Penner goes a little deeper on new album
Hear the Music based in more than nostalgia
Advertisement
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/06/2017 (3113 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Fred Penner is encouraging people to get back to the basics of life with his latest record, Hear the Music.
Penner, 70, released his 13th album on April 21 and will celebrate the record’s launch on June 8 and 9 at the International Children’s Festival at The Forks.
With 45 years of tours, productions and a dozen records under his belt, the Osborne Village local said his latest work holds an important position in his extensive catalogue.
.jpg?w=1000)
In addition to carrying the earworm, family-friendly melodies Penner is known for, the record is a reflection on the Anishinaabe seven teachings of love, respect, courage, honesty, wisdom, humility and truth. The seven teachings were also the focus of Aboriginal Peoples Television Network’s early-2000s series Tipi Tales, for which Penner composed the music.
For a generation that grew up with Penner — either on his television series Fred Penner’s Place or through his records — Hear the Music is an opportunity for millennials to reconnect with the influences of their childhood and the lessons learned decades ago.
“All of those elements were so valuable to me and so important bringing forward to the audience,” Penner said. “Because in this stage of life and insanity in this world, we do really need to start adapting those fundamental values in life just to give us an awareness of how important life is, and give balance to the disconnect that seems to be happening in this world.”
While much of his past work is family-oriented, Penner wanted to take Hear the Music further and explore the role of individuals in caring for the people around them and world at large.
“This one got deeper, and I think part of it is my senior status here and being completely aware of how music can affect the listener,” he said.
“We put a lot of love and perspective into this project and the hope is that people listen to it and find songs that do resonate with their feelings and that in turn could perhaps affect which directions they go.”
The 14-track album produced by Ken Whiteley also features collaborations with Canadian musicians Afie Jurvanen (of Bahamas), Ron Sexsmith, Terra Lightfoot, Alex Cuba, and others.
Heading into the studio for the first time in years with a crop of young performers backing him was an exciting process, Penner said.
“That was a fun journey because I had met and become friends with so many of these fabulous young people who grew up with me, like The Good Lovelies, or Terra Lightfoot — Ron Sexsmith used to watch my show with his daughter,” Penner said.
“That was really sweet to know that from a creative point of view that they were open and ready to step in and bring their talent to the table,” he said. “They really wanted their part of the album to be special and important and they came in and exactly that.”
Hear the Music is available online through Itunes, Amazon or fredpenner.com