LUCIDMEDIA

Talk about having an axe to grind: Luminato Preview

Written by Catherine Kustanczy Monday, 08 June 2009 10:31

Guitarists from across Southern Ontario are set to converge on Toronto’s Yonge Dundas Square Saturday afternoon, where they’ll attempt to break the world record for the greatest number of guitarists playing simultaneously. The event is part of Luminato, the annual festival of arts and creativity.

Chris Lorway, Artistic Director of the Festival, notes that “everybody, in some way shape or form, has a connection to the guitar, whether they’re a player themselves, [or) they’re a fan of guitar hero or [in) listening to guitar albums –there’s a sense that this is the instrument people seem to have that connection with. We wanted to explore that.”

He adds that “because of the rich nature of Canadian music and the legacy of troubadours in this country,” having the Great Canadian Tune be played at the giant, public guitar ensemble as part of this year’s Luminato seemed like a no-brainer.

Ten Canadian songs were posted months ago on the festival’s website, and voting began to determine which song would turn out on top; “Takin’ Care of Business”, by Bachman-Turner Overdrive, “Cuts Like A Knife” by Bryan Adams, and “Basement Apartment” by Sarah Harmer were all in the running. Feist’s catchy pop tune “1-2-3-4” and Leonard Cohen’s much-loved “Hallelujah” were on the list as well, but it was Neil Young’s moving ballad, “Helpless” that came out on top in the end, and that will be the song played by the thousand-plus ensemble come Saturday afternoon.

The record participants are hoping to beat was set in 2007 when 1,802 guitarists simultaneously played Deep Purple’s “Smoke On The Water” in Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Germany. Canadian band The Heartbroken, fronted by popular East Coast sensation Damhnait Doyle, will be on-hand to entertain the crowd, and the event itself will be hosted by CTV’s Seamus O’Regan. Registration kicks off at 2pm, with the Guinness-making guitar event set to happen at 4 pm.

Lorway credits his Luminato colleague, David Spelman, Artistic Director of the New York Guitar Festival, for helping to curate this year’s guitar-related events. Those activities include Pierre Brault’s tribute to jazz guitarist Lenny Breau, Five O’Clock Bells, a Brazilian guitar marathon, a blues concert featuring the renowned Taj Mahal, and a pair of concerts by Balkan supertar Goran Bregovic, not to mention opening night festivities featuring Canada’s own Randy Bachman. Lorway is already looking to the future in terms of how to expand and enrich Luminato’s creative reach.

“Every year, we try to be unexpected, and going down one particular format or road all the time gets boring, so we like to go with what feels good, and come up with ideas of what makes sense with our other programs. For instance, next year, we’ve started to think about African music, and the ways we can explore that in different art forms.”