Artist of the Day | ANNA MARIE BEKOLAY
ARTIST OF THE DAY
07.11.2020
ANNA MARIE BEKOLAY
Multidisciplinary Artist With:
The Whiskey Jerks, Back of the Bus, The Stephanies, Mac Talla Quartet, Phantasma
LOCATION
Saskatoon, SK
GENRE
Evocative Folk & Classical inspired Music
ARTIST
Anna Marie Bekolay
Anna Maria Soparlo (stage name)
CURRENT BANDS & MEMBERS
The Whiskey Jerks: Gillian Snider, Anna Marie Bekolay, Peter Abonyi, James Diakuw, Nevin Buehler, Aidan Weiman
Back of the Bus: Jim Walls, Sheila Churchman Vaadeland, Paul Runalls, Kathi Davis-Lepage, Anna Bekolay
The Stephanies: Roberta Miranda, Sally Mitchell, Anna Bekolay
Mac Talla Quartet: Kim de Laforest, Anna Bekolay, Jeremy Cook, Sean Whelan
Phantasma: Anna Maria Soparlo, Nevin Buehler, Kevin Buzinski
With the current pandemic, the state of the music and touring industry has dramatically changed. Where were you when everything was brought to a halt?
When everything was brought to a halt, I was at the Saskatoon Airport - about to play a set to help welcome Juno Artists as they arrived for the Junos March 12th (with Gillian Snider). Our set got cancelled before we began... however, thanks to the musician's association, we still got paid... sad to not play though…
How has that affected your plans for the coming months? Did you have a tour planned, upcoming album release?
I had dates booked pretty solid from March to September, including 2 shows in one night March 14th, 2020: 2 different groups (Back of the Bus and The Whiskey Jerks), 2 different venues (Mayfair United Church and The Broadway Theatre), and only enough time between them to walk off stage, travel to the 2nd venue, and onto stage there (was in the process of organizing a ride from the 1st show to the 2nd show and a 2nd violin etc. for one of the shows so that I would only have to take my bow with me and not have to pack anything up or unpack anything ...). The Stephanies had been starting to write new material together again. I was booked to adjudicate at 3 music festivals which were all cancelled (end of March – early April). My Studio teaching went all online through Zoom, Skype, and Facebook Messenger (except for 3 students who discontinued and 4 students who continued to attend in person with lots of hand washing and distancing). My dance/movement meditation group went online through Zoom until we could gather with distance outside. April 17 & 18, Back of the Bus had been booked to play Moose Jaw at Bobby’s and I had been booked to guest with the Saskatoon Men’s Chorus the day after that (on violin / fiddle). The Whiskey Jerks and Back of the Bus had been booked for shows at She-NANIGANS in North Battleford. Mac Talla Quartet had a May concert booked (a postponed one from the fall...). I spent 46 hours in mid to late June learning video editing and editing videos from my students to create one Recital video in place of holding a Studio Recital in person. The Whiskey Jerks and Back of the Bus had some travel plans for a few summer and early autumn shows – building some touring around them ... (mostly Saskatchewan and Western Canada). The Whiskey Jerks were also hoping to release the latest album (Baba Was a Bootlegger) on Vinyl ... we still likely will ... sometime later ...
Long story long, everything has changed. Most things were canceled or postponed. Some projects are on hold still. Phantasma was planning to go public in April 2020 ... and, I was hoping to launch a new classical concert series in April 2020 as well ... all on hold for the moment while starting to develop promo materials.
What have you been doing to fill/make the most of your new-found free time at home?
The sudden, shocking cancellation of everything hit me hard – especially the timing of it. So, I fell into a deep depression that affected everything except my teaching – I grieved all the lost work and the lost income, I freaked out about making too much money to receive government help (to begin with ... this did change) and too little to pay all my bills (at least initially). I slept 14 hours a day – got up, ate, taught, went back to bed – for a few weeks ... During that time, I mostly took a complete break from music, but dabbled in some classical works and some comparison between different styles and similar techniques needed for very different works. I also started a wellness page on Facebook: The Art of Intentionally Being Well. ... Coming out of the depression involved much emotional slogging and backlogged emotional dredging - partly part of my writing process. I wrote many, many tunes – some of which will be developed for one group or another. I’m also in the process of writing some pop songs: love songs, a breakup song (not really about anyone in particular – more the emotions around these experiences). Sometime in June, I started taking African Brazilian Dance classes with Newton Moraes over Zoom - this has helped everything from my mental state to my physical stamina!
Over the summer, I was able to participate in some orchestral recording and learned some new music between gardening jobs (as the Back Yard Elf) and painting. I got to play with Shayne Lazarowich for the “Walking with our Angels” concert in support of Tristen Durocher in his efforts to bring about more effective suicide prevention resources in this province – this will hopefully have some serious impact – it certainly impacted me...
Since my Studio never filled this year, I am continuing to take African Brazilian Dance Classes with Newton Moraes of Toronto and am also taking a Modern Dance Class with Jackie Latendresse, founder of Free Flow Dance Theatre Company (Saskatoon) - both over Zoom. Inspiring movement!! Some of my regular band rehearsals began again when we could safely get together again. Learned some new material, got to do some outdoor filming for a documentary by Driftwood Productions (with The Whiskey Jerks), and for the Scottish Pavilion (with Back of the Bus), played a fundraiser for Furbaby, played some small back yard parties, did a little recording, and more recently some filming for promo materials for my upcoming classical concert series.
What was the first thing you did/place you went to now the country is starting to slowly re-open?
As soon as it was possible, I played a couple limited and distanced back yard parties – one with Back of the Bus, one with The Whiskey Jerks - absolute bliss to share our music with an appreciative paying audience!! Very recently, Back of the Bus finally got to play She-NANIGANS in North Battleford! I am very much looking forward to playing more indoor shows: Back of the Bus at The Bassment Nov 6 & 7 (sold out) and The Whiskey Jerks’ first indoor show coming up in November: Nov 21 at She-NANIGANS in North Battleford! Woo!
Do you have a message for everyone at home reading this?
Never underestimate the power and value of downtime - even if it comes about beyond one's control. And, if at all possible, avoid diving off the deep end when everything feels like it has gone awry ... rest, breathe, stretch, move, dance, practise patience beyond anything you ever thought possible, and dive into your creativity as much as possible.
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