The earliest memory that Silvana Kane has of performing in front of an audience is as a wide-eyed three-year-old singing at a Lima cathedral in her home country of Peru.
I sang for Christmas Eve mass, Kane says. I was really little and my mom had to lift me up so people could see me. I had no idea I was performing in front of so many people I was just singing a really beautiful song about a Christmas tree. I remember it was a really big building and I was really excited because in Peru, its a tradition to stay up the night of Christmas Eve and I could stay up late.
The singer no longer needs her mother to hold her up when she performs. Shes the magnetic lead singer of Pacifika, a globally influenced Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»band that has gained a lot of deserved attention with its genre-bending meld of global sounds, ranging from flamenco and hip hop to electronica and folk.
It is suiting, then, that on October 4, Kane and will perform at the opening reception for the Luminescence: The Silver of Peru exhibit at the . While Kane has not lived in Peru since she was 14, there is still a strong connection to her birth country.
Its really exciting and Im really grateful to be doing this and Im also very partial to silver, Kane says, whose voice is still raspy from a late night of singing. Its going to be an intimate performance, were playing an acoustic show. I think intimacy and music and art, its a special treat its going to be a beautiful evening.
Peru is a really beautiful culture and Im really happy Vancouvers is growing, she continues. Its becoming a really multicultural city and the ancient cultures from South America are being explored and exposed more to the public.
Complementing Kanes South American and pop influences, the other band members bring additional layers of sonic diversity to Pacifikas world music sound.
Toby (Peter, bassist) grew up in Barbados so he brings in really interesting and dynamic elements by way of the drums, which he plays on the record and by the way he plays bass and the way he dictates the rhythm of the song, says Kane, who was also a member of the 90s pop group West End Girls. Adam (Popowitz, guitarist) has a really great ear hes got a really melodic sense. He grew up here in Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»and was exposed to a lot of different types of music.
Pacifika is known for theatric, sensual, dance-infused live shows. While there will be some swinging hips at the show, the energetic Kane says she will have to show some physical restraint in such an intimate setting.
Ill try to keep myself in check, she says with a croaky laugh. It wont be a problem. I think I can do it.
For more information on the Luminescence: The Silver of Peru exhibit, go to MOA.UBC.ca.
