Now Hear This Festival – Sol Viator, Sir Kadian & Laughter Lily, and XiME

Festival Pass

Sol Viator | Sir Kadian with Laughter Lily | XiME and Mari Alice Conrad | 7 PM | Mile Zero Dance Space

The Program

Palm Palm – Sir Kadian (Mika Haykowsky) and Laughter Lily (Shayda Yazdanmehr)

Phoenix Reborn – Sol Viator (Matt Meeker, Biboye Onanuga, Holly Sangster)

Selections from Six Arctic Experiments (2022) – Mari Alice Conrad, performed by XiME

migrationisostatic reboundlines of weakness (Mari Alice Conrad & Sam Wilson Fletcher)

The Artists

Sir Kadian (Mika Haykowsky) is a multimedia artist based in Amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton, AB). Mika creates through playful, multidisciplinary projects involving community engagement, intuitive sculpture, and textures of the body. Her sound work involves field recording, found objects, a playful approach to post-production, and songer/singwriting. Her first major solo show, “Superspreader” was presented at Latitude 53’s Garage Space in 2021 and she was interviewed on CKUA. It was an exhibition of installation, soft pastel drawing, photography, sound, video, a collaborative weaving workshop, and a live mural performance. Mika received an MFA in from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and a BFA from the University of Alberta.

Coming up in November 2024 she and her mother will exhibit a series of collaborative portraits of their ancestors at the Alberta Council for Ukrainian Arts. Right now Mika Haykowsky is launching a creative hub: The Mika Method, to support artists in achieving ambitious goals and writing grants.

Laughter Lily, AKA Shayda Yazdanmehr (she/they), is a vocal looping artist, singer/songwriter, and sound healing facilitator born and raised in Sǫǫ̀mbakè (Yellowknife, Northwest Territories) and currently based in Amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton, Alberta).

Growing up, Laughter Lily spent nights singing to the moon, dancing where no one was watching, and gazing up at stars. Chasing northern lights on frozen lakes and hearing her father chant Persian prayers inspired her musical style to take on a tone of mystical reverence.

Today, Laughter Lily facilitates interactive musical and meditative experiences through song, vocal looping, improvisation, audience participation, and guided meditation. She has performed and facilitated community events as a singer/songwriter, looping artist, and sound healing facilitator in various shows such as Folk on The Rocks Music Festival in Sǫǫ̀mbakè (2018) and This Gathering in Xwesam (Roberts Creek, BC, 2019). Combining swooping vocals, sultry harmonies, and a joyful presence, Laughter Lily brings her heart to the stage believing in the healing power of music for people everywhere.

Sol Viator is an Edmonton based improvisational collective based in the western drone music tradition, free jazz, and modern ambient music. Sol Viator draws inspiration from and is sonically comparable to acts such as Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane, and Holy Drone Travellers. This lineup features Edmonton improvisers Holly Sangster and Biboye Onanuga who help round out the trio as they sail into parts unknown.

Sol Viator is led by Edmonton based improviser and multi-instrumentalist Matt Meeker who serves as the recording engineer along with playing electric bass, shawm, trombone, and vocals. Before starting Sol Viator, Matt Meeker was a founding member of the free-jazz Nepalese fusion band Holy Drone Travellers and the Edmonton improvisational collective Raga Onagra.

Matt’s work with South Asian classical musicians influenced his decision to use Sol Viator as a canvas for reviving western drone music along with encouraging westerners to explore different forms of improvising.

Mari Alice Conrad is an award-winning, emerging composer in Alberta, Canada completing her doctorate in composition at the University of Alberta. She specializes in concert works for soloists, chamber ensembles, choirs, and large ensembles. Recent compositions have been performed by the BBC Singers (UK), musica intima vocal ensemble (Vancouver), The Canadian Chamber Choir, Standing Wave Ensemble (Vancouver), Edmonton Winds, Ottawa’s SHH!! Ensemble, Ensemble ArtChoral (Québec) and Luminous Voices (Calgary).

Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada in 2022, Mari Alice travelled to the Canadian High Arctic and Greenland in the creation of a large-scale composition project for musical youth exploring the effects of climate change. Her current research examines the perception and expression of personal history and geography by exploring the sonic potential of objects alongside acoustic instruments to create new timbres and sonic colourings.

Mari Alice’s compositional practice shines an exceptional light on the human condition, finding meaning in the mundane by fostering curiosity, authenticity, connection, and collaboration.

The Experimental Improvisation Ensemble (XiME) is a performing group of musicians and sound artists focusing on free improvisation and alternate modes of musical creation. XiME works with non-standard scores that make use of graphics, audio, animation, text, and other creative notations.

The group explores existing repertoire for improvisers, compositions written by ensemble members, and collectively creates structures for improvisation. From September to April, XiME is a graduate and undergraduate course at the University of Alberta, where it also serves as a vehicle for student composers.

XiME appearances this year include the Boreal Electro-Acoustic Music Society’s presentation of Art’s Birthday and sessions on the last Monday of each month at Dewey’s. XiME is led by Mark Segger, and tonight’s ensemble includes Cole Dorchester, Kitt McKenney, Makenna Graham, Tatiana Gorchynski, Vinay Joshi, and Yuanyuan Que.

Program Notes

Palm Palm – Sir Kadian (Mika Haykowsky) and Laughter Lily (Shayda Yazdanmehr) are uniting their practices in this soundscape of song, breath, and sound. This is their first collaboration bridging Laughter Lily’s song and sound journeys with Sir Kadian’s multimedia art and music. With an experimental backbone, Sir Kadian & Laughter’s Lily’s sonic practice incorporates looping stations, the voice, and found objects. This performance will take you on a journey of exploration of the interplay between movement and stillness, the absurd and the meditative, chaos and peace.

Phoenix Reborn – Sol Viator – Improvisation featuring vocals, bass, saxophone, electronics, synthesizer, and drums.

Six Arctic Experiments (2022) – In August of 2022, I embarked on a research-creation project that took me to various locations in Canada’s High Arctic and Greenland. I have always been curious about exploring this seemingly uncharted realm and wanted to learn more about the effects of climate change on this delicate region. I learned that the Arctic is raw and beautiful. I learned that all living things are connected, and humans are completely dependent on what has and continues to happen in the Arctic.

I learned that the north is changing quickly, and my expedition became the basis that informed this collection of compositions. Six Arctic Experiments are six accessible and inclusive chamber (small ensemble) works designed for developing musicians offering an often-overlooked point of entry for youth wanting to explore contemporary music.

My research-creation suggests that chamber music can be an inclusive, participatory way of knowing that empowers youth to express their ideas and critically consider and engage with the world around them. Special thanks to my family and poet Sam Wilson Fletcher for their support in the creation and realization of this project.