Recording: Luka Kuplowsky & The Ryōkan Band

Artist: Luka Kuplowsky & The Ryōkan Band

Songs: How Can I Possibly Sleep When There is Music + I Knew it Would Be You! [from a poem by Ryōkan Taigu]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Main Hall), June 18, 2024.

Luka Kuplowsky & The Ryōkan Band - How Can I Possibly Sleep When There is Music

Luka Kuplowsky & The Ryōkan Band - I Knew it Would Be You!

Luke Kuplowsky has been developing his book of songs from and inspired by poets for a few years now, so it was a delight to see it come to a culmination with the release of the double album How Can I Possibly Sleep When There is Music. For the release celebration, the full band presented the album in order, accompanied by some gorgeous visuals, including on-screen footage of a dancer (Noriko Yamamato) who then appeared in the flesh onstage — a perfect encapsulation of these songs breathing life into centuries-old poems and making them viscerally present in the here-and-now.

Monday Roundup #158

Concert announcements:

Ducks Ltd. [Harm's Way Album Release Show] (Only God Forgives / Cootie Catcher) / Sonic Boom Records 2024-02-08 (Thursday). $21. [more info]

Women From Space Festival: Night 1 (feat. Bloop / Morgan-Paige / BIG BANG! plays Björk) / 918 Bathurst 2024-03-08 (Friday). $15 advance, $20 at the door; early-bird passes $30, regular passes $38. [more info]

Women From Space Festival: Night 2 (feat. Grace Scheele / MOCH / Mali Obomsawin) / 918 Bathurst 2024-03-09 (Saturday). $15 advance, $20 at the door; early-bird passes $30, regular passes $38. [more info]

Women From Space Festival: Night 3 (feat. Anh Phung/chiquitamagic/Emjay Wright / Val Jeanty & Nickeshia Garrick / Matana Roberts/Germaine Liu/Nicole Rampersaud) / 918 Bathurst 2024-03-10 (Sunday). $15 advance, $20 at the door; early-bird passes $30, regular passes $38. [more info]

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Shows this week:

Swanherds [rebecca bruton solo] (Kurt Newman) / 918 Bathurst – The Sun Room 2024-01-23 (Tuesday) [FB event]

Ronley Teper & The Lipliners / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-01-24 (Wednesday). $pwyc. [more info]

Lina Allemano Standards Quartet [Lina Allemano/Michael Davidson/Andrew Downing/Nick Fraser] / The Rex 2024-01-24–27 (Wednesday–Saturday). $16 and up. [FB event]

CCMC [Paul Dutton/Al Mattes/John Kamevaar/John Oswald/Casey Sokol plus Guest: TBA] / Array Space 2024-01-25 (Thursday). @pwyw, livestream available.

Karen Ng Presents (feat. Thom Gill/Blake Howard/Kae Murphy/Karen Ng) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-01-25 (Thursday) [more info]

Raphael Weinroth-Browne / Annette Studios 2024-01-25 (Thursday). $22.63. [FB event]

Not A Band (Output 1:1:1 / Animal Party) / BSMT254 2024-01-25 (Thursday). $pwyc, all ages. [more info]

All-Set! Presents (feat. Aurochs O.G. [Ali Berkok/Jake Oelrichs/Pete Johnston/Mike Smith]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-01-26 (Friday – early) [FB event]

Kamancello / Canadian Music Centre 2024-01-26 (Friday). $22.63 advance/$30 door. [FB event]

Exit Points 45 (feat. Doris Du/Behzad Danesh/Afraaz Mulji/Marlena Nova/James Hamilton Lowrie / Keisha Bell-Kovacs/Eye_Duh Kho/Gladys/Bill Gilliam/Michael Palumbo / Switchemups) / Array Space 2024-01-26 (Friday). $20. [FB event]

CMC Ontario Artist in Residence Showcase (feat. Backlined Quartet [Erich Barganier/Emmanuel Lacopo/Andrew Noseworthy/Patrick O’Reilly] / Paolo Griffin / Arie Verheul van de Ven) / 918 Bathurst 2024-01-26 (Friday). $free with RSVP. [FB event]

The Ryan Driver Sextet / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-01-26 (Friday). $pwyw. [more info]

Liquid Architecture: Moving Pictures ["live solo scores for strange and bizarre silent films"] (feat. Rod Campbell/Colin James Gibson/Ryan Kinney/Ambrose Pottie) / Mischief Makers 2024-01-27 (Saturday) [FB event]

Happy Sundays (feat. Hieronymus Harry / Picastro / Avalon T.) / The Baby G 2024-01-28 (Sunday). $free, 19+. [FB event]

Dan Pitt/Brittany Pitt/Stefan Hegaret / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-01-28 (Sunday) [more info]

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It happened this week...

• ...on January 22, 2020 at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge).

Ryōkan Blues Band - I Found a Coin in My Bag

• ...on January 22, 2020 at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Karen Ng Presents).

Ben Dwyer/Josh Cole/Emily Steinwall/Ewan Farncombe - untitled #2

Recording: Ryōkan Blues Band

Artist: Ryōkan Blues Band

Songs: To Pi Ssu Yao [from a poem by Du Fu] + If Your Heart Remains Unchanged + Formal Meditation + I Found a Coin in My Bag [from poems by Ryōkan]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), January 22, 2020.

Ryōkan Blues Band - To Pi Ssu Yao

Ryōkan Blues Band - If Your Heart Remains Unchanged

Ryōkan Blues Band - Formal Meditation

Ryōkan Blues Band - I Found a Coin in My Bag

It's quite exciting to see that this endeavour, started as a side project to Luke "Luka" Kuplowsky's "name band", has branched off to claim its own identity. Essentially a vehicle for the musical setting of poetry, the heart of the thing remains in the Ryōkan and Rumi texts that the project started off with — but things are growing (enough that the band could play two short sets at this show!) to include a wider range of poets as well. Regardless of the source, there's an admirable dedication to serving the text here — if a poem is four terse lines, it doesn't need to be given a bridge and a second verse and what have you, it can just occupy the space of those original distilled thoughts.

[There probably won't be any be any Ryōkan, but Luke Kuplowsky will be celebrating a birthday at a special Holy Oak Family Singers Revue in the Southern Cross on Thursday (February 27th).]

Recording: LUKA

Artist: LUKA

Songs: For My Visitor [from a poem by Ryōkan] + Fugitive Song (a response to Rainer Maria Rilke)

Recorded at Belljar Café (Track Could Bend #34), January 2, 2018.

LUKA - For My Visitor

LUKA - Fugitive Song (a response to Rainer Maria Rilke)

Setting aside his own observations, Luke Kuplowsky took a different songwriting tack in presenting a beautiful set of songs with the words mostly drawn from the poetic fragments left behind by the 18th century hermit-monk Ryōkan. He was backed by an incredible band that included Alex Lukashevsky, Evan Cartwright, Josh Cole and Felicity Williams (who has followed up this appearance with some more prestigious gigs). The songs ranged from quiet meditations like the first song here to more rambunctious takes like the second, which had me staring at the Belljar's front door as I had this strange sense that a horn section could have burst in from the street at any second to join in. These songs had only been aired in public once before, and it's inconceivable that they won't be heard again.

[LUKA will be playing the Burdock with Trace Mountains and Rachael Cardiello on Wednesday, April 11th. Track Could Bend returns to the Belljar Café on Tuesday (February 6th) with sets from Bim Prongs & {AN} EeL, N A V I and Love Children of the Apocalypse.]