The Guest List
Thursday May 2nd, 2024 with Joe Reilly
Interviews with Huu Bac Quach and Annie-Claude Deschênes

We open the show in conversation with Montreal jazz artist Huu Bac Quach. He is leading the Huu Bac Quintet in concert on the Fourth Stage of the National Arts Centre next Thursday evening, May 9th. We talk to Huu Bac about how he works with Vietnamese, Chinese and Andean cultural influences when creating and recording his music. He plays dan bau (single-stringed Vietnamese zither), erhu (a two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle from China), quena (traditional Andean flute) and guitars. He tells us how he came to play all of these instruments and how they work into his unique jazz sound. He also tells us about the members of the Huu Bac Quintet who will perform with him at the NAC. (Please note: Several times in the interview I make reference to the 2017 album On the Steps of St-Paul's and say that it was recorded by the Huu Bac Quintet - this is incorrect as the album was recorded before Huu Bac created the quintet. As Huu Bac explains in the interview, he recorded that album with a variety of players from around the world. He is recording his new album with the members of his quintet.) For tickets use this NAC link: https://nac-cna.ca/en/event/35772 For more information about Huu Bac Quach and his music: https://huubac.bandcamp.com/album/on-the-steps-of-st-pauls http://www.huubac.com/en/bio/ Then we speak with another Montreal-based artist, Annie-Claude Deschênes, who is appearing at Club SAW tonight - Thursday, May 2. Annie-Claude talks to us about her fresh, new album Les Manières De Table (or Table Manners in English.) The album has a punchy 80s electro feel (think Gary Numan or Rational Youth) and explores some interesting themes like ... well table manners. (Put those cell phones away at the table folks!!) Annie tells us that she will be appearing mostly solo at Club SAW but has few guests who will be joining her and that we can expect some intriguing performance art components to her show. Sounds like you should definitely check this one out!! For ticket information: https://www.debaser.ca/event/annie-claude-deschenes For more information and music from Annie-Claude Deschênes: https://www.bonsound.com/en/artist/annie-claude-deschenes/ https://annie-claudedeschenes.bandcamp.com/music Get out and see some live music this week and support independent music in any way that you can. Thanks for listening.