Acclaimed Guelph guitarist Adrian Raso and his band have been part of the regular lineup of performers each year during Guelph’s annual Festival Italiano but this year they are taking the show to a whole new level with help from the world-renowned Balkan brass band Fanfare Ciocarlia.
“The power of this band is astounding,” said Raso. “The response from audiences everywhere we play reflects that.”
The show this Saturday at the Italian Canadian Club on Ferguson Street is part of a nine-date tour that will bring their high-energy performances to festivals in Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, London, Waterloo, Toronto and Ann Arbor, Michigan.
A highlight of the group’s first North American tour will be playing for Raso’s hometown fans and friends.
“The show Saturday is going to be very special for us,” said Raso. “It is going to be much more intimate and sentimental than the rest of the tour.”
They will be performing many new arrangements including material from their critically acclaimed record Devil’s Tale. It features 12 songs originally composed by Raso for guitar and adapted for horns by members of Fanfare Ciocarlia and their manager Henry Ernst.
“As soon as we heard the first notes from the demos we knew this was going to be a unique album,” said Raso.“No one else sounds like this.It is a first of its kind.”
They laid down most of the tracks for Devil’s Tale during a whirlwind four-day recording session in the summer of 2012 at Metalworks Studios in Toronto.
It features performances by legendary session musician John Jorgenson on mandolin, guitar and clarinet, drummer Kevin Figueiredo from the band Extreme, Mexican guitarist Rodrigo and others.
Additional tracks were recorded at Headroom Studios in Berlin, Germany and in the village of Zece Prajini in Romania where members of Fanfare Ciocarlia were born and raised.
The record was released in 2014 on the Asphalt Tango label and debuted at number one on the World Music charts. It was nominated for a CBC music award and received, among other accolades, the German Record Critics Award.
Raso said a lot of credit for the record’s success has to go to Ernst who heard the potential for the east-west collaboration and had the vision to make it all work.
“It is the kind of record I dreamed of making,” said Raso. “My jaw dropped when I heard the hybrid of sounds.”
They have played to sellout crowds across Europe during tours in May of 2015 and March of this year.
Joining Raso on the tours has been long-time friend and fellow guitarist Lore Bortolon of Guelph and bass player Tyler Belluz.
“It has been an evolving process and we just keep getting better,” Raso said.
They are touring Europe again in October and in March of 2017 will be touring Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East.
Saturday's show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $35 in advance and $40 at the door.
