As the fifth annual Red Ride Tour starts tuning up in Vancouver, we talk to the two musicians who founded the North American musical road trip showcasing unique aboriginal acts across the continent.
Five years ago, British Columbian singer-songwriter Kristi Sinclair and cellist Cris Derksen squeezed themselves and their music equipment into Sinclair’s hatchback and took off for the road.
Now, the car and its red colour have become symbolic of the Red Ride Tour, which this year features 11 indigenous artists, playing everything from jazz music to rock and roll.
‘Screw it. Let’s do it again.’
Sinclair, who is from the Haida and Cree nations, says the tour originally began as a fun endeavour. But now it’s grown into something “that’s a little big bigger than us, and us touring and promoting our music.”
“We were kind of bored sitting around one night, we were like, ‘Screw it. Let’s do it again. Let’s hit the road and get back in the hatchback,'” she told The Early Edition’s Rick Cluff.
“It was kind of the Red Ride Tour two that people started being like, ‘Oh you should come to my town, you should play it at this venue, talk to this person, they’ll help you.’ Every year we would do that and every year it gets bigger.”
This year’s tour begins on May 13 at the Fairview Pub in Vancouver, then travels through various venues in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and New York, before finishing up at the Sunset Tavern in Seattle on June 21.
To hear the full interview, listen to the audio labelled: Red Ride Tour kicks off in Vancouver
