In music, there’s a niche for every listener. You have your rock bands, your pop groups and your symphony orchestras. Some specialize in the acoustic, salt-of-the-earth flavour of country, while others drop head-bopping hip-hop beats that often blare through the noise-cancelling headphones of pro athletes. Others still deliver funky piano and saxophone riffs that call to mind the sights and sounds of Mardi Gras.
Qairo, which is set to kick off this year’s Arts Whistler Live! lineup on Friday at the Maury Young Arts Centre, fits none of those boxes. They are an eclectic ensemble consisting of singer Alejandro Mendia, flamenco guitarist Manuel Vazquez, clarinetist and saxophonist Dorian Zavatta, as well as dancers Lia Grainger and Deborah “La Caramelita.” Rounding out the lineup are percussionist Alex Carrasco and drummer Gaetan Diaz.
Together, the men and women of Qairo pride themselves on blending music and dance in a way that will get you out of your seat—no matter who you are.
“[Our stuff] has got roots in flamenco and Turkish music, so flamenco singing and flamenco guitar, but then it has Middle Eastern clarinet and horns—exotic, spicy sounds,” explains Grainger. “And then it also has a bass synth and a full drum kit. We try to create a spectacle, a full show, rather than just a concert.”
Tradition and innovation
In case you didn’t know, flamenco is an art form born in southern Spain out of traditional dance and folk music. It is defined by complex rhythms, percussive footwork, intense vocal crescendos and unconventional time signatures that stand out from the 4/4s and 6/8s prevalent in Western music. The archetypal flamenco dancer is a woman in a long red dress, her hair adorned with flowers.
Flamenco captivated Grainger’s imagination in her early 20s, when she saw a performance at the now-closed Kino Cafe in her native Vancouver. Her pursuit of the medium took her to Spain on multiple occasions, first to Granada and then to Seville. It was in the latter city in 2012 that Grainger met Deborah, a fellow Vancouverite, as well as the Frenchman Mendia.
The trio toured Europe and Canada for several years as Fin de Fiesta Flamenco, but performing traditional versions of the genre eventually got old. Grainger describes flamenco as a sit-and-watch type of art, but she and her peers desired to put on the kind of show that would get viewers to party. In 2019, that aim brought them into partnership with Vazquez and Zavatta.
The newfound partners met up in Granada and wrapped up their first round of creative exploration in March 2020. After enduring a pandemic-related disruption, Qairo began to put itself on the map.
Rare is the musical group that contains such ethnic, cultural and artistic diversity as this one. In fact, the band’s members don’t even share a common language—Grainger figures that only three of the seven speak English, while five command Spanish and six speak French. They’ve all gone out on a limb to pursue their craft in new and foreign arenas.
“I feel like everybody in the group has been super brave in pursuing this thing that they’re passionate about,” Grainger says. “For me, I’m just really happy that I took the chances I did to follow this path, because you meet the most amazing people, and you gain a broader perspective of the world by having experienced more of it through these art forms.”
Bringing the party
It is only fitting, then, that a place as diverse as Whistler will soon host one of the most kaleidoscopic musical acts around. For decades, people from all walks of life have passed through (or settled in) this town, bringing their own worldviews and sociocultural backgrounds.
“It’s such a great community,” Grainger says. “I’ve actually performed there once before with a different group, and it was just so fun. Of course, everybody around the world knows Whistler. The guys in the band are so excited. They’ve never seen it. So amazing to be able to show these guys from Europe these spectacular parts of Canada.”
Grainger knows a thing or two about diversifying oneself. She has worked for years in the print and audio journalism industry, both freelance and for recognized publications like the National Post. Her media background equips her with an understanding of how to tell stories, which in turn helps her and her associates to connect with prospective audiences.
Qairo hopes to make an appearance at each of Canada’s major folk music festivals in the not-so-distant future: Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg and beyond. They look forward to sharing their unique brand of art with like-minded and appreciative communities, and Whistler will be a step in the right direction.
“I think it’s really hard to do something new in any creative art form—to find something that hasn’t really been said or done before—and I do feel like we’ve found this [distinctive] combination of sounds,” Grainger says. “We always wanted to be in this kind of group: the sort of group that we like to see at a festival, the one that brings the party but is also musically interesting and creative.
“It’s been really fun performing some of our stuff because there [can be] roots of a famous Turkish song or a famous Spanish song in the music. Sometimes, you can see the audience start to recognize it and get excited, and I definitely see that happening in Whistler.”
Tickets and more info can be found at artswhistler.com.
