Last week St. John's played host to East Coast Music Week - "a five-day, non-stop musical celebration showcasing and recognizing the best of East Coast artists and music". So naturally, we had to check it out!
The East Coast Music Association has been hosting an annual awards ceremony for 27 years and it has evolved into what is now known as East Coast Music Week (ECMW) bringing artists, industry professionals and the public together to recognize and celebrate music from the East Coast of Canada. The event started last Wednesday and lasted until Sunday, with a ton of events during that time, including the main awards gala on Thursday night. We had a couple of things going on last weekend so we didn’t have the opportunity to take in as much as we would have liked, but we did get a nice taste of the festival.
The festival is comprised of showcases which are either based on the home province of the artists, or based on the genre. The interesting thing about going to a provincial showcase is that there can be quite an eclectic mix of performances. So on Friday night, we went to Dusk to check out the Music Nova Scotia Stage where they were showcasing performances by artists from - you guessed it - Nova Scotia! Neither one of us had been to Dusk before because it is normally a dance club, but the venue itself worked well for this type of event.
We showed up at the end of the segment by Port Cities. And it truly was the very end because we just had enough time to hear them sing for 30 seconds, comment on how good they sounded, and then their time on stage was over. The timing was a bit unfortunate but we did show up just in time to see In Flight Safety; we did some research beforehand and they won an award on Thursday night for Album of the Year and also showed up on a CBC list of acts to check out at ECMW. In Flight Safety is a pop/rock band from Halifax and they were an entertaining group to see in person.
The festival is comprised of showcases which are either based on the home province of the artists, or based on the genre. The interesting thing about going to a provincial showcase is that there can be quite an eclectic mix of performances. So on Friday night, we went to Dusk to check out the Music Nova Scotia Stage where they were showcasing performances by artists from - you guessed it - Nova Scotia! Neither one of us had been to Dusk before because it is normally a dance club, but the venue itself worked well for this type of event.
We showed up at the end of the segment by Port Cities. And it truly was the very end because we just had enough time to hear them sing for 30 seconds, comment on how good they sounded, and then their time on stage was over. The timing was a bit unfortunate but we did show up just in time to see In Flight Safety; we did some research beforehand and they won an award on Thursday night for Album of the Year and also showed up on a CBC list of acts to check out at ECMW. In Flight Safety is a pop/rock band from Halifax and they were an entertaining group to see in person.
Cyndi Cain was up next. She is a soul singer from Halifax, accompanied by a 4-piece band and backup singers. She has quite the soulful voice and their set was lively, with easy listening tunes and catchy numbers.
After Cyndi and her band finished up, we stayed to check out the Town Heroes. They're a two-person alternate rock band and this year during ECMW they won Group Recording of the Year, Fan's Choice Entertainer of the Year, and Fan's Choice Video of the Year.
After Cyndi and her band finished up, we stayed to check out the Town Heroes. They're a two-person alternate rock band and this year during ECMW they won Group Recording of the Year, Fan's Choice Entertainer of the Year, and Fan's Choice Video of the Year.
 |  |
The event was really enjoyable, plus, we ran into our friends Shannon and Meghan at the show which added to the fun of the evening. After Town Heroes' performance, we wandered back to our apartment, with a stop at Muhammad Ali’s for a late night falafel. We couldn't resist.
The next day we went to the Jazz showcase in the afternoon at the Martini Bar. It had a much more chilled out vibe than the show on Friday night. The showcase started off with the trumpet-guitar duo of Paul Tynan and Jake Hanlon. They played some of their own compositions, improvisations, as well as some classics.
The next day we went to the Jazz showcase in the afternoon at the Martini Bar. It had a much more chilled out vibe than the show on Friday night. The showcase started off with the trumpet-guitar duo of Paul Tynan and Jake Hanlon. They played some of their own compositions, improvisations, as well as some classics.
While a few awards were presented on Thursday night at the Gala, many more were presented throughout the showcases. That meant that after the performance by the duo we had the opportunity to see the Jazz Recording of the Year award being presented. Unfortunately, the winner wasn't at the event, but it was cool to be there for an award presentation nonetheless!
We stuck around to see Mary Barry, a jazz singer with a supporting band, perform. She sang in both French and English and she was very engaging; the crowd was into it. Unfortunately, we had to leave before the end of her performance as Elizabeth had something going on in the evening.
We thoroughly enjoyed the shows we did see as part of East Coast Music Week and are just sorry we didn't/couldn't check out more events! Here are a few more photos:
We stuck around to see Mary Barry, a jazz singer with a supporting band, perform. She sang in both French and English and she was very engaging; the crowd was into it. Unfortunately, we had to leave before the end of her performance as Elizabeth had something going on in the evening.
We thoroughly enjoyed the shows we did see as part of East Coast Music Week and are just sorry we didn't/couldn't check out more events! Here are a few more photos:
