Singing for breakfast

The West Coast’s Women of the Blues benefit concert at the Arden Theatre this coming Saturday is more than just a great night of music.

It’s a chance for Support to Individuals at Risk in Everyone’s Neighborhood Society (SIRENS), an Edmonton-registered, non-profit charitable organization to bulk up its revenues used to support the breakfast program at St. Francis of Assisi School.

Frank Klemen, the driving force and show producer, worked in human services for years before retiring. During that time, he saw people fall through the cracks and was inspired to create SIRENS.

The acronym took hold and in the last few years volunteers have fundraised for a variety of causes such as supporting boys and girls basketball programs in northeast Edmonton and providing funding for Ben Calf Robe’s choir and literacy program.

The elementary students at St. Francis of Assisi School are provided with a daily nutritious breakfast free of charge.

These programs are funded through music concerts. Musicians that have participated in past benefit concerts include Bill Bourne, Boogie Patrol, Bobbie Cameron, Amos Garrett and Tippy Agogo.

Saturday’s gig involves two matriarchs of Vancouver’s blues/jazz/R&B scene. They are Dalannah Gail Bowen and Sibel Thrasher, two women who have weathered the storms of decades and sing straight from the soul.

Thrasher got her start singing gospel in church with her two brothers and eventually landed a backup role with The Platters. Many have influenced her, from Mahalia Jackson and Nina Simone to Ella Fitzgerald and Diana Washington.

Thrasher has recorded one CD, First Face of Sibel Thrasher, preferring to sing live gigs as an interpreter of cover tunes. “I admire these women so much. But I like to do it my way, so it comes from my heart ‘cause when you sing, you deliver a message,” Thrasher says.

At Vancouver’s go-to Yale Club, a popular blues haunt, she met keyboard magician Kenny ‘Blues Boss’ Wayne. “He’s multi-talented. He’s got style. He’s got groove and he’s an incredible singer.”

Bowen instead got her start in Winnipeg singing backup for The Guess Who and The Monkees. As part of an all female group known as The Feminine Touch, they were double-billed with The Guess Who before the all-male band hit it big.

She slowly migrated west, stopping in Edmonton for a few years. Here she met Gaye Delorme and developed a life-long friendship. “He’s been compared to Mark Knopfler — the tone, the style, a certain timbre in his voice.

Her company Sol Productions produced Tribute to Motown and she’s written a play The Returning Journey.

Also performing is Natasha Cardinal, a.k.a. Lady Eloquence, one of the country’s most well known native hi-hop female MCs who has performed for more than a decade. She’s performed for over a decade and in 2005 was nominated for Best Rap or Hip Hop Album at the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards.

For more information visit www.sirensthecharity.com.