Viðarneisti, also known as Vidarneistí (pronounced vee-thar-nest-ee) (Icelandic) is a Canadian band from Manitoba with a rich ancestry from Iceland are coming to Moose Jaw and will be performing in their Prairie debut at Mae Wilson Theatre on Monday, Feb. 13 at 7.30 p.m.
“We are kind of an unusual instrumentation, but we kind of celebrate by arranging things around the instrumentation and also commissioning work for it,” said Marimba specialist Victoria Sparks.
Sparks first met clarinetist Cathy Wood when they were teaching at the University of Manitoba, and having a common background helped them bond together and therefore start playing together.
“We found out that we were both Icelandic and both of our families came over from Iceland to Canada,” said Wood.
Both first met each other when they were teaching at the University of Manitoba for a while. Their band name Viðarneist came from the Icelandic term for “wood spark.” These shared Nordic roots give a spark to their musical composition which springboard from their last name.
Sparks started studying music when she was five years old. Her grandmother taught her to play the piano and during middle school, she was assigned to learn the trumpet. It was at that time she took an interest in the xylophone.
“I was thinking that thing was like a piano,” she said.
In her last year, she asked her band teacher if she could switch over to playing percussion.
“I like that it looks like a piano that you’d hit with sticks.”
She gradually discovered there are many instruments with different types of sound and qualities. She then fell in love with percussion and Marimba.
Wood was passionate about playing the clarinet from a very early age. She says, “I started when most young kids start in the band at school.”
During Grade 7 when she was 12 years old, she started to play the clarinet more and listened to a lot of swing music from big bands like Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw. She chose the clarinet and played all through junior high and high school. “I just fell in love with music and decided to pursue it further and went into university and just kept on playing,” she said.
The duo not only performed in bigger concerts but also played some house concerts.
Wood says that they have had the chance to play in some intimate house concerts, something she says was a “great experience.”
The duo is coming to perform at the Mae Wilson Theatre on their Prairie debut.
Both Sparks and Wood have never performed in Moose Jaw, and are excited to come.
Wood says, “I’m just excited to get a chance to kind of share what we have with a new audience and hopefully get to know them.”
Tickets for Viðarneisti are available here.
