Category Archives: Asian Canadian Cultural Events

TIX ON SALE: 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Dinner – January 31st.

Leave a reply

Now Available: Tickets for Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner

– It's the 12 Anniversary of the “little dinner that could.”

January 31st, Sunday 2010
Floata Seafood Restaurant
Vancouver Chinatown
Contact Firehall Arts Centre:
phone 604.689.0926

The Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Dinner has created an awareness of cultural fusion that has spanned international media, and been featured at the 2008 BC Canada Pavillion in Bejing during the 2008 Summer Olympics, the Royal BC Museum celebration exhibit of the 150th Anniversary of the province of BC, and a 2009 touring exhibition in Scotland titled This Is Who We Are: Scots in Canada.

2009_Scotland_ThisIsWhoWeAre 096 by you.
Gung Haggis Fat Choy creator Todd Wong at the Scottish Parliament exhibition of THIS IS WHO WE ARE: Scots in Canada.  The exhibition featured a life sized photo of Wong and a video interview about the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner, which features the acknowledgement of Chinese and Scottish pioneer history in Canada and contemporary culinary and cultural fusions.

Tickets are now on sale for the 12th Anniversary Dinner.
January 31st, Sunday, 2010
Floata Seafood Restaurant
Vancouver Chinatown
Doors open 5pm
Dinner starts 6pm

$60 + $5 service charge
or
$600 per table + $20 service charge
prices for students and children available.

Raffle Prizes are featured, as this dinner has traditionally been a fundraiser for: Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team, Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop/Ricepaper Magazine and Historic Joy Kogawa House.

Contact Firehall Arts Centre:
phone 604.689.0926
Visit the Firehall Box Office, 280 E. Cordova Street.

Box Office hours are: 9:30am – 5:00pm, Monday through Friday.

For media information
– contact: Todd Wong 778-846-7090
– email: gunghaggis@yahoo.ca

The origins of the dinner started with 16 people in a living room in 1998.  The next year it expanded to 40 people in a restaurant.  Soon it outgrew the first restaurant and expanded to 220 people in 2002.  Moving to a larger restaurant for 2003, and expanding to a 2-night event in 2004, serving over 500 people.  2005 saw the move to North America's largest Chinese restaurant and present home of the dinner where 570 people were accomodated.

A 2004 CBC telelevision performance special, Gung Haggis Fat Choy, was inspired by the dinner, and received two Leo nominations for best music performance, and best director of music performance.  In 2007, a CBC television documentary Generations: The Chan Legacy featured interviews with dinner creator Todd Wong, and film clips of the dinner.

A wide range of musical performers have been featured over the years including: fusion musicians Silk Road Music Ensemble, Dragon River Chinese Music Ensemble, Blackthorn celtic band, The Mad Celts, Chinese erhu master Ji-Rong Huang; opera singers Heather Pawsey, Veera Devi Khare; Jazz singer Leora Cashe.  Featured poets have included: Joy Kogawa, Rita Wong, Fred Wah, George McWhirter, Fiona Tin Wei Lam, Jim Wong-Chu, Sean Gunn and Tommy Tao.  The past 3 years have also featured sneak previews of Asian Canadian plays including: Mixie and the Half-Breeds, The Quickie, and Twisting Fortunes.

2009_Scotland_ThisIsWhoWeAre 111

Todd Wong visits Scotland for Homecoming Year, the 250th Anniversary of the birth of Scottish poet Robert Burns.

For the 2010 dinner, creator Todd Wong has just returned from Scotland after visiting the birthplace of Scotland poet Robert Burns, and researching the displays of Burns for Homecoming Scotland, and museum exhibits on Scottish history and emmigration to Canada.  Wong is active in Chinese Canadian activities and visited Bejing and Xian in 1993.  He hopes to combine a merger of Scottish-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian history and culture in the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.

Another extravaganza of culinary and cultural fusion are expected for the 2010 dinner.  Details will be released each week leading up to the event.  Special guest speakers, media hosts, poets and musicians are confirmed or being confirmed.  The 2010 dinner will feature old traditions and new surprises, something borrowed and something brewed – especially created for the 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Dinner.

Tell your friends, and put a table of 10 together to enjoy the singalongs!
or come as a single or a double, and meet 8 brand new best friends for the evening at your table!
It's the most fun and intimate dinner for 500 you will ever attend!

Chinese Canadian veterans lead Remembrance Day ceremony in Vancouver Chinatown

Leave a reply
Uncle Daniel Lee is colour guard for Pacific Unit 280 at the Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Chinese Canadian Pioneer Monument in Vancouver Chinatown
2009_Nov_Remembrance_Day 087 by you.
Uncle Daniel Lee salutes, as photographer Patrick Tam takes pictures.  Larry Wong stands to Lee's right.

2009_Nov_Remembrance_Day 081

Chinese Canadian veterans stand during singing of O Canada.

2009_Nov_Remembrance_Day 080

The Chinese Benevolent Association organized the Remembrance Day ceremonies this year in Chinatown.  President Mike Jang officiated.

2009_Nov_Remembrance_Day 103
Little Beavers and Wolf Cubs took part in the ceremonies

2009_Nov_Remembrance_Day 095

Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson and city councilors Ellen Woodsworth and George Chow lay the wreath from City of Vancouver.

2009_Nov_Remembrance_Day 083

Members of Parliament Ujal Dosanjh, Don Davies and Libby Davies stand in front of the representatives from HMCS Discovery.

2009_Nov_Remembrance_Day 115

Frank Wong, who stormed the Normandy Beaches on D-Day speaks to Chinese language TV News, while his brother Bing Wong's grandchildren are in the foreground, as I talk with their dad and grandfather.

2009_Nov_Remembrance_Day 110

Larry Wong and Howard Chan.  Howard is a WW2 veteran.  Larry is curator of the Chinese Canadian Military Museum.

Orchid Ensemble creates East meets Middle East featuring Jewish and Chinese music!

Leave a reply

Orchid Ensemble is one of Vancouver's bravest culturally exploring musical ensembles.
Jewish and Chinese musical influences combine for Oct 3 show at Vancouver Community College

Here is the latest from my friend Lan Tung and Orchid Ensemble:

2009 Orchid Ensemble Concert
East meets Middle East in the Orchid Ensemble’s New Show
The Orchid Ensemble & Vancouver Community College present
Ten Thousand Miles to Kai-Feng

A musical exploration of the cultural exchange between the Jews and the Chinese

featuring Mike Braverman (clarinet & saxophone) of Olam, Boris Sichon (percussion), and The Madrigal Singers
October 3rd, 8pm, at the Vancouver Community College auditorium
VCC Broadway and King Edward Campus
Tickets $15 / $12 / $10 for VCC students with ID
Available at www.ticketweb.ca /
1-888-222-6608                                                                                                               
China_Jew_concert_poster_web
When it comes to Chinese Western musical fusions, Vancouver is the
undisputed leader.  Artists from these parts have at varying times
merged Chinese folk and classical music with Celtic, Brazilian, Spanish
and Aboriginal music to name a few, not to mention North American folk,
jazz, blues and classical sounds.

Now Vancouver’s Orchid
Ensemble, already one of the pioneering acts of the cross-cultural
fusion scene, is preparing a concert that will showcase its members’
most personal repertoire yet: a concert that pays tribute to the
centuries-old links between Chinese and Jewish culture.  It’s called
Ten Thousand Miles to Kai-Feng.

The project began about 11 years
ago as a labour of love for the ensemble’s founders, the husband and
wife duo of Lan Tung and Jonathan Bernard.  Tung was an award-winning
erhu player in Taiwan before settling in Canada with her family at age
20.  Bernard is a Canadian percussionist of Jewish ancestry who is a
regular with the Vancouver Symphony.

What
they discovered together is fascinating: tangible evidence of a Jewish
presence in China can be dated to the seventh century when Sephardic
Jews arrived from Persia along the several Silk Roads, settling in
China’s capital city, Xi'an. By the Northern Sung dynasty (960-1127
CE), a thriving Jewish community had been established in the new
capital Kaifeng, and it remained active for the next 1200 years. More
recently Russian Jews settled in Harbin and Ashkenazi Jewish refugees
settled in Shanghai.  There is also a long-ago-established Jewish
community in Hong Kong.

What has not survived, however, is any sense of what the music
made by the Jewish settlers and their Chinese neighbours might have
sounded like, or to what extent their respective musical traditions
were merged.  Thus, Tung and Bernard used their imaginations to create
the music that might have been – compositions that find common ground
between Jewish and Chinese styles.  They also turned to Moshe Denberg,
the composer behind B.C.’s well-known Jewish music ensemble, Tzimmes.
The resulting concert promises a fascinating array of
work.  Among the pieces to be performed is a Denberg composition called
“El Ginat Egoz,” which will feature the VCC Madrigal Singers, and a
unique arrangement of a traditional Chinese piece called “Hundred Birds
Honouring the Pheonix,” which has been transformed for soprano sax by
Mike Braverman, the lightening-fast reed player behind Olam. The show
will also mark the world premier of “El Adon,” a Denberg composition
based on a sacred Jewish melody, and “Ba Ban Variations,” a new
composition by Tung. In addition, there will be some Jewish-influenced
pieces from the group’s 2005 Juno-nominated CD The Road to Kashgar,
which explored Chinese interaction with cultures all along the Silk
Road.

Lan Tung

Orchid Ensemble
Chinese Music and Beyond…
http://www.orchidensemble.com
http://myspace.com/orchidensemble
http://youtube.com/TheOrchidEnsemble

New York Times Frugal Traveler comes to Vancouver in search of Asian fusion cuisine and talks with Todd Wong of Gung Haggis Fat Choy

Leave a reply

New York Times Frugal Traveler comes to Vancouver in search of Asian fusion cuisine and talks with Todd Wong of Gung Haggis Fat Choy

RL101 by you.

Todd Wong is getting known “the whole world o'er” for creating crazy Asian/Scottish cultural and culinary fusion.Philip
Riddle.  The CEO of VisitScotland, Phillip Riddell had heard about “Toddish McWong's Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner” and tried some of the Haggis Wonton during a visit by the
Scottish Tourism Organisation to Vancouver, B.C., to promote the Year
of Homecoming Scotland 2009, on Tuesday, January 20, 2009.

Matt Gross writes his column/blog The Frugal Traveler for The New York Times.  He came through Vancouver back in August 2009, and we connected through email and cell phone, as we found ourselves moving in different directions in the city and across Georgia Straight.

His newest blog/article is about Asian fusion cuisine, titled:
Asian Cuisine As Diverse as Vancouver.
http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/asian-cuisine-as-diverse-as-vancouver/#more-1441

Matt found me through my blog www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com, for which I try to focus on my “Asian Canadian adventure in intercultural Vancouver.”  I even have a category called Food & Restaurants.

Matt quotes me:

“Mixing things just becomes part of everyday life,” said Todd Wong,
a Vancouver arts advocate who during Chinese New Year hosts the annual
Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, where Scottish haggis finds its way into
dim sum dumplings. “It’s not ‘Why are they doing this?’ It’s ‘Why not?’ ”

It’s an admirable attitude, and one that is producing some delicious
and affordable cuisines. Over four days, I pursued this accidental
(incidental?) fusion style around Vancouver, and the quest led me down
some strange and tasty paths.

This is from my original email to Matt:

How I wish that McDonald's would serve McRamen like they did in
Hawaii during the days of my youth.

Not really a lot of well-known Odd Asian fusion food – but you know… it happens when you least expect it.  Vancouver has so many restaurants and ethnic groups.  Things just end up mixing by accident
like peanut butter and choclate eg. Reese's peanut butter cups.

Check out the sushi restaurants…
You've
heard of the BC Roll?  Lots of smoked salmon rolls – sometimes called
Alaska Roll.  But somewhere in Vancouver there is a Maple Leaf roll…
and in the Davie St. Village – homebase to our large Gay population –
there is a Queen's Roll…. and a Princess Roll…. a Snow White
Roll, Rainbow Roll, Canada Roll, Stanley Park Roll, Panda Roll, Flamingo Roll + lots more!
Check out Kadoya on Davie St.

I LOVE HAPA IZAKAYA
–
while the Robson location is one of Vancouver's hippest restaurants. 
It is still a Japanese style bistro – so you can order a few dishes.  We
feel like we are going out to a hip restaurant, but can keep the bill
small.  We usually go to the Kitsilano location.  Okay – so it's not
odd… but incredibly delicious.  This is the restaurant we take our
out of town friends to. Try the Kabocha – $5.90  Japanese pumpkin, whipped into a light, sweet dip, served with cracker

A lot of traditional Chinese food in North America is really fusion cuisine.  Chop Suey, is supposedly a “made up” dish for “White Americans” from table scraps….

Go to the Foo's Ho Ho restaurant for one of my favorite dishes.  Curried potatoes with beef slices. 
We always had it in the 1960's.  But now Foo's Ho Ho is the only place
serving authentic “old style” cantonese cuisine in Vancouver.  Think –
Where would you find potatoes in China?  It's very North American!

Similar to Japa Dog – there is a Thai/Malaysian Hot Dog
stand on Broadway – East of Burrard. on the South side, in front of
Future Shop.  The owners have some crazy Malaysian Thai garnishes as
well as the usual.

How about Congee with Ostrich meat? 
Go to Kwong Chow on 3163 Main St.
or go to Congee House , 141 East Broadway
– Both are after-practice hang-outs for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team (that I founded and coach)

But the Chinese bakeries have these weird combinations.  Almost everybody sells a chinese bun with a hot dog weiner –
only $1.45 to $1.95.  It's gotta be the cheapest “hot dog” in town. 
Try the one stuffed with mayonaise.  For some reason Mayonaise is a
“sauce” in Hong Kong.

But… what about
Irish Natchos at Doolin's Irish Pub?
We go to Doolin's every 1st Thursday of each month for Kilts Night.
Wear a kilt – receive a FREE pint of GUINNESS

Go to The Irish Heather.
Famous for their curried potatoe fries
– okay great fries served with a curry sauce.  Lots of other fusion
foods there too.  And the batter-fruied squid rings with chorizo and
sunflower sprouts was VERY COOL and DELICIOUS! http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/_archives/2009/7/22/4264001.html

Dessert Time!!!
Lots of Asians in this city… so green tea or mango ice cream is great.
But how about Durian gelato?
Try out Casa Gelato
Try the black sesame gelato, and a host of other Asian
inspired flavours.
But the Durian gelato still stinks (is smelly).

Deep-Fried Mars Bars…..
at Mr. Pickwick's Fish & Chips
8620 Granville Street
http://ourfaves.com/f/150181/vancouver-deep-fried-mars-bar

Read Matt's blog about Galiano Island
An Island Frozen in Time and Price:
http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/21/an-island-frozen-in-time-and-price/

Foo's Ho Ho is open again… and only Chinese restaurant serving old-style Cantonese food

Leave a reply
2009_July_Foos_Ho_Ho 029 by you.

Foo's Ho Ho Restaurant is a landmark in Vancouver Chinatown… and open again!

Where can you get good old-style Cantonese food in
Vancouver?  Today, there are many styles of Chinese food from Hong
Kong, Beijing, Hunan, Shanghai, even Vietnamese, Cambodian, Korean and
Japanese.  The new immigrants that speak mandarin now out-number the
Cantonese speaking pioneer immigrants and their descendants.

Many many years ago, all the best restaurants in
Chintown all had neon lights.  The Ho Ho Restaurant at the corner of
Pender and Columbia St. had a long tall vertical neon sign that
featured a hot steaming bowl of rice

hoho_old.jpg image by flytrap_canada
The Ho Ho Rstaurant displayed a wonderful neon sign from the 50's to the 60's

.  Keith McKellar's book “Neon Eulogy: Vancouver Cafe and Street” writes and interesting description of the Ho Ho Restaurant. 
photo courtesy of Christian Dahlberg www.vancouverneon.com/

Back in the 1950's, 60's and 70's… Vancouver Chinatown was the place
to go for late night eats, Chinese banquets, and you could see the 5th
Dimension, The Platters and many other great performers at the Marco
Polo Restaurant and Night Club – which was across the street from the
former Ho Ho Restaurant.

I grew up during the late 60's and 70's.  Our family used to sit in the
upstairs window booth seat, where we could look outside at all the
pedestrians.  I remember buying Bruce Lee posters from the many stores
on Pender St.  Sadly, this era of Chinatown is now long gone.  Ethnic
Chinese have moved out to the suburbs and the restaurants and stores
followed them.  New immigrants no longer came to Strathcona or
Chinatown as the first stop, many move straight to Richmond, Coquitlam,
Shaughnessey and even North Vancouver.

Times
changed, and restaurants closed.  The Ho Inn had a fire.  Foo's
Restaurant closed.  The Ho Ho closed. I remember sitting in the The
Marco Polo when owner Victor Louie was closing down and offering my dad
some of pictures on the wall.  My father was a sign writer, and he used
to do all the show cards and other signwork for The Marco Polo.

Awhile
back James Sam, known as “Sam” re-opened the Ho Ho Restaurant site,
renaming it Foo's Ho Ho in recognition of these by-gone restaurants. 
Sam had formerly worked at WK Gardens, Marco Polo
and Best Wun Tun House.  Foo's Ho Ho became the place to go when you
wanted old-style Cantonese cuisine, or to reminesce about the good old
days of Vancouver Chinatown.

I have had many memorable visits to Foo's Ho Ho:

But in July 2009, it was announced that chef Sam was
in the hospital with cancer, and that Foo's Ho Ho would soon close.  My
friend Jim Wong-Chu organized a dinner for a “last night dinner” at
Foo's Ho Ho, and invited lots of our friends who enjoy Chinese Canadian
history, and its food.

2009_July_Foos_Ho_Ho 034

see my July 12th blog story:

Foo's Ho Ho Restaurant to close in Vancouver Chinatown: It's the end of an era for Cantonese restaurants

It
was a great dinner, and good to see old friends and talk about the
foods and dishes that we love to eat. Sam's wife Joanne was in the
kitchen cooking up many of Sam's signature dishes for us.

A week later, Chef Sam, of Foo's Ho Ho, passes on the the Great Kitchen in the Heavens. A memorial was held for Sam on July 30.  After a grieving period, Joanne decided to re-open.

On
August 20th, we were back at Foo's Ho Ho
Restaurant.  Jim Wong-Chu invited some friends to again talk about
food, and how we can highlight it's connections to Vancouver Chinese
history.  The dinner was attended by: Col. Howe Lee and Judy Maxwell of
the Chinese Canadian Military Museum; my mother's cousin Gary Lee –
who's interview for the CBC documentary Generations: The Chan Legacy
had been filmed at Foo's Ho Ho; media artist Ray Mah – who had designed
the Saltwater City logos for the 1986 exhibition; and Dr. Jan Walls.

We hope to have more dinners to highlight the food and Vancouver Chinatown history.  Stay tuned…

Oh… but what did we eat?

Feast your eyes on these pictures!

2009_Aug20_FoosHoHo 002

Free soup that comes with our meal: meat and melon with vegetables

2009_Aug20_FoosHoHo 004

Special order: Garlic Chicken!

2009_Aug20_FoosHoHo 005

My favorite: Chicken stuffed with sticky rice

2009_Aug20_FoosHoHo 007

Egg Foo Yung, a trade

2009_Aug20_FoosHoHo 009

Bitter Melon with Beef and black bean sauce

2009_Aug20_FoosHoHo 014

Another favorite!  Curried potato slices with beef.

2009_Aug20_FoosHoHo 022

Taro with pork

2009_Aug20_FoosHoHo 020

Tofu and Fish!

2009_Aug20_FoosHoHo 031

Dr. Jan Walls, our chef Joanne, and Jim Wong-Chu

See my pictures:
August Dinner at Foo's Ho Ho

August Dinner at Foo's Ho Ho

Final dragon boat races for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy team Saturday Sept 5th @ Science World/False Creek

Leave a reply

It's the final dragon boat regatta of the 2009 season in Vancouver

Last Gasp dragon boat regatta Sep 5 Saturday @ Science World/False Creek
This will be the first public dragon boat race in Canada that features 10 person dragon boats.  These boats were first used in Vancouver for the World Police and Fire Games in August.

The Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team started their racing season with practices in the last week of February, the first race on May 2 in Burnaby's Barnet Marine Park, the Dragon Zone regatta on June 7th, and the Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival on June 20 and 21st. 

We entered the Richmond Festival for our first time, and came 4th in the A division.  We traveled to Vernon for July 25/26, as it is our favorite race of the year on beautiful Kalamalka Lake.

We will next enter the UBC Day of the Long Boats and the Ft. Langley Cranberry Festival Regatta, to race in voyageur canoes.

But first…. we have to race Saturday Sep 5th at the Last Gasp regata.
Dragon Zone beside Science World, at Creekside Park, Vancouver BC.

Please come cheer us on!

Here's the message from our magnificient manager Tzhe Lam:

'ello Gung Haggis,

I have finally received the race grid from Dragon Zone and it looks like the first races of the day start at 9am.

Our
first race of the Day will be at 9:55am so we will need to marshall at
9:35 if they are on time which means I would like everyone to be at
Dragon Zone at 9am at the very latest.

This is so that we have
enough time to setup tents and get organized as well as make sure we
get the final roster into the Officials so that we can race.

If you have not signed the roster yet make sure you arrive early so that you can do so.
Also bring me your $20 race fee if you have not yet paid me!!!

Our second race will be between 12pm and 12:45pm depending on our placing in our first race

Race 3 will be most like between 2:15 and 3pm  depending on our times

Race 4 1000m will be between 3:20pm – 4:20pm again determined by overall time.

These are rough estimates of time and can and will change on race day depending how quick/slow they get the races out.

As always bring food and drink of your choice to the event. Preferably something that won't make you sick while paddling.

Fans and supporters are welcome.

Tzhe

2 more concerts of Enchanted evenings at Dr. Sun Yat Sen Chinese Gardens – featuring Silk Road and Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble

Leave a reply

The final 3 Enchanted Evenings concerts at Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Gardens all feature musicians that have performed at past Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners.

n503630236_4047485_5451 by you.
Silk Road duo Qiu Xia and Andrew performed last year with African dancer Jackie Esombe and percussionist Pepe Danza – photo T. Wong

Last week celtic ensemble Blackthorn performed August 21.  This Friday Aug. 28, Erhu specialist Ji-Rong Huang artistic director of Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble takes stage.  On Sept 4, Silk Road Music performs as a quartet, led by Qiu Xia He and Andre Thibault.

Qiu Xia and Andre have performed many times at Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners since 2004.  Silk Road Music Ensemble was featured in the 2004 CBC television performance special “Gung Haggis Fat Choy”.

Blackthorn and Ji-Rong both came to the 2008 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner.  Blackthorn has an incredible repertoire of Celtic songs that they kept pulling out of their hats.  Ji-Rong and I performed 2 songs on accordion and erhu – Galloping Horse and Hungarian Dance No. 5 – which he also plays solo.

Summer Concert Series

Doors open at 7:00pm, and all shows begin at 7:30pm

Tickets $18 for non-members,

$15 for Garden Society Members

 

VANCOUVER CHINESE MUSIC ENSEMBLE- August 28

A rich showcase of traditional Chinese instruments

 

 

SILK ROAD- September 4

World Music with a Chinese flair

 

 

Tickets and info, contact 604.662.3207 ext. 208 or

email assistant@vancouverchinesegarden.com

reservations are recommended


Celtic band Blackthorn playing Enchanted Evenings concert in Vancouver's Chinese Classical Garden

Leave a reply
This will be tres cool!   My favorite Celtic band in my favorite Classical Chinese garden!

Back in 2003, we filmed the CBC television performance special “Gung Haggis Fat Choy” in the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Gardens.  It was the very first music video ever filmed at the garden, and it featured The Paper Boys with a Chinese flautist Jing Min Pan.

Blackthorn is a wonder celtic music ensemble led by Michael Viens on guitar, Michelle Carlisle on flute, Rosy Carver on fiddle and Tim Reading on bass and bodran.  Blackthorn was featured at the 2008 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, and brought a real lively presence to the dinner event.

I spoke with Michelle in the first week of August, and she says that Blackthorn is really looking forward to performing at Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens.  She was even more interested, when I told her that the gardens was designed by my architect cousin Joe Wai.

The Enchanted Gardens Music series often features different multicultural music ensembles.  It was initially started by my friends Qiu Xia He and Andre Thibault of Silk Road Music.  They always create something different for their annual concert.

www.blackthornband.com.jpg

Enchanted Evening Concert Series
Friday, Aug 21
Doors: 7pm, Show: 7:30pm
Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens, 578 Carrall Street, Vancouver, BC
Ticket Prices: $18.00 (non Garden members) and $15.00 for members.
Call 604-662-3207 ext 208 for tickets or email assistant@vancouverchinesegarden.com
We recommend pre-purchasing your tickets as these popular concerts are often sell-outs!
Also available at the door.
Musical Expressions Summer Concert Series
Saturday, Aug 22
6:30pm,  Britannia Heritage Shipyard, 5180 Westwater, Steveston BC

Musical Expressions presents
this 2009 Concert Season at Britannia features the artistry of
prominent local groups in a magnificent setting. Imagine a Fraser River
sunset as a backdrop to a concert!

Tickets: $20 including appetizers, on sale at the venue, or by calling 604-718-8050.

Powell St. Festival celebrates Japanese Canadian heritage – even if you are half-Japanese or non-Japanese

Leave a reply

I like attending the Powell St. Festival.  Somewhere in my clothes drawer I have a t-shirt from the 10th Anniversary festival back in 1986.

Powell St. Festival '07 - photo by Todd Wong IMG_1459 by Toddish McWong.
This year's Powell Street Festival will take place at Woodland Park – moving Eastward between Clark Drive and Commercial Drive, North of Venables St. – but South of Hastings St. – photo of 2007 festival by Todd Wong

Many of my friends have Japanese ancestry such as Jeff Chiba Stearns, John Endo Greenaway, Julie Tamiko Manning, or Joy Kogawa…. I grew up folding origami cranes, and relating to Japanese culture in a Pan-Asian-Canadian kind of way…

I have even performed my accordion at the Powell St. Festival main stage.  One year I played with my friend Sean Gunn as part of the “Number One Son” band… or maybe it was under the name of “Yellow Lackey Dogs.”

My friend Walter Quan is always there to sell his unique “sushi candles” and once when he was wearing a Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team cotton shirt, he was asked if he was “Todd Wong.”

Walter Quan and his famous sushi candles - photo by Todd Wong IMG_1466 by Toddish McWong. Walter Quan and his sushi candles booth at the 2007 Powell Street Festival – photo Todd Wong

Check out the Powell Street Festival on Saturday and Sunday.

www.powellstreetfestival.com

Here's a great article in the Vancouver Sun by Kevin Griffin:

Powell Street Festival: Metro Vancouver's Japanese Canadians celebrate a resilient culture

Powell Street Festival: Metro Vancouver's Japanese Canadians …

Julia Aoki, volunteer coordinator for the Powell Street Festival. Photograph by: Glenn Baglo, Vancouver Sun. VANCOUVER — Unlike other festivals that strive …


Review: Koto Concert at National Nikkei Museum & Hieritage Centre July 26

Leave a reply

The Japanese Canadian National Museum
Koto Concert – Chikako Kanehisa, a benefit concert for the National Nikkei Museum & Heritage Centre
Sunday, July 26, 2009, 3pm

Review by Devon Cooke
– for www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com

Certain parts of Japanese culture export very well.  Sushi and anime are so popular in the West that they have a life of their own that is separate from their Japanese origins.  This is wonderful, but it may leave a somewhat distorted image of Japanese culture as a whole.  Japan is much more than raw fish and giant robots!

Judging by the audience at the Koto Concert put on by the National Nikkei Museum and Heritage Centre, the koto, Japan’s national musical instrument, still has a long way to go before it penetrates Vancouver’s cultural consciousness — nearly all of the crowd was of Japanese origin, with the odd Japanese-by-marriage family member and a few curious seniors mixed in.  If only everyone was so curious!

The concert, which featured professional koto player Chikako Kanehisa and shakuhachi master Mitsuhashi Kifu, was presented as part of the 80th anniversary of Japanese-Canadian relations that also brought the Emperor of Japan to Vancouver earlier this month.  Those fortunate (or curious) enough to attend got to see a part of Japanese culture that is barely visible in the West.

Certainly, I had never heard of the koto before the concert, but the sound is familiar.  Anyone with a passing interest in Asian cultures has probably heard a koto — or one of its relatives — without knowing what it was.  It’s not an easy instrument to describe; it resembles a huge, six-foot long zither with thirteen movable bridges.  The strings are plucked (or strummed, or thumped, or rubbed) with the right hand on one side of the bridge while the left hand is used to create pitch shifts or vibrato on the other side of the bridge.

Listening to it was a complex experience — it’s the kind of music that would be impossible to put in writing because there are so many intangible aspects that aren’t captured by quarter notes on a staff.  It had a very organic feel, like listening to birdsong.  Ironically, the song entitled “Like a bird” (鳥のように) was one of the least like this, it carried a more regular rhythm and more clearly defined pitches than some of the others.

Perhaps because of this, it was one of the more accessible, exciting songs to my Western ear, but I couldn’t help but feel that the beauty of the instrument was captured best in some of the other songs — the ones with slightly bent pitches and somewhat irregular rhythms.  The (Japanese?) idea that beauty is inherent in small, slight imperfections is one that has always resonated with me, and the Koto struck me as an instrument where the skill in playing came from creating just the right pattern of imperfections.

The shakuhachi flute is an instrument that I am more familiar with, but it too impressed me with the range of sounds it could produce.  Like the koto, many of the notes were bent in a way that seems more reminiscent of a saxophone or a trumpet than a flute.  A number of times, Mitsuhashi impressed me by playing a continuous note that rose or fell almost a full scale — an impressive feat for an instrument with only a small, “fixed” set of notes.

I think I enjoyed the duets most of all.  The instruments (and musicans) complimented each other well.  On its own, the lonely, longing timbre of the shakuhachi threatened to overwhelm me with its sadness, but the sharp, epic, almost militaristic presence of the koto helped bring the sound back to earth and remind me that, whatever I was feeling inside, there was still a whole world out there to explore.

For most of the audience, the Koto Concert would have been a breath of familiar air (or, perhaps to the second-generation Canadians, a possible answer to the question “Where did I come from?”)  For me, my personal interest was piqued because it was foreign.  This is not a side of Japanese culture I had previously discovered, and I was happy to have to opportunity to explore it.  Koto concerts in Vancouver do not come along every day (or even every year), so I was happy to discover a new side of Japanese music.