Brian Vardigans

Stephen Pedersen, Atlantic arts reviewer, in praise of Asani at the 2009 Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival said:

Musically they [ Asani ] are first rate, tightly harmonized, perfectly tuned, alertly and profoundly rhythmic. They . . . finished the set to roars and screams of enthusiasm from the crowd in the Main-stageTent for their O Canada.

You don’t top a performance like this, but you do come up to scratch nevertheless as Brian Vardigans did with his polished, sophisticated song Springhill, winner of this year’s Folk Harbour Songwriting Competition.
Set in the minor key the song recounts the old black and white days of Nova Scotia’s historic mining community that lost more than 400 miners over decades of dark and dangerous work. The chorus is rendered in the brighter, more immediate major key beginning with the words “These are green hills now.”

- Stephen Pedersen's Blog

Brian Vardigans’ ‘Springhill’ is as well-crafted a song as I’ve heard in recent years . . . The first time I played it, there was instant response from the audience….

- CBC Radio

Springhill is a powerful song. A reminder of the mortality we carry with us every day and the even more powerful connection of the earth to the men who dare to toil 'down below'. Thanks for the song—it’s inspiring.

- CHES 101.5 FM

William Clarke / leapmagazine.ca / September 14, 2009
King’s Theatre Annapolis Royal / Brian Vardigans in Concert

The only thing missing from Brian Vardigans' weekend performance in Annapolis Royal was a smoke-filled room with coffee served at your seat. Of course, that's a stereotypical look at the folk world of the sixties, back when rock and roll was in its infancy and really hip people who didn't wear flowers in their hair at the very least wore floral prints. In those days, it wasn't uncommon to hear heavy metal Hendrix and the more folksy Mamas and Papas in the same radio set- that was music and those were the times.

By 2009, rock and folk are at almost different ends of the musical world where pop music has taken a stranglehold on commercial radio and everything else is branded “alternative” and left to satellite, college radio and public broadcasting. Yet, from time to time, artists appear with messages that really need to be heard, that really need to reach that mass pop audience - if only for the briefest moments when people can actually pay attention to the sound coming from their speakers. Brian Vardigans is undoubtedly one of those artists…

Vardigans rolled down to the better end of the Annapolis Valley on Sept. 12 with Greg Simm (guitars), Jim Bell (bass) and Iren Hjelkrem (vocals) for a performance at Annapolis Royal's King's Theatre. Vardigans said he had been waiting for awhile to come down and play at the regional performance venue, then the show began with songs from his 2003 CD, Beneath an Eastern Sky. Simm’s lead guitar added an element of "cool" to Vardigans’ Montana Cowboy. Throughout the performance, it was a wonderful experience to be transported to different places and times through their songs.

Under These Stones took the audience on a journey to an Anglican Graveyard near Petticodiac, while the heart-breaking Soldier conjured images from Lawrence Hill's The Deserter's Tale as Vardigans’ song told the story of a young soldier, a very ordinary young soldier, who turns his back on war; but not before reminding the listener he, and those he killed, were once somebody's children

Earlier this year he was nominated for Music Nova Scotia's Folk Recording of The Year and walked away with the top prize at the 2009 Lunenburg Folk Harbour Society Songwriting Competition.

"I'm an impulsive songwriter", he said. "I write what I feel and hear." Luckily for us, he visited Springhill and came away with a song about the community today and what it was like at the time of its coal mining disasters in 1956 and 1958. The song, Springhill, received a standing ovation when it was first performed in the town during a commemorative concert in October of 2008.

If you missed his King's Theatre performance, you missed a very special evening, but he's performing in Chester Oct. 10 and you can check him out online at www.brianvardigans.com. Hey, follow the links and give a listen to the tracks available - you will be moved and don't forget the coffee.


- leapmagazine.ca