Payadora has toured across Europe and the Americas and will make its Parksville debut at Knox United Church on March 17.
The award-winning ensemble plays songs that draw on Argentinian and Uruguayan tradition including tangos, milongas, waltzes, and folk music such as the Zamba and chacarera.
Payadora also has a wide-ranging repertoire of originals which fuse together classical, jazz and world music, according to Rebekah Wolkstein, violinist and vocalist for the group.
“It’s a very varied program musically,” she said. “You often hear people saying, ‘oh, I don’t think I want to hear a whole night of tango’ and we aren’t doing that, so there’s a whole lot more variety within the genre of tango.”
Over the course of the last decade, Payadora has sold out shows across Canada and the world, from the National Arts Centre to the Vancouver Island MusicFest to World Music Series at the Four Seasons Centre. Its sold-out 2023 European tour of Madrid, Copenhagen, Budapest and London included a live-to-air BBC performance.
Wolkstein is joined by Drew Jurecka (bandoneon, violin, vocals), Joseph Phillips (bass), Robert Horvath (piano) and Elbio Fernandez (vocals).
During the band’s last tour of B.C., Google Maps’ navigation erroneously directed them onto a logging road on the way to a show in Tofino, Wolkstein said. She realized the error while on the phone with the concert’s presenter who advised them to turn around and get off the logging road, before the cell service cut out.
“It was absolutely terrifying, I’m afraid of heights anyway,” Wolkstein said. “I just remember that show in Tofino feeling so good because I was alive and there’s something about that experience and really being afraid for your life and then ending up in this gorgeous place.”
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Payadora also toured in Brazil and Argentina last year and were inspired by being able to experience the music scene in the “Motherland” of the tango, Wolkstein said.
The group released its third album Silent Tears: The Last Yiddish Tango in 2023, which tells the story of female Holocaust survivors now living in Toronto. Wolkstein said she wrote about half of the album’s pieces based on poetry and stories about the survivors’ harrowing experiences.
“It’s very important for the world to know what happened,” she said. “I’m very proud of the album and its been getting a whole bunch of airplay and interest, particularly in Europe, which is incredible.”
Payadora may play songs from Silent Tears, but it will not be the focus of this tour, Wolkstein added.
The group’s name refers to a famous milanga (a style of tango music) song the band enjoys playing. It also translates to “troubadour” — someone who would travel from town to town with a guitar in South America, Wolkstein explained, and participate in a sort of “rap battle” to see who could improvise the most lyrics.
“I think that if you come out you’ll have a really good time and be surprised that there’s a such a combination of different musical styles and lots of joy,” she said.
The concert begins at 2:30 p.m. Knox United Church is located at 345 Pym St.
Tickets are $35 and available online at Eventbrite and with cash at Parksville retailers Fireside Books and Close to You Boutique.