ANTIGONISH, N.S. — She’s back.
St. John’s, Newfoundland-based, multi-talented artist Rozalind MacPhail is returning to the Townhouse Brewpub and Eatery in Antigonish for a show April 13. Titled Flute Loops and Film, MacPhail’s performance gets underway at starting at 9 p.m., with tickets at $10.
“Last spring, it was a full-house and I had a wonderful time,” MacPhail said of her previous show at the Townhouse. “It was a heartwarming experience.”
A release about the event paints a little bit of a picture of what to expect during a MacPhail show.
“Gemeinhardt international touring artist Rozalind MacPhail will take us on an inspiring journey where live music, silent film and storytelling weave together an inspiring tapestry about people, place and the human experience.
“[MacPhail’s] original live music combines multi-layered sound looping, traditional songwriting, field recordings and loads of effected flute - MacPhail’s specialty. She performs live music to selected short films from her award-winning audio-visual projects - From the River to the Ocean and Head First.”
MacPhail’s Townhouse show will be followed by her performing at the East Coast Music Awards (EMCA).
In talking to the Casket recently, MacPhail noted how during her previous stop in Antigonish, the sound of the Town Hall clock striking on the hour very much caught her ear and, yes, it will be part of her upcoming “organic electronic” album – in the works now – called Get Your Flute On. It will be her seventh album.
“I was so excited; as soon as I was in town and realized that it was going to go off every hour, I got super excited about it,” she said, the ‘excitement’ still captured in her tone as she recalled recording the sound.
“I thought when am I going to be able to get the longest amount of time; I took the 12 a.m. one as well, but the 11 p.m. one was the winner.”
MacPhail talked more about her unique artistry of combining art and film into audiovisual performances.
“It’s really an equal partnership; a dance that happens between live music and silent film,” she said.
“What really inspires the work I create is where I travel to, the people who I meet and the experiences I go through. So it’s almost like, as I continue my life as a touring musician, my new art is created through my experiences of traveling.”
She talked about a few of her “major” audiovisual projects and the different approaches in creating them.
“The first one was called Painted Houses; that one captured St. John’s in the wintertime,” she said. “It was a mixture of different filmmakers I collaborated with and they had the challenge to create all of their films in one month, then I created all of the music for those films in one month, and then I released it and toured it all over the place.
“Then I worked on another project called Head First. It’s a DVD project that I collaborated on with a bunch of filmmakers from all over Canada. For that project, instead of creating the music from the films, I actually had the filmmakers create the films from the music. It’s a really neat experience to feel the difference in how the live music and film come together.”
Head First will be part of the Townhouse show.
“It is of going down the Canada Olympic Park ice track head first on skeleton – doing the Olympic sport skeleton,” she said. “The exhilarating experience you get going down that particular track.”
She talked about another project called, simply, Victoria Street.
“Which is a really heartwarming one where you get to meet all of my neighbours on Victoria Street in St. John’s Newfoundland, on a hot summer day,” MacPhail said.
MacPhail notes
MacPhail is nominated for the ECMA’s electronic recording of the year, as well as for four Music Newfoundland Awards from 2018.
She has performed at the National Flute Convention, Canadian Flute Convention and venues across Canada, the U.S. and Europe.
She is the first Canadian flutist to be sponsored by Gemeinhardt Musical Instruments; one the music industry’s largest flute manufacturers in the world.
For more on MacPhail, visit her website (rozalindmacphail.com) or Facebook page.
