Student Serena Eades and Anna Lumiere hit the road for a five day concert tour in British Columbia, travelled entirely by bicycle. 
Greetings from Sostenuto, from midway through our BC tour! Our name, which we musicians understand to mean “sustained” in musical terms, was also chosen to reflect our way of living on and within the planet. We have chosen to tour by bicycle (this is our second tour of this sort) to illustrate our commitment to treading lightly on the earth, by not contributing to fossil fuel emissions. It is also fun and great exercise!  We travel with Anna’s accordion packed carefully into a child’s bicycle trailer and my violin clipped onto my bike in a custom made pannier/dry bag.  Since Anna performs on both accordion and piano part of our requirement is that the venue be equipped with a piano. Our music is a rich blend of Brazillian Choro, French Musette, Argentinian Tango and jazz, comprised of traditional, contemporary and original Lumiere/Eades compositions.

Boarding the ferry to Powell river, BC

Anna Lumiere and I had a great night last night at The Hub, Powell River with some fabulous sweet potato chocolate cake to close the night on Wednesday. The bike trip to Denman Island yesterday was slightly shorter but tougher from having a day of grinding built up in our legs thanks to a strong head wind once we hit the gorgeous open seaside road. The concert on Denman Island consisted of a great audience, beautiful piano and incredible billets who have sculpted a good portion of their round house out of concrete. Arrived after a smooth ferry connection and ride to Cumberland, excited to play in the stellar Studio Live that comes equipped with another great piano and as much high tech recording and video equipment to warrant a good shower for those close ups! Time to scrub the bike grease off the calves! Conclusions after day 3 of riding: We love cars when we get to be in them briefly after a long ride, dogs love salty legs, there is a big difference between a “slope” and a “hill,” (we ask that direction-givers choose their words thoughtfully!), the people who create Google Maps riding time estimates must be champion riders and think dead ends are fun (and obviously have not calculated in the weight and turning radius of an accordion in a child’s trailer), and gig dresses must be chosen to match bike-gear tan lines!  Lastly, west coast BC consists largely of upward hills in all directions, but it’s beautiful, sunny and people are amazing. Music is such a unique and wonderful way to meet people and see the world, as is cycling. What could be a better way to spend the summertime?!

Me and my custom made violin carrier that clips on to my bike.

About the Blogger:
Serena Eades is from Roberts Creek, BC., entering her second year at Berklee this coming fall (she already holds a a B.Mus. from Brandon University in Manitoba). Her principal instrument is violin, with a major in performance and minor in American Roots Music. Eades and Anna Lumiere make up the duo “Sostenuto”, currently completing the second leg of their summer bike and concert tour, with shows in Powell River, Denman Island, Cumberland, Vancouver, Gibsons and Pender Harbour, BC. In addition to “Sostentuo”, Eades co-founded the roots stringband “The Rakish Angles” and has toured and recorded with many Canadian musicians at festivals, theatres and clubs across Canada. She has also taught privately and at numerous fiddle camps over the course of the past sixteen years.
 
Details of upcoming shows can be found here: www.sostenuto.ca

 

 

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