Viking Fell

EDMONTON - Nathan Setterlund wasn’t sure what to expect from his first gig in Cuba.

How many people would show up to see his electro-rock band, Viking Fell, in what was nothing more than a courtyard with a staircase as a makeshift stage? Would his instruments, including a midi controller, even work with the venue’s gear and voltage?

Si and si.

“To go to a place we’ve never been before and have 100 kids show up … that was awesome,” says Setterlund. “I still can’t get 100 kids in Edmonton.”

The gig, in the 500-year-old city of Trinidad, kicked off Viking Fell’s two-week trek of Cuba in March. Setterlund and his bandmates were the latest ambassadors of Solidarity Rock, an Edmonton non-profit organization that promotes closer ties between Canadian and Cuban musicians.

Since 2008, more than six Canadian acts, including Edmonton’s Slates and Montreal’s Sean Foster & The Vaqueros, have toured the Caribbean country and donated guitars, strings, laptops, microphones, cables and picks to aspiring musicians. Vancouver engineer Jesse Gander has also recorded an album for Arrabio, a hardcore band from Trinidad.

“When we first started, it wasn’t like it was hard to get a guitar,” says Drew McIntosh, founder of Solidarity Rock. “There were NO guitars, no strings, no anything. We started to figure out how we can be a part of changing that.

“We don’t take political positions. We just have fun and let people do what they’re going to do. We’re not trying to upset the apple cart; we’re just trying to let people do something.”

Last year, for the first time, Solidarity Rock was able to bring Arrabio ­to the U.S. and Western Canada, booking gigs in cities such as New York, Edmonton and Vancouver. “We have had the opportunities to make records, do tours, have international promotion so that people can know what’s going on inside the island,” Cuban guitarist William Garcia writes in a Facebook message. “(We can) have a dialogue with a non-Spanish (speaking) crowd and (through) music know that there are no real barriers. Music is one and only one language. Punk rock can make us all feel the same.”

While Cubans no longer need exit visas to leave their country, they still need visas to get into Canada ­— which is causing a bit of a headache for Garcia and his bandmates. They want to return for a two-week tour, but a mix-up is wreaking havoc with their plans.

The musicians applied for temporary resident visas when they should have applied for work visas, so they might end up missing their first gig ­on Sunday at Barber Ha, 10011 Whyte Ave.

Either way, McIntosh says the show will still go on ­— with Slates, Viking Fell and Eden Valley hip-hop act Back to the Blanket ­— to raise money to cover Solidarity Rock’s costs of visa reapplications and rebooked flights. (Showtime: 6 p.m. Tickets are $12 at the door.)

The members of Arrabio hope to have their paperwork in time for their next shows. They’re scheduled to perform at Calgary’s Sled Island Music and Arts Festival (June 18) and several First Nations communities in southern Alberta before playing Sunday, June 29 at The Pawn Shop.

A second Cuban punk band, Adictox from Santa Clara, was also caught up in the visa mix-up, but McIntosh says he’ll try to book new shows for them in August. Adictox’s frontman, Pablito (El Pollo) Riveron, says he can’t wait to start his first overseas tour. “For me to have the opportunity to play and travel in Canada or another country makes me feel like the first person to walk on the moon!” he writes in a Facebook message.

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