Bob Brozman in Canada
Bob Brozman has been touring in Canada since 1981, when he was first invited to play at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. He returned several times to Canada throughout the 1980s, to the Vancouver, Edmonton, and Winnipeg Folk Festivals, the Montreal International Jazz Festival, and to the Festival d'Ete de Quebec - Quebec City's summer festival. In 1984, at his first appearance in Quebec, Bob began a lifelong friendship with Jean Beauchesne, the artistic director, who would later help Bob organize the International Troupe tours in Canada, and introduce Bob to René Lacaille and a host of other international artists. Bob would return to various cities in Canada, including Quebec, Vancouver, Edmonton and Winnipeg, throughout the eighties - but it would be in the late 1990s that Bob's most exciting work in Canada would take center-stage.
In the early 1990s, with the success of the French-released Truckload of Blues, Bob found himself not only touring francophone areas more, but also teaching himself to speak French, so he could keep up with daily encounters while touring. Naturally, fluency in both of Canada's languages opened more doors for Bob, and he was able to increase his work in the eastern part of the country. He has been a star talent every year at the Festival d'Ete de Quebec for five years running.
In 1999, Bob assembled The International Troupe ensemble - 13 countries represented by over 40 master musicians, including René Lacaille (La Réunion Island), Debashish & Subhashis Bhattacharya (India), Takashi Hirayasu (Okinawa), Djeli Moussa Diawara (Guinea), George Pilali (Greece), Romane (France), La Familia Miranda (Cuba), George Gao (China), a Taiko drum ensemble from Canada, and Bob's band from the USA, The Thieves of Sleep (Michael Dunn, Doug Robinson, Daniel Thomas, and Rick Walker). This tour was an epic ensemble of lively and curious master musicians communicating with music - even though many different languages were represented. Bob guided the Troupe through a rigorous schedule of 15 concerts over the course of only 5 days, combining artists of various musical styles to create a different theme for each evening performance. The nights culminated at Bob's late-night "laboratories" at the Pub Ste. Alexandre, where the overflow of excitement from such an inspired collaboration prompted the Troupe members to create their own fantastic and fiery soirées on-stage, often surprising audiences with new global music blends until 4 am.
From the stage, the musicians emanated an ideal that everyone - from stage crew to the audiences to journalists - understood: that musical communication through friendship and respect is universal, despite barriers of language and culture.
This attitude has prevailed at Bob's Festival d'Ete de Quebec shows ever since, and in subsequent years he has continued that tradition. In 2000, he joined up with fellow USA slide guitarist David Lindley to form the sensational anonymous duo Los Amigos Especiales - again, ruling the late night Quebec scene until 4 am nightly. Bob also had the pleasure of adding the Debashish Bhattacharya ensemble and the René Lacaille ensemble to the mix for the next four nights -- these shows were rated as the most exciting of a 400-act festival.
In 2001, Bob returned to Quebec to work again with René Lacaille's group in anticipation of their 2002 release DIGDIG; and, with Montreal's Indian-Canadian groove/spoken word artist DJ Ram. Together, Bob and DJ Ram mixed electronic sound and organic sounds, playing for a completely different audience, many of whom then went on to the late night gigs. The papers reported this show and Bob's solo main stage set among the top 10 of the year.
In addition to all the action in Quebec City, Bob has added Montreal's Nuits d'Afrique Festival to his schedule (in 1999, with Diawara and Lacaille); along with Ottawa's Blues Festival and Festival de la Francophonie with Lacaille and Madagascar accordion master Regis Gisavo.
In 2002, Bob returned to Canada for another round of international music in Québec, performing 17+ shows with a spectacular line-up including Rene Lacaille (La Reunion Island), Takashi Hirayasu (Okinawa), Debashish Bhattacharya (India), Jeff Lang (Australia), Liu Fang (China), Campbell Brothers (USA)...plus rare appearances by the Bob Brozman Trio and a debut for Bob's acoustronica project with Daniel Thomas!
This troupe could not go to Québec in 2003, since they were all in California with Bob for his wedding to Haley! Through the years, Bob has brought several artists to Vancouver, where promoter Steve Edge has said to his audiences, "If Bob is playing here, and you have trouble pronouncing the name of whoever he is playing with, don't miss it - it will be a night to remember!"
All in all, the affinity that has grown between Bob and Canada over the last 20 years shows no signs of abating - due in part to what Bob has found to be a strong support for the arts by Canada's people, government, and cultural organizations.
Bob returned to Canada in early 2006, to perform in Vancouver with long-time collaborator and world-reknowned Canadian luthier/guitarist Michael Dunn. He will also be at the Canmore Festival in August 2006!
Presse en Français:
Critique: LE SOLEIL, Québec, "Doublé Exceptionnel" - 9 juillet 2001
Critique: LE JOURNAL DE L'ILE, Réunion, "Duo de Virtuoses" - 2000
Critique: LE SOLEIL, Québec, "Dix Spectacles à Retenir" - 27 mars 2000
Entrevue: LE SOLEIL, Québec, "Jouer Sans Filet" - 10 juillet 2000
Entrevue: LE SOLEIL, Québec, "Langage Commun" - 2000
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