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Edgar Muenala performed Cumbia Gringa with accordionist Eric D’onofrio at A Window To The World 世界之窗 concert in Vancouver’s Granville Island Stage on June 24, 2012. As usual, Muenala played the pan flute and did a little singing for this South America musical number as well.

Edgar Muenala was born in Ecuador and had been living in Vancouver Canada and traveling the world to perform for more than 20 years. He was inspired by his native South American music and Asian culture and wanted to create a fusion of sounds that brought together different traditional instruments and a diversity of rhythms and electronic digital effects to form his own contemporary style.

A Video by Ray Van Eng – Edgar Muenala Cumbia Gringa

1800 Johnston Street, Vancouver BC

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At the Surrey Fusion Festival 2011 (July 16-17, 2011), Bruce Barnes and the Mojo Zydeco played French New Orleans tunes. Music has always been part of Barnes’s life, yet he had also been a professional footballer, naturalist, Hollywood actor, park ranger etc. Barnes formed different bands in the America South and performed in New Orleans, Louisiana, Texas among other places playing mostly Blues, Zydeco and Creole music. Since 2001, Bruce Barnes has been working with Mojo Zydeco, writing and performing his own unique blend of Cajun music, ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada throughout BC and once again in Louisiana. As seen in this video, he played with a small accordion, but in truth he played seven musical instruments.

Listen to that sound makes you realize why they called New Orleans the Big Easy.

Bruce Barnes & Mojo Zydeco

Holland Park – 13428 Old Yale Road, Surrey BC

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The songs of Vancouver-based Spirit of The West are very easy to like. Some you only have to listen to it once and you’re hooked. Like Sadness Grows for example, which is very catchy and that Celtic instrumental sounded great. Another everybody’s favorite SOTW song is of course Home For A Rest, which lead singer John Mann let the audience sang part of it as he picked his guitar on stage. The third track is Save This House that completes VIDEO 1.

In VIDEO 2, Spirit of The West played two more of their popular songs that are actually quite different from each other. The first is a pub number that Geoffrey Kelly sang about being Scottish. In Political, John Mann made a political statement that is more felt than heard. It is not a protest but something that came from the heart. Any future concerts by this Vancouver-based folk alternative band is not to be missed.


[All songs were recorded on Aug 29, 2010 at the PNE 2010 in Vancouver.]

VIDEO 1 – Sadness Grows, Home For A Rest & Save This House


VIDEO 2 – The Old Sod & Political

PNE, 3000 East Hastings Street Vancouver BC

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As a guess appearance with the Dal Richards Orchestra on Aug 26, 2010, Rolf Harris brought his Aussie hometown charm to Vancouver’s PNE 2010 to help celebrate 100 Years of Fun. With an accordion around his shoulder (the strap sometimes felt too tight and he complained), he sang a number of Australian songs he helped made famous. Two Little Boys is about two young friends who grow up together and go to war later. As one laid dying in the battlefield, the other came to his aid. There is a sad family history mirrored in this song for Rolf Harris whose father and uncle both went off to World War One and only Harris’s dad returned. As for Waltzing Matilda, many still think that should have been the Australian anthem. Maybe the officials Down Under thought the song was too folksy to be sung as a national anthem. But no matter, it is very catch and easy to sing too.

The song was written by American composer Theodore Morse and lyricist Edward Madden in 1902. It became a surprising hit when Rolf Harris recorded it in 1969 after hearing the song during a visit to his home country. Harris was a British entertainer at the time and the song reached #1 on the singles chart that year. Even British PM Margaret Thatcher picked the song as one of her favorites. In October 2008, Rolf Harris re-recorded the song backed again, this time backed by North Wales’ Froncysyllte Male Voice Choir, to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I. Just before Rolf Harris sang the tune at the PNE 2010 Concert Stage, he said it was the best anti-war song in his opinion. Some in the audience seemed already familiar with the song and sang along. It’s all recorded in this video.

VIDEO – Rolf Harris, Two Little Boys & Waltzing Matilda

PNE, 3000 East Hastings Street Vancouver BC

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Famous Australian and British TV entertainer Rolf Harris came to Vancouver in 1961 and he had since then returned to this westcoast Canadian city again and again. In fact, Harris wrote a song called Vancouver Town as an ode to the city. At the PNE 2010 fairgrounds on Aug 26, 2010, with Dal Richards conducting his orchestra, Harris sang an updated Vancouver Town version to include current events and politicians such as the unpopular HST, Mayor Gregor Robertson while some older favorites such as Jimmy Pattison, Grace McCarthy stayed on. The BC Lions was down under and that ain’t Australia either. Oh yeah, The Canucks and Stanley Cup too. English Bay was praised, the venerable Lions Gate Bridge was not. First Nations and native affairs provided satire while heritage buildings, Skytrain, SeaBus and Canada Line all helped paint a colorful setting for the city that Harris liked so much. Harris’s Aussie humor was so hilarious that he grinded down the microphone almost to the ground. I am not kiddiing.

VIDEO—Rolf Harris Updated Vancouver Town Song

PNE, 3000 East Hastings Street Vancouver BC

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