It was an incredibly tough decision.
Invited to perform at this year's Motown Meltdown, an annual night of soul music taking place Saturday night at the Commodore Ballroom in support of Seva Canada, a Vancouver-based charitable organization working to restore sight and prevent blindness in the developing world, featured artist Krystle Dos Santos was perplexed when pressed to choose what song she wanted to sing.
"It was so hard," laughs the singer-songwriter on being sent such an impressive list of songs. Overwhelmed by the possibilities, she eventually took the plunge and couldn't be more pleased, settling on Stevie Wonder's 1970 classic, "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours."
The Edmonton native and West End resident is making her Motown Meltdown debut this year and is among the diverse array of featured vocalists set to take the stage this weekend, backed by a stellar 12-piece band comprised of veteran session musicians. Featured artists include Alexander A-train Boynton Jr., Joani Bye, Leora Cashe, Candus Churchill, Oliver Conway, Olivia Steele Falconer, Warren Dean Flandez, Al Harlow, Angela Kelman, Linda Kidder, Jane Mortifee, Marcus Mosely, Tom Pickett, Will Sanders, David Steele, Shari Ulrich and Garfield Wilson.
Following her performance at Motown Meltdown, Dos Santos will head off to Surrey's the Taphouse for her second performance of the evening, joining the Ten Souljers, just one of the many ensembles she plays with. She also performs with Edmonton-based the Black Mambas and plays Friday nights at Vancouver's Belmont Bar with the Smokin' Soul Experience.
"The energy is cyclical, right? It's amazing how you can put out a lot, but you can't put out quite as much if it's not coming back to you. I just find that the interaction and the energy that people give back to you is contagious and completely addictive, really," she says, of her love for performing.
Drawing on a host of genres 鈥� jazz, soul, pop, funk and blues included 鈥� for her original songs as well as covers, Dos Santos enjoys bringing classic music to modern audiences, whether they're familiar with it or not.
"It's such amazing art... that isn't quite as celebrated as it used to be. It's really cool to be able to bring that kind of stuff back," she says.
On the first Tuesday of every month Dos Santos can be found with her band, the Lovemakers, running Underneath the Harlem Moon, a cabaret-style show at Gastown's Guilt Company. The concept grew out of her experiences three years ago when she went in search of inspiration and influence for future creative projects, travelling to Memphis, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and Austin.
"I really wanted that sort of eastern, southern American influence. What I saw was they really get together, the top-notch musicians who play and go touring, they come together as a community and they do poetry and they do awesome jams and songs together. I came back to 麻豆传媒映画with the same intention and the same goal in mind," she says.
Underneath the Harlem Moon has been running for the last two years and Dos Santos' goal is to build community and bring people together who either don't know each other or typically don't get to share stages, and showcase their talents. The cabaret night might see a musical theatre dancer take the stage with a jazz singer, or a tap dancer with a flute player, as overall her goal is to create "unusual and interesting combinations where people can really collaborate and jam together."
"Sometimes it breaks out into a dance party and sometimes it's just people really grooving to some neo-soul from the early 2000s 鈥� Jill Scott and Erykah Badu. It's kind of like my guilty pleasure place where I get to experiment and bring people in so that they can do the exact same thing," she says.
The next edition of Underneath the Harlem Moon will take place April 5 and will have a classic soul theme.
Apart from maintaining a busy performance schedule, Dos Santos is continuing to develop plans for her next album 鈥� most likely a brassy blues, soulful affair 鈥� that will serve as a follow to her 2011 Fame Fatale and 2008 eponymous releases.
"'I've been writing with a couple of local 麻豆传媒映画people and with some people from my Edmonton team as well. We've just been pounding away, really trying to find that specific sound, but still working at it. I've got a couple of songs sitting in the bank, waiting to come together. You've got to get that group, sometimes you get those one or two songs that really work together and you just have to keep on building the bigger picture," she says.
