Erwan Keravec & Hamid Drake

Erwan Keravec is a Breton piper (Scottish bagpipes) whose eclectic path ranges from traditional to contemporary music and improvisation. This encompasses free improvisation with Mats Gustafsson, Beñat Achiary, Jean-Luc Cappozzo, etc.; writing and playing music for modern dance companies (Boris Charmatz, Emmanuelle huynh, Gaëlle Bourges…); a traditional duo with his brother Guénolé Keravec; playing solo pieces written for him by such contemporary composers as Wolfgang Mitterer, Oscar Bianchi, Oscar Strasnoy, Philippe leroux, José-Manuel lopez Lopez, etc. Lastly, in ‘Urban Pipes’ Erwan presents his work as a composer and an improviser. By the close of the 1990s, Hamid Drake was widely regarded as one of the best percussionists in jazz and improvised music. Incorporating Afro-Cuban, Indian, and African percussion instruments and influence, in addition to using the standard trap set, Drake has collaborated extensively with top free jazz improvisers. Drake also has performed world music; by the late 1970s, he was a member of Foday Musa Suso's Mandingo Griot Society and has played reggae throughout his career. Drake has worked with trumpeter Don Cherry, pianist Herbie Hancock, saxophonists Pharoah Sanders, Fred Anderson, Archie Shepp and David Murray and bassists Reggie Workman and William Parker (in a large number of lineups). Presented with the support of the Société de Perception et de Distribution des Droits des Artistes-Interprètes (SPEDIDAM), Consulat général de France à Québec, Spectacle Vivant Bretagne (SVB) and l’Organisme de gestion collective des droits des artistes-interprètes (ADAMI).

Hamid Drake & Kimberley de Jong

Kimberley was born in Australia and grew up in B.C. She went to school at Arts Umbrella, (Vancouver), first starting as a tap dancer then learning contemporary improvisation from teachers such as Emily Molnar and choreographer Crystal Pite. She’s been performing professionally for 15 years starting in the Netherlands with Itzik Galili, followed by Montreal’s Marie Chouinard, Frédérick Gravel, Dana Gingras with live band GY!BE, Alan Lake, Martin Messier and Caroline Laurin Beaucage. Kimberley is also a mom of two girls and is a birth and postpartum doula. Kimberley curates “5 on 5” a monthly improvisational evenings between Montreal musicians and dancers at La Sala Rossa. She recently participated as one of 5 choreographer's at this year’s Banff Creative Gesture- Collective Composition Lab for Music and Dance 2019. Her collaboration with sound artist Jason Sharp led her to create Boxher, presented at Tangente Danse in March 2018, followed by experimental music festival Suoni Per Il Popolo, Montreal, Qc. They will work towards the long version of the work The Day the Wild Cried thanks to a residency at CCOV and Le Mai (Montreal) and premiere it at an exhibition on Heart Intelligence at the Meinblau Art Space in Berlin in March 2019.