Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Orchestra celebrates Music of Freedom
James Keelaghan: remembering sacrifices. (SUPPLIED PHOTO )
Concert Preview
Music of Freedom with the WSO Pops
Centennial Concert Hall
Tonight and Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2 p.m.
Tickets $20-$75 at Ticketmaster
THE Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra is marking Remembrance Day this weekend with three performances of a pops concert called Music of Freedom.
Local folk singer-songwriter and history buff James Keelaghan is slated to perform three of his history-based songs with the orchestra, including a new one about war veterans.
The concert, hosted by former CBC Radio personality Ron Robinson, also features jazz vocalist Anna-Lisa Kirby singing wartime favourites. The orchestra's selections will include works from war movies such as Saving Private Ryan. Video clips and projected photos will accompany the music.
The past five years have been personally eventful for the Calgary-bred Keelaghan, who turned 50 last month. He lost both his parents, became the father of a son who is now three, and has a second child due in December.
The Juno Award-winning troubadour with the rich baritone voice has just released House of Cards, his first disc of all-new material in eight years.
Keelaghan, who has previously performed with the Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg orchestras, spoke with the Free Press about war and remembrance.
FP: On your new CD there's a song, Medusa, that you wrote with Scottish singer Karine Polwart. You're performing it with the WSO. It talks about soldiers marching "row upon row" and how "nobody cares, no one remembers." It refers to Medusa, the monster who turns men to stone.
JK: "The way Medusa operates in the present-day world is that we send people off to war and turn them into headstones. . . . I have friends down in the States who fought in Vietnam, and were really in the thick of it. One guy, I asked him, 'What does that experience make you think about now?' And he says: 'Not my child. Not ever.'"
FP: Your father was from Ireland and your mother was English. Did they have war experiences?
JK: "My father was a veteran of the Spanish Civil War. My mother was an East Ender (in London). She was like, 12 or 13 years old when the Blitz started. She was bombed pretty well every night for about six months.
She must have seen truly horrific things. But she got past that. She came (to Canada) and raised six children. She was active in social justice issues, in the same way that my father was. There's this realization from that generation that life does go on. The real measure of us as human beings is what we do after those horrific things."
FP: Do you consider yourself a pacifist? What do you want your children to think about Remembrance Day?
JK: "I want them to remember the sacrifices those people made. The past few (Remembrance Days) we've gone to the ceremony at Vimy Ridge Park....
The Second World War is possibly something that was justifiable, to stop a regime run wild. But the First World War was a useless slaughter. I wouldn't say I'm necessarily a pacifist... but by and large, the people who send people to go do the dyin' are not willing to go do the dyin' themselves."
FP: The WSO concert will include the Last Post and a moment of silence. Do you find that meaningful?
JK: "I think it's a very moving thing. One of the (reasons) I'm so affected by the First World War is that France, for example, had 300,000 missing. To me, the Last Post is particularly about the unknown fallen.
I'm reading a book called The Living Unknown Soldier: A Story of Grief and the Great War by Jean-Yves Le Naour. It's about this guy in France at the end of the First World War, who they found on a station platform. He was a total amnesiac. He became France's living unknown soldier.
Hundreds of families stepped forward to try and claim him as their son or their husband or their father. Although his family finally found him, other families couldn't let go... and kept taking the case to court. It's a really, really sad tale about grief."
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 6, 2009 D4
-
WFP Hockey
Download our new hockey app for the iPhone for Winnipeg Jets updates
-
Editor's Bulletin
Sign up for daily bulletins from editor Margo Goodhand
-
Winnipeg Jets
All things NHL on our Jets landing page
-
Twitter
Follow our reporters and our news feeds on Twitter
-
News Cafe
Check out the menu, read our blog posts or get info on coming events
-
Facebook Fanpage
Follow our Facebook Fanpage for story links, contests and special events
Ads by Google
- Back to Top
- Return to Music
Poll
Most Popular
- Juror dismissed in second-degree murder trial of Mark Stobbe
- Piers Morgan blasts 'gruesome' Madonna
- Steinbach booms to No. 3 city in province
- Cabela's to open massive store just west of IKEA site
- RCMP receptionist told Stobbe wife was dead
- RCMP receptionist told Stobbe wife dead
- Should infants be allowed in the House of Commons?
- US teen gets life in prison for killing 9-year-old; called the murder "pretty enjoyable"
- No comfort in trade talk: Veteran Thorburn says closely knit club well worth keeping together
- Father of man charged in Mountie shootings pleads with him to come home
- Piers Morgan blasts 'gruesome' Madonna
- Clothing chain pulls Caterpillar boots to protest closure of London, Ont., plant
- Three winning tickets sold for Friday's $50 million Lotto Max jackpot
- Woman's car stolen at gunpoint at St. Vital mall, police say
- Eleven people killed after truck hits van in southwestern Ontario
- 'This is so silly': Mom and Dad tell story of baby Zade, born on side of Highway 59
- Stobbe said slaying during shopping trip 'strange': sister-in-law
- Tactical squad storms St. Vital house
- Restaurant Dubrovnik may be closed for good
- RCMP receptionist told Stobbe wife was dead
- Do you smoke marijuana?
- Driver dead after SUV goes over Disraeli Bridge
- George Clooney's prank could end Pitt's career
- Piers Morgan blasts 'gruesome' Madonna
- Tina Maze strips down to her sports bra to send out underwear message: 'Not your business'
- Clothing chain pulls Caterpillar boots to protest closure of London, Ont., plant
- Minor earthquake strikes near Manitoba
- Car's plunge off Disraeli fatal
- Two children, two women die in fire
- Kate Beckinsale's weight fears over Underworld catsuit
- Tassimo brewers and espresso packages recalled amid rupture, burn concerns
- Cabela's to open massive store just west of IKEA site
- Fighting fire with knowledge
- New appointees named to Manitoba Hydro board
- Spain mourns death of Catalan painter, sculptor Antoni Tapies, top contemporary art figure
- Steinbach booms to No. 3 city in province
- Juror dismissed in second-degree murder trial of Mark Stobbe
- Pardon application fee to quadruple later this month despite complaints
- Our 'true champion'
- Flood reviews launched
- Tassimo brewers and espresso packages recalled amid rupture, burn concerns
- Swedish bunny's sheep herding skills becomes click-monster on YouTube
- League encourages hazing secrecy
- Cabela's to open massive store just west of IKEA site
- Harper driven by libertarian ideology, not reality
- Northern fishing lodge destroyed by fire
- Police target drivers talking on cellphones, texting
- Obama torn by conflicting allies
- 'This is so silly': Mom and Dad tell story of baby Zade, born on side of Highway 59
- Fighting fire with knowledge
- Minor earthquake strikes near Manitoba
- Paddler Starkell was modern-day voyageur
- Tassimo brewers and espresso packages recalled amid rupture, burn concerns
- Driver dead after SUV goes over Disraeli Bridge
- Car's plunge off Disraeli fatal
- Canadian woman 'badly injured' in Mexico, local media report apparent beating
- Winnipeg mother watches as car stolen with child inside
- Swedish bunny's sheep herding skills becomes click-monster on YouTube
- League encourages hazing secrecy
- Cabela's to open massive store just west of IKEA site


You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments. All you need to do is register and/or login and you can join the conversation and give your feedback.
The Winnipeg Free Press does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comment, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. These terms were revised effective April 16, 2010; View the changes. New to commenting? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.