Expect a “vibrant” night when Jâca comes to town

Expect the unexpected when you encounter Jâca, a dynamic musical duo made up of guitar and clarinet coming to the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium on Nov. 23.

Award-winning Jâca (sounds like Zsa Zsa but with a K-sound in the middle) is made up of guitarist Jaxon Williams and clarinetist Wesley Ferreir.

The musically adventurous guitar/clarinet pairing is unusual. And so is their name, a reflection of their combined cultural roots and ties. An American, Jaxon Williams is connected to Spanish culture (his wife is Spanish) and spends part of the year in Spain and plays Spanish guitar. Wesley Ferreira’s family is Portuguese-Canadian. The word “jâca,” is from Portuguese. The phonetics of the word also come from Spanish. The name Jâca, like the music they play, is a cultural blend.

Both Jâca members come from musical roots. Williams’ mother teaches piano and children’s music classes.

“I started on the piano when I was five, but as you can imagine, it’s not easy to work with your own mother in lessons. When I was about seven, she said: ‘I have a friend who teaches guitar, and you’re going to take lessons with him instead.’ So I began lessons there. I loved it and never looked back,” Williams said in a recent interview.

Ferreira’s father, originally from Portugal, played saxophone in a Portuguese community band in London, Ontario.

“My father wanted to be able to teach me, and he brought home a clarinet one day. So when I was 10 years old, I picked up the clarinet and learned with him and in fact played with that community Portuguese band and in my high school bands as well,” Ferreira said.

“And then, of course, I fell in love with it and wanted to continue.”

The two musicians first met in 2018 over a recording for new music for clarinet and guitar. They quickly realized the collaboration was something extraordinary.

Jaxon Williams says as a guitarist, he enjoys the collaboration with the clarinet.

“What’s nice about the clarinet is it allows us to explore many styles without having an aesthetic that points to one style in particular. Some instruments can be perceived as strictly classical, some might be perceived more as jazz. I think the clarinet is very versatile,” Williams said.

Wanting to continue the creative pursuit, they sought out music and discovered there was very little repertoire available. They got busy making their own arrangements and transcriptions.

“We decided we’ll get composers to write for us, and we’ll even compose our own music, and create something new with this. We really leaned into it,” Williams said.

Wesley Ferreira says they have more pieces to play. And because more people are hearing them play, the instrumental mix has gained musical traction. They’ve developed a varied menu for musical tastes flavoured with classical, world, folk, jazz, Django-style swing, Portuguese Fado, Spanish Flamenco, and notes of klezmer.

“We’ve kind of become the torch bearers of the clarinet and guitar instrumentation. For example, we have a competition that we hold every few years for composers all over the world. We can write pieces and actually increase the amount of clarinet and guitar music. And there are people visiting our website every day, purchasing some of these arrangements or original pieces,” Ferreira said. “We’re pretty proud of that.”

Jâca travels all over the world, sharing that growing repertoire.

“We have the opportunity to perform in many, many communities. Every time we’re on stage, we’re able to share our experience with our audiences and they’re also experiencing the wonder and beauty of music and art together,” Ferreira told the Sun.

“For me, music really highlights the values of community and society. To really witness how we’re so very much more alike in our human society. When you’re listening to music with others, there’s a sense of unity – music is something that is very natural for human beings to experience.”

For Williams, the value of community in music hits close to home. Growing up in a small community playing the guitar, he was fortunate his guitar teacher sought out and assembled other classical guitarists to form a guitar society, eventually bringing int recognized artists for concerts and masterclasses.

“Growing up, I really benefited from seeing really great art, sharing it with members of my community, and also learning from the artists that came in. And I really feel like I’m a product of the value of art in a small community,” he said.

“I think music and performance and bringing artists in from around the world has a huge impact adding to the value of communities. And you never know what kind of impact it can have even for future artists and musicians.”

Jâca’s concert will showcase familiar and new music from different styles.

“They’ll hear new things, fresh new sounds that are exciting and interesting. They’ll learn new things, hear great stories. It’s just a really vibrant night — a full spectrum of experience where we’ll go back and forth with the audience as well. It’s a lot of fun. They can expect a really good night out that’s musically enriching, with wonderful storytelling and humour,” Williams said. “We’re very excited to come!”

Jâca will be in performance at 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., Nov. 23 at the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium (info@wmca.ca) or call 204-728-9510. Tickets: Adult -$30 Students – $15. See jâcamusic.com for more information.

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