The Heartwood Folk Club will host Cam Neufeld and the Road to Django Collective Sept. 28 at the Nancy Appleby Theatre for what will be the group’s premiere performance outside of Edmonton.
Inspired by the gypsy jazz sound of Django Reinhardt, one of the most renowned Roma guitar players in recent history, The Road to Django Collective includes Cam Neufeld on the violin, Alin Rogos on guitar and vocals, Jordan Watchel on guitar and vocals, Clint Pelletier on guitar, Farley Scott on upright bass, John Newton on percussion and Jana Lang dancing.
Neufeld didn’t just get together with a few pals at a nightclub and decide to start the band; his inspiration came from the Balkans and a journey in 2010 that took him through southeast Europe — a place marked through history by the migration of the Roma people and their culture.
Neufeld played in a gypsy jazz band about 15 years ago called Atlas Quartet, and the group had always talked about going to Samois-sur-Seine, a town just outside of Paris, where Reinhardt spent his final years.
In Samois-sur-Seine, there can be found “a whole genre of music: hot club jazz that was essentially created by Django Reinhardt,” according to Neufeld, who said there are other Django festivals throughout the world, but the one in this town strikes a chord with those who look up to Django.
Django Reinhardt and the Quintet of the Hotclub of France was Reinhardt’s band, which rose to fame in the 1930s and 40s.
Neufeld wrote music while traveling his own “road to Django,” which took him through countries such as Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Greece, as well as the Indian state of Rajasthan.
“My intent going to Rajasthan was to be with the original gypsy people,” said Neufeld.
“My daughter had gone to India and brought back an instrument called a ravanahatha. It’s a one-stringed instrument and probably the origin of the violin, and the violin is what I play,” he said.
Tickets are $22 in advance and available at Rexall Drugs, Value Drug Mart, Whispering Hills Fuel, or though Heartwood Folk Club principal organizer Peter Opryshko at 780-525-2161, 780-424-2915 or 780-916-6871. They may also be purchased for $25 at the door.
Tickets for children under 12 and seniors over 65 are $19 in advance or $22 at the door.
“It’s related to our music, but it’s a different variety and a different kind of a show,” said Opryshko. “I try to do that every year.
“This is a group that’s very good at playing other people’s music, but their own renditions — their own interpretations,” he said.
