Internationally renowned Canadian fiddler, singer, songwriter and step-dancer April Verch will perform at the Central Cariboo Arts Centre this Tuesday, Nov. 8 starting at 7:30 p.m.
Arts centre seating is limited to 90 people so reservations are required by calling 778-412-9044 or e-mail mountainmystics@me.com.
Verch was born to traditional music, in Canada’s hard-working, hard-dancing Ottawa Valley.
She was a local star at four, step dancing with her sister and winning awards at contests. The fact that they were for “Youngest Competitor” didn’t dampen her child-eyed enthusiasm.
She became the first woman in history to win both of Canada’s most prestigious fiddle championships, the Grand Masters and Canadian Open; and when Canada hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics, she was asked to represent Canada’s music at the opening ceremonies.
“The world is this amazing puzzle that we can’t fully understand and music is the joy that pulls it all together and helps us make sense of it,” Verch says in her biography.
The April Verch Band consists of Verch at the helm and world-class musicians Clay Ross on guitar and Cody Walters on upright-electric bass and banjo. They have toured across Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Europe, Australia and China. Together they have established a reputation as consummate performers with boundless energy on stage that inevitably brings audiences to their feet.
Verch will entertain with selections from her eighth CD That’s How We Run released in June.
On That’s How We Run, Verch explores the Southern mountain traditions known as old-time music, but always brings her northern roots with her.
Plucky, straight-backed Canadian tunes fit so snugly beside ancient Appalachian airs that you’d think they’d been neighbours for centuries.
Ottawa Valley music is a foot-stomping, open-minded fusion of Irish, Scottish, French, German, and Polish influences, sprinkled with tangy spices of American country music.
“What makes the Ottawa Valley unique,” Verch says, “is that it’s melting-pot music.”