CANORA - “We’re delighted you’re here with us tonight.”
With those words, Tom and Kalissa Landa kicked off their evening of personal warmth and musical artistry at the Canora Composite School auditorium. The Oct. 24 concert was attended by 58 local music fans, with comments including:
“Lots of talent.”
“Liked the violin and the harmonies.”
The first of the Stars for Saskatchewan concert series presented by the Canora Arts Council for the new season, these talented performers are: multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-generational, multi-lingual, multi-instrumental and multi-genre.
They are also both Canadian, after Kalissa was born and raised in Chile, and Tom grew up in Mexico and moved to Canada at the age of 15.
“I went from Mexico City with a population of about 20 million, to Thunder Bay, which was a lot smaller. It was plus 30 degrees when I left Mexico, and about 30 below when I got to Canada.”
“We used to live in Kenora, Ont., and then to find out that we’d be performing in Canora, Sask., it’s pretty cool.”
Canora was the third stop on their Saskatchewan concert tour. The pair started in Biggar, made the trip of about four hours south for their concert in Assiniboia, before travelling about another four hours to Canora.
“I’m sure by the time our tour is over, we’ll get to know Saskatchewan even better than some of you,” said Tom with a smile.
Tom and Kalissa’s set list for the Canora concert featured something for just about every musical taste, right from Irish Polka, to Mexican folk music, to classic tunes from well-known names such as Neil Young.
Early in the evening they performed Long May You Run, a classic by Neil Young. That was followed by a traditional Mexican number, with Tom adding authenticity by switching from his acoustic guitar to a jarana, which is a Mexican eight-string guitar. Tom taught the chorus to the audience so they could sing along, with Kalissa adding, “Singing together with you, it’s the musical equivalent of breaking bread together.”
Giving a nod to their roots, Tom and Kalissa sing in both Spanish and English during their performances.
In addition to their musical talents, the easygoing duo endeared themselves to the Canora audience with their entertaining stories about their experiences as well as the inspirations for their songs.
They performed a number written by Tom years ago called Waiting, which is about a solo trip he took in Italy and “wishing I had someone to share it with.”
The couple’s smooth, seemingly effortless harmonies flowed through the auditorium all evening for the audience to enjoy.
They shared an instrumental composition called Winter Solstice, which pays tribute to and honours the changing of the seasons, and seemed quite appropriate with the Canora weather gradually getting colder.
As he introduced the song, Tom added, “We invite you to close your eyes and see what you can conjure up in your imagination, maybe even sway back and forth with the music.”
Kalissa shared that they enjoy performing for school groups, and often ask young their audience, “What happens on Dec. 21?” The most common reply is
“Is it Christmas?”
“Not Quite.”
“How about Valentine’s Day?”
“No, not yet.”
“Could it be Easter?”
“That’s not it either. It’s the Winter Solstice.”
Kalissa said children tend to get quite excited during their shows, so much so that “They are practically vibrating. We get them up and dancing, and then after the show we send them back to their poor teachers, we kind of feel bad about that.”
Keeping the theme of variety alive in their musical selections, Tom and Kalissa played their version of the well-known Paul Simon composition, I Know What I Know for the Canora audience.
To date, the duo has won two West Coast Music Awards and released ten recordings.
More information on Tom and Kalissa and their music is available by email at [email protected].
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