On Sept. 28, Penticton’s full contact folk maestro, multi-instrumentalist and memory creator Ari Neufeld performs a special outdoor concert at Friesen’s Countrytyme Gardens.
Here are some of the things he reflected on when he spoke to Morning Star arts editor Kristin Froneman in a recent interview:
How music came into his life:
“I grew up in lots of places. My parents were missionaries. Eight of my home-school years were in Winfield, so I consider myself an Okanagan boy. The missions prepped me for travel, and I did my first outbound trip when I was 13 to the Amazon. It had a profound effect on me. I started playing guitar there. The people that live in the rainforest have an incredible joy in the simplicity of three activities: swimming in the river; soccer –– one ball can entertain 30 people; and music –– one guitar between 60 of them and they will be dancing and singing. I was also just starting to sprout, going through puberty, and saw what having a guitar did around a woman.”
On finding his own spirituality through music:
Neufeld moved out when he was 16 and continued with mission work and started leading worship in the evangelical church. However, he turned over a new spiritual leaf, so to speak, 10 years ago.
“I am aware of my spirituality now, and I am turned off by catchphrases and jargon. I started turning the telescope around as a symbol of life. Instead of looking at the heavenly, I turned it around to a blade of grass. We’re responsible for our sovereignty and patch of the universe. The last thing I want to do is to judge other people. This has propelled me as a creative person.”
How he came to add to his repertoire of instruments:
“I started stomping in every environment. I’d find a floor that was hollow and wooden and started stomping and micing it. Someone said ‘why don’t you get a little wooden box,’ so I found an old tool box in my grandpa’s wood shop. I have built quite a few new stomp boxes since because I’ve worn the (old ones) out. The box learning took over seven years. Every time, I find it has different tones and dynamics depending on how I dance on it.
People started introducing me to other sounds such as Indian wedding bells. I thought it would sound cool. I found the right position that would work for me to play them. The juju beans came when someone purchased them from Cameroon and gave them to me. They are similar to goat nails, but have a higher volume. It depends on how I bring my ankle down on what sounds I get.”
How he describes his music:
“I keep calling it folk music, but what happens in between the songs is the most powerful stuff. The process doesn’t always translate. You kinda have to be there. You have to feel me connecting with the hearts in the room. This is what’s relevant with us. It’s an exciting thing that is cooked up in a special castle by candlelight.”
What others have to say about him:
Calgary-based artist Brent Tyler said: “Ari Neufeld’s music is fine wine with old stinky cheese and fresh french bread. Every song, succulent and indulgent, with subtle notes of fruitful innocence and oak age. It is to be experienced rather than simply consumed.”
On being a self-producer:
“It’s really something I took to heart. Someone told me about the power of putting in time. If I do the right math, I’ve accumulated 10,000 hours of public performance. It has a totally different vulnerability in it. It’s taken this long to get remotely good at what I do. The industry has morphed in so many directions. At first, all I wanted is to get signed by a major label, but every time I got close to an audition or opportunity, it scared me because I saw the industry rapidly changing. Friends that got contracts lost their passion because they were working for someone else.
I use that as a mirror of what I want, and what I care about when I should be hiring people to be my hands and feet. (Music) is not an area where I want people to be making the decisions for me. Time has shown me that creativity. I don’t want to lose my passion working as a monkey grinder. My contribution to the world has to be more organic. It has become more self-propelled.”
Neufeld recently had a taste of music industry excess at SXSW (South By Southwest) in Austin, Texas.
“I met with executives, ate some expensive dinners and secured a management position. I might have to spend more of my time making an income south of the border, but will still focus on what is building inside me. It’s organic as it can get, making phone calls, Facebooking people, and maintaining personal contacts.”
On being a family man:
“It’s such a crazy world. I’m a dad with three kids. I care about that more than anything. That’s what I fight for and protect, and am motivated to be. The industry is not geared for people to live that life. They want marriages to break up, and for us to take off our wedding bands. There’s an ambivalence. The world is too wide to be fenced in by old opinions. I’m in a place where I want to be: a healthy father and touring musician.”
About his other passion, cooking:
“Cooking is also a passion because I did a lot of schooling at home and travelling to places like Mexico and Thailand. I’ve gone from being a picky kid with problems with spaghetti sauce with specks of green to enjoying the lettuce on top of Thai food that make it clean and fresh. It’s a quiet form of art. The process of cooking embodies all the senses. Everything about it consumes the senses. You make it and then it’s gone, like in an Etch-a-Sketch. It’s an ethereal, creative moment. I love when that opportunity arises to put on special a dinner.”
On what’s next for him:
“I just finished outfitting my studio in my garage and will be self-recording my next project in the winter. I have these pet recordings; nothing is outfitted by chambers of cash. The personal recording industry has become elaborate than paying $1,000 to be in a studio. It’s the hardest kind of work, juggling two jobs and recording at home is often discouraged, but it’s worth it.”
Catch Neufeld live when he plays Friesen’s Countrytyme Gardens, 9172 Kalamalka Rd. Coldstream, Sept. 28. Special guest and local singer-songwriter Jayme McKillop will kick off the show. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the music starts at 6:30 p.m. Cash bar, with coffee and tea is available by donation. Tickets are $10 at the Bean Scene, or at Friesen’s.
