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Roots, reggae band honour elders with Canadian tour

Mapstone will interview elders while playing music across Canada
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The heart/roots band Mapstone play Char’s Landing Tuesday, July 25 at 7 p.m. FACEBOOK PHOTO

With a mission to learn from elders in Canadian communities, while playing music along the way, the heart/roots band Mapstone are playing Char’s Landing Tuesday, July 25 at 7 p.m. as part of their Honouring Our Elders Tour.

Mapstone is touring around Canada this summer as a four-piece band but typically have an expanding and changing group of guest musicians.

Chris Mapstone, who lives in Australia, says the idea for the Honouring Our Elders tour came after his grandmother, who he was very close with, passed away a couple months ago.

“I’ve also worked in a lot of different communities and different organizations where I interact with elders, not just within my family but all around me, and indigenous cultures,” Mapstone said. “I feel that one of the things that I’ve noticed is we’re loosing a bit of connection to what it really means to be an elder and to honour elders, to look up to the people that have lived extensive lives and have learned things over the years and carry a sense of wisdom with them.”

While touring, the band plans to interview various elders in the communities they play in to ultimately put together a story and a series of videos that they will post online.

“We’re just doing our best to reconnect with the essence of what it means to be an elder and how the reverence of that is something really important,” Mapstone said.

He said he hopes to connect with an elder while in Port Alberni.

“It’s not something that’s easily jumped into, you have to approach it with a bit of respect because not everybody wants to be interviewed.”

The band plays an eclectic range of world instruments from guitar djembe to didgeridoo and harmonica. Mapstone said they’ve heard time and again people describing their sound as heart/roots but he said they also add elements of tribal fusion, reggae and folk into their music.

“It’s very heartfelt and very danceable,” he said.

At their Char’s Landing show, Mapstone plan to play a diverse set with both meditative and reflective songs to more upbeat dance songs.

Mapstone lives in Australia where he tours and plays music with a six-piece band. He said he’s toured around the world in places like Sri Lanka, Bali and will head to Europe next year.

Tickets for Tuesday’s show are $20.

karly.blats@albernivalleynews.com