New West singer Krystle Dos Santos will be one among the 40 international, national and local acts to perform at Vancouver’s long-standing folk music festival this week.
The annual festival known to present the finest traditional and contemporary folk and roots music from around the world, has been a Jericho Beach Park-summer staple since 1979. Organized by the non-profit Vancouver Folk Music Festival Society every year, it sees more than 40,000 people gather at the beach to listen to a lineup of curated artists.
To this audience, Dos Santos, who has a 15-year singing career, will be presenting her original songs from her albums including Bloom/Burn and Hey Viola!
“It’s a little bit smooth and soulful,” said the two-time Western Canadian Music Award winner of her music. There is a “little bit of funkiness,” she added.
“A little bit of pop … just kind of smooth jazzy-ish.” she continued, noting that her repertoire also includes songs that can be classified as folk.
Tying music with Black history
Dos Santos’ journey in music started at the age of 17 at a musical theatre in Edmonton.
About the initial years, she remembers being drawn to “bluesy rock” music and blown away by Grammy Award-winning singer Etta James’ biggest hits.
At that point, Dos Santos wanted to sound just like James, she recollected. But she also knew that she had to find her own voice and style, she said.
The pursuit led her to record her first album in 2007, join the Canadian College of Performing Arts, move to the U.K. and back, and eventually carve out a niche for herself — one that blurs the boundary between different genres.
All through this, Dos Santos, whose roots are Guyanese, also recognized music as a launch pad to talk about the contributions of Black people to the music industry.
Dos Santos and her four-piece band, Orchard Sky, have taken their virtual concert History of Motown to elementary schools, exposing the young minds to the rich genre.
“I tell the story of the development of Motown (American record label) — from Berry Gordy starting work in a car factory to building the studio and the political climate during that time.”
Motown Music saw its peak between the 1950s and the '80s, as mentioned on Dos Santos’ website. This was also the time the United States of America saw the birth of the Civil Rights Movement. And as is evident from the book Dancing in the Street: Motown and the Cultural Politics of Detroit by Suzanne E Smith, the record company didn’t hold back from showcasing its support for it.
In her History of Motown concert, Dos Santos wove the stories of the 60s politics with songs of American vocal groups Martha and the Vandellas, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, The Temptations, Four Tops and The Supremes, American pop band The Jackson 5, the vocal quartet the Four Tops, the American icon Stevie Wonder and “all of the greats.”
While this concert charted the “significant” impact of Motown music in shaping up contemporary soul music today, yet another virtual concert designed by Dos Santos celebrated the notable Black Canadian women in music.
“That's another one that I did with schools in mind. I wanted to lean into finding the representation of me … a young me would have just flipped to see black Canadian women in music,” she said.
“It's really kind of driving home that representation is very, very important, and being able to create your own work that represents yourself is very special.”
In the concert, Dos Santos performs songs by Canadian jazz singer Eleanor Collins, Canadian contralto Portia White, and other talented singers and songwriters including Salome Bey, Deborah Cox, Jully black, Molly Johnson and Jackie Shane.
In researching about the Canadian musical legends, “There's just so much cool stuff to uncover," she said.
"And if you can find a purpose for this stuff, it's just the best job ever.”
On Saturday, July 15, Dos Santos will be performing with a seven-piece band at noon; later at 8:30 p.m., she will be part of the American Beauties: Songs of the Grateful Dead Re-Imagined; followed by a gospel workshop at 11 a.m. the next day.
