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Experimental music festival asks the question - 'What is jazz?'

Newfoundland and Labrador's Sound Arts bi-yearly festival Onsound is exploring jazz music this year. It started with a solo harbour symphony on Wednesday.

Onsound features concerts and workshops throughout St. John's until July 19

Two people stand side by side on a busy sidewalk.
Mahina Graham-Laidlaw and Jacob Cherwick are part of the team that pulled off a one-boat harbour symphony for the Sound Arts' Onsound festival. (Maddie Ryan/CBC)

They say jazz is about the notes you don't play — or in some cases, the horns you don't honk.

The harbour symphony has been a time-honoured tradition in St. John's since 1983, and the arrangement performed on Wednesday marked the beginning of the Sound Arts bi-yearly festival Onsound.

This year's theme is What Is Jazz?, a question perfectly suited to a song made from the deep ringing — or barmping — of several ships' horns.

This time, it was a symphony of one, with a Coast Guard vessel acting as the first and only chair in its oceanic orchestra.

Harbour symphony assistant Mahina Graham-Laidlaw said the uncertainty is part of the beauty of the 42-year-old act. 

"You never know what to expect," she said, looking through the harbour fence as the barmping started to fade.

"There's always something different each time I've done this and that's my favourite part of it."

Wednesday was Jacob Cherwick's first time composing a harbour symphony. He wrote a score for four horns, but ended up with only two horns on one boat.

It wasn't a problem, according to Cherwick.

"It's more about the experiment than writing an actual melody," he said.

The musician says there's something freeing about exploring new sounds without being confined by theory or traditional song structure, and that's why he was happy to be involved with the jazz edition of Onsound.

A woman playing an accordian.
Sound Arts executive director Michelle LaCour has noticed a jazz revival in St. John's, and wanted to bring that to this year's Onsound festival. (Photo by Greg Locke)

Sound Arts executive director Michelle LaCour says Newfoundland and Labrador is seeing a revival of that same carefree music-making, and jazz along with it.

Featured musicians Ana Luísa Ramos and Florian Hoefner have noticed it, too.

"When I came here 11 years ago, there wasn't much of that," said Hoefner. "That's really changed. It seems like the scene is really alive."

Ramos added she'll be bringing her signature bossa nova style to the festival. 

"I think that's really interesting too, to kind of explore different styles of music from around the world outside of the Western canon of jazz music," LaCour said.

Onsound also hosts a range of workshops and touring musicians from the rest of Canada at venues across St. John's.

The festival ends on Saturday, July 19.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Maddie Ryan

Journalist

Maddie Ryan is a reporter and associate producer in St. John's. Reach her at madison.ryan@cbc.ca.

With files from The St. John's Morning Show and On the Go