By Christine de Kock
INTERNATIONALLY recognised Maidstone drummer Ray Pereira will host a music and chat show at Dancing Dog Café in Footscray this month for three weeks.
Mr Pereira will perform with jazz guitarist Doug De Vries, singer Kerry Simpson and trumpeter and composer Peter Knight – who is also known as president of the Maribyrnong Truck Association Group.
“It will be a combined music and chat show with musicians whom I have worked with in the past and I have got interesting backgrounds,” Mr Pereira said.
“I first met Doug years ago when we played together with Vince Jones the jazz singer and Doug was Vince’s co-composer and right-hand musical director for many years,” he said.
“Doug has always been interested in Brazilian music particularly in the north east of Brazil … which is an acoustic kind of music.
“I thought I would have him as a guest mainly to talk about Brazil and how that fits into his Jazz experience.
“He has done a lot of compositions as well – he composed for the Melbourne symphony.”
Kerry Simpson will be asked to discuss her interest in music used in voodoo rituals.
“Kerry spent a lot of time in New Orleans originally following her interest in the blues and black music in general and then she met someone who was interested in the art of voodoo,” Mr Pereira said.
He said voodoo has had bad publicity as it is Haitian culture.
“Haiti was one of the first black republics to gain independence from slavery, so that didn’t really suit the American government to have a black republic on it’s door step,” he said.
“A lot of propaganda denigrated the culture of Haiti, which is mainly of African origin, so voodoo was looked on as black magic or something evil.”
Mr Pereira also has an interest in the drum rhythms of Africa.
“I go to Ghana each year, some of the more complicated rhythms that I want to learn are actually from rituals,” he said.
Mr Pereira has studied drumming in Ghana and gives workshops in drumming techniques.
“Then there’s Peter, he and I played in a group called Way Out West, which had an album out a couple of years ago called Footscray Station – it included music based around this area,” Mr Pereira said.
He said Mr Knight’s music included Vietnamese stringed instruments, in addition to African elements.
Mr Knight’s music also mentions some of the iconic sites in the City of Maribyrnong such as the Maribyrnong River.
The series of evenings will be held each Friday on 10, 17, 24 November and will be called Off the Record. Doug De Vries will perform on the first night followed by Kerry Simpson and Peter Knight.
Tickets cost $10 and the show will run from 9pm at the Dancing Dog Café, cnr Albert/Raleigh St, Footscray, bookings Ph 96892566
