Concert Électro-choc

Cris Derksen

“You can do way more with the cello, I think, than a lot of instruments.”

A rising star on the Canadian classical/jazz/folk/pop/electronica/what-have-you scenes, cellist Cris Derksen is known for captivating solo performances building layers of sound into often surprisingly slamming dance music. Her music braids the traditional and contemporary in multiple dimensions, weaving her traditional classical training and her aboriginal ancestry with new school electronics, creating genre defying music.

On her debut solo effort The Cusp, the 13 tracks range from classically oriented, multitracked soundscapes (“We Danced Movement I & II”) to upbeat party bumps inspired by her half-Cree ancestry (“Pow.wow.wow”) and hybridized pieces that sound readymade for climatic moments in art or cinema. Her 2013 sophomore album The Collapse continues her trail-blazing musical creativity.

Cris has toured nationally and internationally as a solo artist and performing her own compositions with Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq. She has performed internationally at: Women in (e)motion (Germany), Future En Seine (France), WOMEX (Spain), SXSW (Texas), Riddu Riddu (Norway), Respect Festival, Colors of Ostrava (Czech Republic), Barroquisimo (Mexico), MADE festival (Sweden).

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DJ Shub

Hailing from Fort Erie Ontario, a border town often forgotten by the droves of American’s and Torontonians that pass it unknowingly, Dan General’s (DJ Shub) talents, unlike his hometown, have never been overlooked. Enamored by the technical prowess of DMC legends Q-Bert, Mix Master Mike, A-Trak, and Craze, Shub honed his craft, as a battle DJ. With only the guidance of a few grainy VHS tapes, Shub began emulating the diverse styles of past DMC battle champions, leaving parties early to spend countless evenings in his parent’s basement, practicing on a purple pair of belt driven turntables, focused on someday competing for the Canadian title and representing his country in the Worlds. Realizing his childhood dream, Shub won the Canadian DMC championships in 2007 and 2008 and placed 5th respectively in the World Competition. He also won the Supremacy championships 2008. He retired from competition in 2009 with an impressive resume and the respect of some of the world’s best DJs. In 2012 he came out of retirement and competed in the Redbull Thre3Style DJ competition in which he represented all of Canada at the World stage which took place in Chicago.

Rather than basking in former glories Shub began his second career in music as producer and DJ for A Tribe Called Red (ATCR). Influenced by a variety of music, electro, dub-step, dance hall and hip-hop, their signature sound is derived from a personal and spiritual place, the music of their native tribes. Blending traditional pow-wow singing, driving circle drumming, the clanging rattles and beads from traditional dress to their other more main stream influences they effectively pioneered the genre “powwow step”. ATCR has articulated a personal voice, shaped and shared by an Aboriginal community largely overlooked in the music industry, into a finely crafted sound that maintains a sophisticated balance between tradition and novelty. Hardly the stuff of mere aficionados, this is roots music that embodies a people, transfixes the soul and leaves trails of exhausted party goers thirsting for more pleasurable abuse.