Dala: Friday, May 10
Dala: Friday, May 10. 8:00pm. Tickets: $20 Advance and $25 Door. Juno nominees and winners of the 2010 Canadian Folk Music Award for Vocal Group of the Year, Amanda Walther and Sheila Carabine of Dala write and sing in harmony best described as angelic. Darlings of the Canadian music scene, Dala are poised to bring their fresh brand of acoustic pop music to the world. Drawing upon influences like The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Bob Dylan, Dala write songs that are both catchy and insightful. Amanda’s ethereal soprano voice blends seamlessly with Sheila’s velvety alto, creating the lush harmonies that have become their trademark. The sheer joy with which they perform is infectious; they are equally entertaining between songs, telling funny and down to earth stories that make every show unique. Dala have opened for artists such as Tom Cochrane, Richie Havens, Arlo Guthrie, and joined Stuart McLean on the CBC’s Vinyl Café. They have performed at The New Orleans Jazz Festival, The Edmonton Folk Festival, California’s Strawberry Festival and Mariposa. In 2009, they were the only Canadian act invited to play at the 50th Anniversary of the Newport Folk Festival.
“There’s nothing pretentious about Dala’s music; it’s stripped down and laid bare. That’s not to say it is without polish – far from it. Sheila Carabine and Amanda Walther have worked hard to exploit every facet of their extraordinary musical blend, and it would be just as at home in a 1960s coffeehouse as it is now on the contemporary concert stage”. -Andrew Craig, Host of CBC “Canada Live” www.dalagirls.com
These two best friends met in their high school music class in 2002; they have since released five albums and toured extensively across North America.
Dala’s album “Everyone Is Someone” was released in 2009 to critical acclaim. It earned them their fifth Canadian Folk Music Award nomination, a Toronto Independent Music Award for Best Folk Group, and it was touted by The Irish Post as the Album of the Year. The song “Horses” was nominated by National Public Radio in the US as one of the “Top Ten folk songs of 2009?.
In the summer of 2010, Dala’s PBS special “Girls From The North Country” was broadcast across North America. This concert features Dala’s own songs weaved around classics by Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Gordon Lightfoot. The live cd and dvd for “Girls From The North Country” earned Dala the 2010 Canadian Folk Music Award for “Vocal Group of the Year”.
The live album was nominated for a 2011 Juno Award in the category “Roots and Traditional Album of the Year: Group”.
Dala’s latest album “Best Day” was released in June of 2012. It was nominated for three Canadian Folk Music Awards: English Songwriter of the Year, Vocal Group of the Year and Producer of the Year”