DreamPlay Small Concerts have returned this fall with their typical slate of genre-bending offerings. The artistic collective took to their regular venue at the Winnipeg Art Gallery last month with a show called The Blues and the Abstract Truth, which featured curator Glenn Buhr and other musicians forming a sub-group called the DreamPlay Rebels.
For their next concert, Buhr will take off his ringleader hat and step into the ensemble in one of several new steps for the organization this year. Most notably, DreamPlay’s upcoming concert Resonance will mark the first time in the series’ four-year history that they will be performing away from the Winnipeg Art Gallery and heading to south Osborne to collaborate with improvisation ensemble Midbrain Surfers at Sidestage.
“This is a bit of an experiment for us,” says Buhr. “This is us DreamPlay people getting away from the highbrow Winnipeg Art Gallery and putting our dancing shoes on and going clubbing.”
New roles, new music
The curatorial role in Resonance will be held by bassist and oud player Jay Taylor of the Midbrain Surfers. He along with fellow band members Kiva Simova, Chris Mama-Bauer and Mike Thompson will provide the sonic soundscape for the evening with distinctive musical instruments like the oud and the didgeridoo.
“Everybody’s going to feel like dancing,” Buhr says as he describes the sound of the Midbrain Surfers. “The music is very subtle and everything, but it’s also got a groove.”
“It’s always new, no matter what. There’s always some kind of newness.”
The Midbrain Surfers will be joined by word artist Margaret Sweatman contributing text on top of the improvised music as well as video artist Murray Toews who will help to provide a visual accompaniment to the evening.
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Improvised resistance
Despite all of its unique characteristics, Resonance is a continuation of DreamPlay’s desire to share music with a message, speaking truth to power in a time where power is creating havoc for people all over the world.
“We’re pushing back against the coerce of government,” says Buhr, highlighting performances of songs by Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and The Parachute Club at their previous concert.
Resonance’s resistance is captured by an original composition of Buhr’s called “God of War”, which he wrote alongside Sweatman (his wife) as she completed her novel The Gunsmith’s Daughter at the outset of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Sometimes, when she’s writing, she’ll write a poem about the character,” Buhr explains of the origins of “God of War”. “It takes you through the experience of being in a village when it’s being bombed and the bombs are coming down on you, and then, just after the music finishes up, the bomb has already landed… it’s as if you’re in heaven, frankly, because there’s been so much death and all that, all you’re doing is wishing for peace.”
“You walk away just hating the ugliness of war,” Buhr continues about experiencing this work. “I think music is all anti-war. There’s tons of anti-war music all throughout the centuries because we’ve never been without war, and so we always need to be pushing back.”
Resonance will be shared at Sidestage in south Osborne at 7:30 p.m. on October 14. Tickets and more details can be found at DreamPlay’s website.