New Westminster resident John Oliver has been playing guitar since he was eight years old.
The professional composer and musician decided about two years ago it was time to represent the multiculturalism of the Lower Mainland population in the music scene by forming a group that blends the traditional sounds of a variety of Eastern and Western traditions.
"Our mix is reflective of the cultural reality of (New Westminster)," he said.
Big World Band formed in 2011 as the brainchild of Oliver and co-artistic director Farshid Samandari, a master's student studying music at the University of British Columbia.
The two are professional musicians from very different backgrounds - Samandari composes and performs mostly Persian music, while Oliver comes from a Western classical background as a composer and classical guitar player. Their mutual love of all kinds of music drew them together to hand-pick the six other members who make up the culturally diverse group.
Big World Band is made up of professional musicians who are Chinese, Pakistani, Iranian and Canadian, and incorporates music and instruments from each of these countries including a sitar, tabla, Chinese lute (pipa), Chinese guitar (ruan), Iranian oud (barbat), and a Western (Spanish) guitar.
This weekend, the band is bringing its multicultural music to the stage for its first show of the year at Massey Theatre.
So far, Big World Band has been well received by audiences in Vancouver and locally. At their last show, the eight performers in the group got two standing ovations - at the intermission and at the end of the show, according to Oliver.
Though they compose and perform music that draws from each of their respective cultures, their collective sound doesn't exactly fit into the World Music genre, he noted.
"Our Chinese and Persian musicians are steeped in their own culture and their cultural reference points start there," he said. "We're pulling them into stuff that they've never done before. They have to learn new rhythms, new ways of playing a tune or playing together. So, we're trying to create a breadth of experience for the audience that runs from the traditional to the somewhat experimental."
Rather than riff off each other's styles, the band performs music they compose and arrange themselves.
"We're not just getting together to jam each others' World Music styles," he said. "We're trying to form something that's a little more worked out. It's not just a smorgasbord; we're trying to create a fusion."
Last year, Big World Band was nominated for a B.C. Nesika Award from the provincial Multicultural Advisory Council, for its contribution to multiculturalism in this province.
Oliver says he hopes to win over some locals who may not have experienced this type of music before.
"Our objective is to play as much as possible and build our audience," he said. "We want to really create that buzz in the audience."
On Saturday, March 30, Big World Band will play at 8 p.m. at Massey Theatre, 735 Eighth Ave. in New Westminster.
Tickets are $25 for adults, $18 for seniors and students and $10 for children, available through the theatre box office.
To order, call 604-5215050 or visit tickets.massey theatre.com.
For more information on Big World Band, go to www.bigworldband.org.
