Global Arts honcho Josh Keller

An International Ear

Global Arts’ Josh Keller brings the world to our door

Angelique Kidjo, the Afro-Cuban All Stars, Ladysmith Black Mambazo: these are just three of many international acts to grace the stage at UVic’s Farquhar auditorium over the last four years—and we have Josh Keller to thank for that. The driving force behind Global Arts Concerts, Keller has been bringing artists of international calibre (not to mention international addresses) to Victoria ever since moving here from Edmonton a few years back. Keller had been booking world-music acts in Alberta (and still does—Global Arts also throws shows in Edmonton and Vancouver) and decided to continue to do so when he relocated to Victoria.

“It was a combination of things,” he says. “I was interested in presenting world music and the people from the Farquhar auditorium approached me saying they wanted more done there and liked the diversity world music brought.”

Armed with a venue and a solid background in promoting, Keller set to work on his inaugural Global Rhythms series. The idea was simple: bring in five different artists from around the globe for a series of shows and sell them as a subscription, thus helping to expose slightly lesser-known world music artists by attaching them to some big names (for example, this year’s series features heavy-hitters the Soweto Gospel Choir as well as Mali’s Habib Koité). For Doug Ozeroff, the station manager at world music radio station Village 900, it was an idea whose time had come.

“At that point in time, while we did have some pretty good concerts coming through Victoria, there just wasn’t a consistent nature to them,” says Ozeroff. “With [Keller’s] plan, it was consistent, it was solid and it was exciting. He had some great ideas, he knew what to do to put it together and he wasn’t afraid of doing it on a much bigger scale . . . I really got excited about the idea and wanted to get behind it.”

But, as any concert promoter will tell you, it’s not simply a matter of booking bands and making posters. There was a lot of balancing and tweaking to be done—particularly when you’re bringing artists in from afar to an audience who might not have heard of them before.

“I always look for the right geographic balance,” says Keller. “You can’t load up on three African bands, you’ve got to look at what part of the world you haven’t heard.”

The balance on this year’s season seems just right, with the aforementioned Soweto Gospel Choir opening the season, followed by Scotland’s Shooglenifty doing a double bill with the Marc Atkinson Trio, Noche Flamenca, Habib Koité and closing with fado sensation Mariza—artists who perhaps may not have sold tickets a few years ago.

“It’s certainly increased the appreciation for [world music],” Ozeroff says of the series. “There’s a large population of international-thinking people here in Victoria and to have that mesh with music is a natural.”

While Global Arts still does a lot of one-off shows in other venues (Cuban jazz pianist Hilario Duran, Kris Kristofferson and the Compadres all fall under their banner) it seems the Global Rhythms series is quite close to Keller’s heart.

“I like introducing quality music to people. It’s one of the reasons I got into promoting,” he says. “Live shows are so much better than CDs. There’s something about the live experience with an artists where they’re communicating their culture with the audience. It’s phenomenal to be around when they fire on all cylinders.”

For more information on Global Arts Concerts and the Global Rhythms concert series, visit globalartsconcerts.com