Vancouver hosts annual festival of adventurous music for young audiences.
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Big Bang! Festival
When: Feb. 16, 11:30 a.m.
Where: Roundhouse Community Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews, Vancouver
The Big Bang! Festival launched in Ghent, Belgium, in 2010.
Over the past 15 years the annual international music event dedicated to young and adventurous audiences ages five-plus has been presented across many major European capital cities as well as two locations in Brazil. Previous Canadian host cities include Ottawa and Québec City.
Local modern and classical music presenter Music On Main is partnering with the Big Bang! to make the event take place in downtown Vancouver. Events range from free to $5. David Pay, Music On Main founder and artistic director, sees the arrival of this prestigious festival as another success for the 20-year-old organization.
“This is a music festival for children, but not of children’s music in the sense of those excellent artists as Sharon, Lois & Bram, etc.,” said Pay. “The idea is this is adventurous music you wouldn’t hear on the radio or that album you play on repeat in your car driving across the country. It’s about music that really respects the audience and gives them something unique.”
Pay and his team have attended various incarnations of the Big Bang! Festival in other locations, preparing a preview video that includes the festival’s Young Ambassador hosts inviting audiences to attend.
“A cornerstone of the event is having these children, ages eight to 12, who become the hosts of the festival,” he said. “They will do interviews with people, serve as information providers, seating people and so on. Watching it reminded me about how lovely it is to be in the space created for the event, which is with children and for children. It’s a joyful cacophony.”
Turning around the notion that you need to dumb things down for young audiences, performances and presentations include a variety of artists doing exactly what they do for crowds of any ages.
While the Tsatsu Stalquyu (Coastal Wolf Pack), with its multi-generational showcases of traditional Salish song and dance to the dance and march-along zaniness of the large-sized Carnival Band are obvious fits for any cultural event, other festival highlights dive right into the “adventurous” side of the bill.
Among these, the Bounce House looks to be one of the most intriguing.
Children are invited to enter the Big Bang! bouncy castle to do what comes naturally; jump around. However, their random rise and fall becomes a rhythmic pattern for a group of live drummers to follow and improvise into a living musical soundtrack to accompany the physical action playing out in front of them. At the Musical Playground of Publik Secrets presented by Chapel Sound and INTER/MEDIATE, various unique instruments become an outlet for creative expression and composing graphic scores for players of all ages.
Ticketed events include the small audience mini-concerts. This includes Saina’s Music Room with Persian santor player Saina Khaledi; and the Qing Ensemble Music Room showcasing the local vocal group fusing Canadian-Chinese music with Eastern and Western musical traditions. It’s all a far cry from the simple singalongs or instructional approach often taken in children’s concerts.
“What if we just do great shows with great stuff for kids and let them get what they want from it?” said Pay. “Rather than thinking everything has to be educational, we accept that kids are into good stuff and can keep up. There are a bunch of different ways to enjoy these intimate, 20-person-max musical journeys as a package or just do one of the concerts and take in all of the other events.”
Seating includes both traditional tiers as well as open floor space as this allows the audience to not feel constrained by having to stay in one place too long if they don’t want to. All of these adaptations for young audiences are intended to both demystify so-called “adult music” and get audiences started on an appreciation for unique sounds and creative approaches at a young age.
“A lot of the pieces and concepts come from the Big Bang network, but we also have the Carnival Band providing a sort of Pied Piper experience to let everyone get up, dance and march about,” said Pay. “There’s also face-painting, temporary tattoos, food trucks and eating areas for you to have a really great Family Day experience.”
Depending on how the inaugural Big Bang! Festival is received in town, Pay says it could be expanded to a multi-day run. This would include both more performances over a full weekend as well as possibly offering special performances for school groups in the preceding week.