Photo credit: Colin Medley
On their new double LP, How Can I Possibly Sleep When There Is Music, Luka Kuplowsky & The Ryōkan Band (Alex Lukashevsky, Anh Phung, Evan Cartwright, Felicity Williams, Josh Cole and Philippe Melanson) craft a singular sound of spaciousness, experimentation and unbridled expressiveness that traverses traditions of jazz, folk and blues. Conceived as a record of adaptations and responses “to a millennia of poetry”, the album draws together the poetry of Ryōkan Taigu, Bohdan Ihor Antonych, Maria Rainer Rilke, Yosana Akiko, Du Fu, Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, W.W.E Ross, Li Bai, and La Fontaine, placing them within a dynamic environment of ecstatic and imaginative expression. Produced by the luminary Toronto producer/songwriter Sandro Perri, the new LP enfolds international literary and music influences alongside hyper-local Toronto touchstones into a beautiful sprawling record of meditative and free-wheeling sonic adventurism.
Noriko Yamamoto will accompany Luka Kuplowsky & The Ryōkan Band for a very special Guelph Jazz Festival performance. Noriko Yamamoto is a Toronto-based mime-dancer, Silent Storyteller, choreographer, clown, visual artist, and Nia instructor. In recent years, she’s been focusing her time on her visual arts and mime-dance projects.
Luka Kuplowsky & The Ryōkan Band will join Matt Brubeck & Caylie Staples as the second act in a double bill on Saturday 14 September beginning at 2pm.
Luka Kuplowsky – guitar, vocals
Alex Lukashevsky – guitar
Anh Phung – flute
Evan Cartwright – drums
Felicity Williams – voice
Josh Cole – bass
Noriko Yamamoto – dancer
Saturday 14 September • 2pm • Royal City Mission • $20 Advanced, $15 Reduced, $25 at the door [buy tickets]
Listen to Luka Kuplowsky & The Ryōkan Band here.
Noriko Yamamoto website.