ChantFest 2007
The second-annual Vancouver InterSpiritual Chant Festival will broaden and deepen the spiritual experience of chanting. ChantFest 2007 will be held from 10 am to 10 pm on Saturday, March 31, at the Canadian Memorial Centre for Peace, 1825 West 16th Avenue at Burrard.
Afternoon chantshop from ChantFest 2006
New this year at the evening chant celebration are Seattle's divine Gina Sala, popular Vancouver chant leader Jerry DesVoignes with the Mantravani Orchestra, singer-songwriter Myrna Rabinowitz, and the African chants and rhythms of Joseph "Pepe" Danza and Navaro Franco.
Sufi musician Amir O'Loughlin will MC the evening, which begins at 7:30 p.m. It sold out last year.
From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., a full day of participatory chantshops will include First Nations, Muslim, Hindu, Sufi, Christian, Jewish, Baha'i, Sikh, African and Buddhist traditions. Chant leaders and musicians include Sandra Leigh, Lyle Povah, David Embry Solest, Phil L'Hirondelle, Maalaa, Nancy Watters, Oliver Clarke, Joelle Lazar, Alana Lea, Lorne Mallin and Myrna Rabinowitz, Matthew Smith and Deborah Bramm, members of the Krishna Consciousness community, and Bachan Kaur and Rajkanwal Kaur.
Come to the full festival or just the evening. Admission: $55. Students, seniors $35. Evening chant only, $25/$20. Tickets are available from Banyen Books and Sound, 3608 West 4th Ave., Vancouver, or can be ordered by phone from Banyen at 604-737-8858.
Proceeds from the raffle of a native frame drum will go to the Aboriginal Front Door Society.
ChantFest is co-sponsored by Hollyhock, Banyen Books and Sound, Common Ground and Technically Simple.