be accessible for viewing on the website of our primary funding partner SoundON.ca
A room at the Ashcroft Hub was converted into a audio/video studio complete with stage, PA system, colored lighting, and even a smoke/fog machine. For one weekend in June 2021 this became the “HooDoo Lounge” – a virtual on-line concert venue. Here were the performances by local, but very well known and appreciated musicians digitally recorded to very high audio and video standards.
The past 18 months have been a long, strange struggle for all of us with this nearly unprecedented global health crisis trying to beat us down (and has failed!). Not just individuals and families, but entire communities have suffered and have sacrificed, some to the point of being beyond the hope for a healthy resurgence for possibly years to come.
Some of the hardest hit of these communities is almost the entire spectrum of the Creative Arts, especially those that are presented in public forums and spaces. Live music shows, concerts, and festivals – and the vastly varied and talented population of people that create, present and produce and make a living from them – are among the hardest hit of all. Especially those residing in the remote, rural and economically depressed regions of the communal landscape.
Recognizing this dire cultural crisis the fine people at SoundOn.ca in partnership with Creative BC have offered support and funding to have performances by local musicians to be filmed and recorded in order to be presented to a wider audience via the internet. WRAPS – whose mandate and passion is to promote, produce and present local art and artists, took immediate advantage of this opportunity to assist our struggling local music friends and community, and we are very grateful to SoundOn for this.
Not only musicians, but other artists and professionals have been impacted by the Covid lockdown, and in the creation of the “Hoodoo Lounge” project WRAPS has reached out to and gained the support of many of these as well, including the local online video Community Events studio the Hub Online Network who provided the gear and expertise for filming; Shey Fernando, a musician and recording engineer who recorded the audio portions of the performances, and internationally acclaimed visual artist Jo Petty who created the beautiful “Hoodoo Lounge” oil painting that is used for graphic and on-line promotion of the event.
We at WRAPS are excited and proud to present to our friends here and the world over this exciting musical project. Stay tuned to this website as well as our Facebook page for more details and information as “Live from the Hoodoo Lounge” unfolds!
