Band founder Lorie Wolf opens up before Lions Bay appearance
Next Saturday, mellow jazz-klezmer stylings will be cascading out of the Village Hall as Queen Kong plays a free event, produced by Lions Bay House Concerts. Queen Kong is the creative outlet of drummer, composer and bandleader Lorie Wolf, who says they "seamlessly blend Ashkenazi Jewish idiom with jazz, free improv, rock and punk to explore new sounds and ideas." The band has been together since 2018.
"Klezmer-Jazz is nothing new," says Wolf. "Check out John Zorn's "Masada" project, or the Hasidic New Wave. Really, it's the way any music-melds happen. It's just an expression of anyone's lived musical experience."
Wolf first picked up the drumsticks at the comparatively late age of 17, and has been joyfully making music ever since. She teaches music in Toronto, Ontario, and says she feels fortunate to have the chance to connect with young people. "I love teaching music," she says. "It's deepened my understanding of the earliest musical instincts and how people relate to music."
Queen Kong's appearance in Lions Bay is part of a western Canadian tour, with stops in Vancouver, Nanaimo, Victoria, Canmore, Edmonton and Saskatoon. This Saturday's concert is free to an audience aged 19 and over, but tickets are required to attend. Tickets can be obtained HERE.
Wolf insists that this is a concert not to be missed. "It's original compositions by a female-
drummer-led band," she says. "And there's a sousaphone!"
QUEEN KONG performs at Lions Bay Village Hall
Saturday, November 18, 2-5:00 p.m.
Plus Artist Pop-Up featuring:
Elizabeth Cross, Kevin "Freakshow" O'Quinn,
Sasha Westendorp, Rose Kendall and Andrea Ludwig
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