Musician hopes to defy violin expectations

SOAP LAKE — This week, Soap Lake's theater puts on the first of two musical acts its artistic director says are at the top of their game.

"We spend a lot of time looking around and finding something we think will fit our venue just perfectly and people will like to see," Artistic Director Beverly Hasper said. "Also, we're into excellence and musicianship and we just feel both of these acts are going to be killer."

Geoffrey Castle performs Friday at 8 p.m. at Masquers Theater. The Leif Totusek Candela Night Concert takes place June 30 at 8 p.m.

A Seattle resident, Castle said he has performed often in the Columbia Basin, but this is his first time in Soap Lake.

"Like nothing you've ever heard and like everything you wish you've heard before," Castle described his music.

He said he does not play a specific type of music, but draws from influences of Celtic, jazz, blues, rock and country and incorporates them into an entirely unique show. Much of Castle's sound comes from his instrument, he said.

"How many six-string violin players do you know?" he asked. "And then how many six-string violin players do you know who are totally at home in a Celtic classical rock blues Middle Eastern environment?"

Castle creates his own orchestration live.

"It's a solo performance, but it sounds like there's an orchestra on stage," he said.

The show is accompanied by a laser light show to lend a visual aspect to Castle's performance.

"Somebody described it once as what a violin recital would look like on the Starship Enterprise," he said.

Castle hopes the audience leaves looking at each other and saying they never knew it was possible to have so much fun at a violin concert.

"I hope they come away with an entirely new appreciation of what is possible on the violin," he said. "A lot of people have preconceived notions about the role of the violin in music. You're either wearing a tuxedo or a cowboy hat. It's sort of perceived as this scratchy kind of thing, and it's not that. My whole aim in life, really, is to dispel anyone's preconceived notions of what is possible in violin music."

Castle and Totusek are both playing at the top of their game, Hasper said.

"He's just a very unique person in his own right and has his own style," she said of Castle.

Guitar and vocals composer Totusek has been studying African and other forms of music since high school, she said.

"Some of it has an African flavor, but it also has Cuban and Haitian," she said. "Some of the other musicians are from Africa, but they are not playing strictly African music; it's kind of a fusion of these things."

The concert also includes Mohamed Shaubo on bass and vocals and Edwaurdo Suezz on drums, both from Ghana, West Africa, and Don Keller, rhythm guitar, from Japan.

Totusek's music is fun and high-spirited, Hasper said.

"Neither of these acts are loud, loud music," she said. "We try not to get into things like hip-hop or things which are going to be really, really loud. These are both acts I think will appeal to people of any generation."

For more on the acts, access their Web sites at www.geoffreycastle.com and www.leiftotusek.com.

Call Masquers for reservations at 509-246-2611. Ticket price is $15 for each concert.