official website for Rita di Ghent - Rita di Ghent - Blog

I Found My Roots!

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 22:06:38 -0700

so very, very content on the eve of my birthday...i feel as though i'm in a dream..started the day striking out to Unity, Sask to find my grandfather's homestead...with leads and help from many wonderful people around here was soon standing on the land my grandfather proved and where my father was born and i stood on the foundation of the burnt down school where my father went and i was made a gift of an artifact from the ruins...i squeezed my ancestors' soil through my fingers and drunk in the intoxicating smell of the wolf willows...later a walk along the beach near the reserve and a full-moonlight drive back to the farm...now relaxing and drinking tea and eating a slice of saskatoon berry pie...what a perfect birthday...sigh...

The Train That Was Late

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:17:40 -0700

the midnight train from Edmonton to Saskatoon didn't leave the station until 2:00 a.m...wondered if i was going to make it to the interview at CTV...the overnight ride was glorious...i was so snug in my sleeper cabin...cheese popcorn and a book about the prairies (Wolf Willow by Wallace Stegner)...waking up at dawn and seeing Saskatchewan by train for the first time was a thrill...the air was foggy and the sun white and bright...barely made it on time...was met by brothers Sam The Shark Sharkawy and Bradley Harder at the station...no time to change or shower so I went to the station with a hat on my head...heading out now to present a concert/songwriting workshop at the Art Alcove at McNally's! it's so thrilling to be in Saskatoon!

ps: nice article by THE Ned Powers in the Saskatoon Express

Jazz Singing Workshop With Calgary Singers

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 06:56:31 -0700

good times working with the singers at the all-day workshop today...proud of them for lasting the whole day doing grunt work...singing progressions, rhythmic exercises, paraphrasing concepts, etc... after the workshop, Glennis, Mary (our beloved workshop host) and i went to eat sushi...later crashed in front of the TV watching episodes of Mad Men...

The Beatniq Jazz and Social Club

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 06:54:01 -0700

met the drummer (Robin) for dinner at Cafe Koi before the gig tonight...Glennis and i had a full room at the very groovy Beatniq Jazz and Social Club....she hired a great band: Sheldon Zandboer, Simon Fisk, and Robin Tufts...G did a set, then i did a set...ended by playing a few tunes alone at the piano and then bringing everybody back up on stage for "She's Got It, She Keeps It, She Sits Right On It", a fast blues.

Calgary

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 06:49:57 -0700

flight to calgary was uneventful...Glennis was there to meet me at the airport...went to the jam at Cafe Koi and had a ball! good guitar man Brian Chellas won me over...met lots of singers and the owner of Cafe Koi, Frederick, is very groovy...looking forward to singing at The Beatniq tonight with fellow vocalist and dear friend Glennis Houston! http://beatniq.com/events/special_vocal_show_featuring_glennis_houston_quartet_with_special_guest_rita_dighent_2011_08_

Two More Sleeps...

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 20:34:19 -0700

Two more sleeps until I board the plane for Calgary...yeehaw!

Rita's Parlour: The Traveling Show Goes to the Prairies!

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 20:33:31 -0700

Seeing the Prairies by train is a life-long dream trip for jazz vocalist-songwriter, Rita di Ghent.
Rita's grandparents were homesteaders in Lloydminster in the late 20s and 30s and her father was born in Unity. As a young orphan, Rita's grandfather, Avery, "ran away with the circus" (believed to be Barnum and Bailey's). He was good with animals and a clever inventor and was also a news phenomenon as a diviner of water, sparking such headlines as "Avery Ghent Baffles Science" (Time Life Magazine).

He met Clara Knights one night when he stayed at the Ontario boarding house that her mother operated. They fell in love and Avery set out to make a land claim in Saskatchewan, sending for Clara once he did. Avery bought two quarter sections all in all. It's Rita's dream to find and stand on those quarter sections where both her father and many family stories about the Prairies were spawned.

Homesteading life was taxing for women and Rita's grandmother took occasional trips by train back to Ontario to ease the loneliness and isolation. Rita's father, Denzil (who preferred to go by his middle name, Howard) left home at age 15 and "rode the rods", jumping onto train cars and jumping off again when he saw smoke coming out of hobo shacks. He'd chop wood or do some other chores in exchange for a bite to eat. On August 14th, one day after her birthday, Rita will ride that same train route from Saskatoon to Ontario to re-live seeing the Prairies through her family's eyes. She plans to write a new body of work, Prairie Songs,on the trip with books on Canadian pioneering life, the open spaces and the clickety-clack of the train as her inspiration. The songs will be performed on a future western prairies tour.

Rita flies to Calgary to perform at the Beatniq Jazz and Social Club on August 5 and then, along with her
colleague, Glennis Houston, gives a two-day jazz singing workshop to Alberta jazz singers. Next it's a bus
to Edmonton and then the train to Saskatoon where she'll bring "Rita's Parlour" to McNally Robinson
Booksellers and The Bassment where she'll be joined by local jazz poet Shelly Loeffler. A third performance
in Unity is being arranged.

Stay tuned for updates as Rita rides the rods through the Prairies!