Issa holds sway at Vankleek Hill concert

Storytelling. Songs. A voice. From another time. That kind of punchy delivery, soft but direct at the same time, was the intoxicating cadence of the Issa concert which took place last Sunday afternoon in Vankleek Hill. What you are missing by just reading this, of course, are the sometimes dried-up guitar strokes making the downbeat and the sincerity in Jane Siberry’s eyes as she connected with the audience. And connect she did. Right from the start.
Maybe it was when she told the audience about being surprised when a song she wrote made someone ask for forgiveness.
“And we all just thought he was an asshole,” she wrote. That last word caught the audience by surprise. But everyone understood what she meant. They laughed and then listened as she told the story in song – the story of a man who had not treated a woman right, but just didn’t get it.
Maybe it was when she said, pensively, “I had trouble getting here. I hope you did, too.”
The 90-minute concert was uplifting, scary, joyous, playful, funny and oh, so true. There was little shuffling or movement in the audience for the entire show; it isn’t often that people are rapt, listening and waiting for a performer’s next song, challenge or revelation.
“Would anyone like to share what they think their greatest strength would be in a time of crisis?” was one question she asked the audience.
Another of many ideas which surfaced during her performance was the invitation to consider that we are all superheroes.
Issa, known formerly as Jane Siberry, sang songs from her newest album released just the Friday before the Sunday concert. The album is the second of a story told in three parts, according to the front cover of, “With What Shall I Keep Warm?” The first CD in this three-part set is called, “Dragon Dreams”. These two albums were released using the name, “Issa”, the name which Jane Siberry assumed in 2006.
Issa’s musical style has been described as reflective new wave but many influences reach through her music and finely-honed instrumentations.
Known for her outspoken criticism of the commercial recording industry, in 2005, she introduced a self-determined pricing policy through her website on which the purchaser is given the choices of: standard price, pay now - self-priced, pay later - self-priced, or "a gift from Jane".
At Sunday’s concert, Issa invited people to pay whatever they wanted for her CDs on sale in the lobby. If you buy more than one, she said, you could come up with your own discount and pay what you wanted for two, three or more CDs.
Issa also walked away from almost all of her material possessions in 2006, selling or giving away most of what she owned, including her house and her instruments – something she related to the audience as she listed the few items chose to keep. She gave up all of this, she says, because it was sapping strength which she wanted instead to give to her creative efforts.
From a moving conversation with her mother, to getting to know teenagers huddling in a bus shelter as an escape from an unwelcoming and difficult world, Issa took the audience on a journey into her own soul, which turned out – here’s another surprise – to be a journey into humanity in all its beautiful imperfection.
And it was no trouble at all getting there.
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The Issa concert was part of the ongoing Music Alive! series and there is much more to come. Renowned cellist Matt Haimovitz will be performing on February 28, 2010 at 2 p.m. in the Vankleek Hill Collegiate Institute theatre. Haimovitz has played with every major orchestra around the world, at Carnegie Hall and with soloists such as Yo Yo Ma.
Canadian mezzo-soprano Julie Nesrallah (also a CBC Radio host) will be performing on Sunday, March 7, 2010 at 2 p.m. in the Vankleek Hill Collegiate Institute Theatre.
And back by popular demand are tabla master Vineet Byas and Kathak dancer-singer Bageshree Vaze with Ottawa sitarist Adam Duncan, performing in a concert entitled, “Passage to India”  on Sunday, April 11, 2010 at 2 p.m. in the Vankleek Hill Collegiate Institute Theatre.
All tickets $20 each. Call 613-678-2286 to talk to Ian Hepburn and reserve tickets or email: ihepburn@hawk.igs.net.
The concerts are sponsored by the Vankleek Hill Music Festival.