Speakeasy Electro Swing has been working to spread the sound of swing near and far from its home base of Montreal.
Team members have been doing monthly events for almost three years and have managed to also play in Toronto, Vancouver, Boston, Paris, Portland, Seattle and now Cumberland.
Speakeasy Electro Swing performs Jan. 17 at the Waverley Hotel in Cumberland.
"We have taken to task of teaching folks on this side of the Atlantic about the happy, fun style of music that is Electro Swing," Speakeasy says in a press release. "Taking cues from the last big financial collapse of 1929, we see people in similar circumstances wanting to let loose a bit to stop worrying from their everyday perils, and go out and get down to some fun and funky grooves.
"The sound has been growing and evolving for the past five years out of its main centres of the U.K. and France, and now is part of every major festival happening in the EU. With the best tag line coming from Nick Hollywood – 'It is the music of the first Great Depression mixed with the technology of the second.'
"Welcome to the retro-future. As our economy revisits the Depression era, it is time for our culture to revel in the glory of those days. It is time to get snazzed up, and get down to the sounds of Electro Swing that have been taking over the globe.
"We are bringing you the first events to focus on these sounds of now on this continent where the music began. As we scour the crates of dusty old record stores and remake these songs into club tunes of today, updating the swing sounds with electro, hip-hop, house, bass, and dub.
"The sounds have been spreading through the Electro Swing compilations on Wagram music out of France, and the White Mink/Black Cotton albums from the U.K. in the past few years. With Electro Swing coming to every major festival in the EU this summer, we know it will only take a moment for folks on this side of the sea to find out why we are all working up a sweat about the sound.
"We had started by doing the first monthly electro swing event in North America, which is still running, and starting to spread it further. We now have branches in Oslo, Norway, Portland, Oregon, Vancouver, Seattle, Mexico City, and now at the Waverley in Cumberland."
A swing dance instructor will demonstrate some moves Jan. 17 at the Wave from 9:30 to 10:15 p.m.
Tickets are available at Bop City, the Waverley, by phoning 250-336-8322 and at the Cumberland Village Works website.
Special guest DUBTECHA will also perform.
— Cumberland Village Works