The Marni Levitt Collective enjoyed an action-packed tour in August.
Here is the story of our tour:
We enjoyed sharing the stage, rehearsing, collaborating and performing with several amazing artists in the Ottawa and Montreal areas. We began in Ottawa: drumming, dancing, singing and laughing in the park to a growing crowd of onlookers as we went through our songs with Catherine Veilleux, Madonna Limoges and Kim Gravelle.
rehearsing in the park near UMI Cafe in Ottawa
We then loaded our gear into Catherine’s car, and went down the street to UMI Cafe where we transformed the small cafe into a performance space. Over the course of the evening, the Cafe filled up with folks who listened attently to songs and spoken word. Jon Laurie-Beaumont shared several beautiful ballads and love songs – and then Brandon Wint captivated a hushed audience with poetry and spoken word. On this night, the Marni Levitt Collective grew to a size of 6 members – and then 7, when Brandon joined us for our spoken word piece entitled “an Open Letter to Rob Ford”. Most memorable was the choreography of our piece called “Disconnections”….we used our Blackberries and Iphones as props at the beginning – you can view it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTnTl1agZuU
The next day, we drove out of downtown Ottawa to Riverglen Biodynamic Farm. As soon as we arrived, we were greeted by chickens, roosters, fresh air, and the sound of crickets.
We enjoyed a delicious BBQ with supporters of the farm who were there to enjoy a night of music and to raise money for the farm’s new greenhouse. We began our set on an old wooden stage, our sound amplified by the sound system set up by Dave and his fabulous farm staff. Joined by Ashley Newall for Naomi Tessler’s song called “Bring Compassion” – the children in the audience enjoyed the story interwoven with song for this number, as well as our telling of the Zimbabwean folktale called “The Story of the Kudu”- about an animal that succeeds in stealing fresh crops from a family’s garden by charming them with music. The wooden stage was lovely, but a little bit rickety – and gave way to my guitar falling of its stand and cracking! Luckily, most of our songs (such as Laly, written by Val Woloshyn) were arranged for voice, body percussion, kalimba and drums. The music flowed sweetly from us in this natural setting.
The next morning – a beautiful day with sunshine - before driving to Montreal, we had fun posing for pics on the farm!
tractor equipment - how fun!
In Montreal – Eleuthera wowed us with her moving, silky, powerful vocals – and Moe Clark blew us away with her lyrical, rhythmic and meaningful poetics and song – and then we joined them - Moe Clark joined in on our piece called “Love Chant”. Following Eleuthera, I took my shoes off, and felt grounded and connected on stage to share our creations with a receptive crowd of Montrealers. Some Toronto supporters joined us to help sell CDs and collect money at the door – thank-you Cara Goldberg and friends!
Kingston Women’s Arts Fest was wet and rainy – but intimate – the audience joined us on the covered stage (a small stage) – as the rain came pelting down hard – we sang without microphones, directly to our audience, sitting right in front of us! Our “Open Letter to Rob Ford” piece was well-received – and someone from the crowd suggested we donate a recording of it to our local public library ! (we’ll consider it).
The tour ended with a delicious Cambodian meal in Kingston – and with the weather starting to turn itself towards chillier – closer-to-fall temperatures, we pointed the car westwards and drove home to the T-dot.
Until next time, highway 401.
The Marni Levitt Collective
