2019 East Coast Music Awards, Charlottetown, P.E.I. - Kubasonics Live at the Mariott Hotel, May 4, 2019


2019.5.4

Kubasonics Saturday 5.4.19, Delta Marriott Hotel, Prince Edward Island, East Coast Music Awards.

Brian Cherwick formed Kubasonics with his brother Paul and other siblings, spouses and friends while pursuing his post graduate degree in Alberta. Kubasonics released 4 albums, members came and went, until Brian moved to Newforundland in 2011.
Once in Saint John’s, Brian reassembled Kubasonics with some family and new friends. Kubasonics consists of a half dozen members, half of them Cherwicks.
In 2017 Kubasonics released  their first all Ukrainian album. Brian told CBC he noticed their Newfoundland fans liked trying to sing along with the Ukrainian lyrics of traditional songs, and the songs do indeed inspire one to want to sing along. Their music is a folky but hard polka played fast and sung loud. Some of the instrumentation reminds me of a klezmer style, but the vocals sound decidedly Slavic. While they have a light hearted sound and don’t seem to take themselves too seriously on stage, their musicianship is serious. They are fun, but not gimmicky.
Kubasonics play traditional Ukrainian instruments in a not-always-traditional musical themes. Their current release “Kubfunland” is their first in almost a decade and marks their Maritime recording debut.
Before the last song, Brian said they were from Saint John’s, and “we hope to see you in some part of the world.” Next year’s ECMA’s will however, visit his part of the world in Newfoundland. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2020.2.1 Elage Diouf live at Alliance Francaise, Toronto

Elage Diouf at Alliance Francaise Saturday February 1 2020 Batuki Music Society and Alliance Francaise bring some terrific African talent, artists often little known outside their community, to our community of music fans downtown. Elage Diouf started playing as a kid, with his brother. He hid this predilection from his parents initially, but the pair became known as purveyors of music in Diouf’s native Senegal. He toured Europe before arriving in Montreal on a limited engagement that turned into a new life in Canada. His first solo album “Askil” is the Wolof word for “welcome” or “enter.” Singing in Wolof and French, with the occasional smattering of English, Diouf has become an accomplished singer – songwriter and percussionist.   Tonight, with some expert help imported from Montreal, Diouf played two well received sets. His live sound is raw and immediate, despite the smooth production on his released songs. The drummer let Diouf meander on his hand ...
Read more

Ruby Waters Live at the Horseshoe, Wednesday, November 13, 2019

2019.11.13 Ruby Waters Wednesday November 13, 2019 at The Horseshoe Tavern. Ruby Waters career is taking off. She toured with Classified and appears on his song “10 Years,” which they performed together at the 2019 East Coast Music Awards in Charlottetown. Recently she released an e.p. called “Almost Naked.” She had the idea and title on her mind for years but decided to wait until now to put an album out. Waters brought her 1-man back-up band to the Horseshoe for the first of two nights in her home town. The keyboard player riffed on some soulful slivers between songs, which varied stylistically once they got going. Some of Waters’ material is classic singer-songwriter rustic sounding, while other songs are decidedly poppier. The drum sounds emanating from the keyboard player for some tracks seemed incongruent with Waters’ natural vibe and singing approach. A good live drummer would have pushed the music harder on stage. The keyboardist meandered into th...
Read more

Downchild Blues Band Live Bloor Street, TD Jazz Festival, Saturday June 22, 2019

2019.6.22 (2) Downchild Blues Band with guests -   Saturday, June 22, 2019. TD Jazz Festival, Bloor Street, Toronto. A few casualties of the road later, Donnie “Mr. Downchild” Walsh’s Downchild Blues Band had made it to their 50 th Anniversary in road-worthy form. The band are touring Canada on and off for the rest of the year, raising the stakes for this particular gig. Luckily, it fell on a sunny Saturday evening, the first of the summer. Downchild’s rocking blues with a dash of soul might be more famous globally for inspiring The Blues Brothers, but they’ve been a reliable ticket to a party in Canada for, (ahem) 50 years. Like their more famous musical forebears, each lost a charismatic front man to lifestyle problems, but Downchild soldiers on. Tonight’s bash was a free street show for thousands of people crammed into the concrete canyon of Bloor West at Bay Street. A few friends came by, like American keyboardist Gene Taylor, guitarist Kenny Nea...
Read more