TONY FURTADO TRIO | SOPHIE LUKACS

LIVE AT THE SQUARE | NOV 3, 2024

Vancouver, Canada

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TONY FURTADO TRIO

Very few musicians of any stripe so personify a musical genre as completely as Tony Furtado embodies Americana roots music. Tony is an evocative and soulful singer, a wide-ranging songwriter and a virtuoso multi-instrumentalist adept on banjo, cello-banjo, slide guitar and baritone ukulele who mixes and matches sounds and styles with the flair of a master chef (he’s also an accomplished sculptor, but that’s another story). All of the music of America is in Tony’s music. Relix hit the nail on the head when writing of Tony: “True talent doesn’t need categories.

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In 1990, Tony signed a recording deal with Rounder Records, one of the country’s preeminent independent record companies. Beginning with Swamped in 1990, he recorded six critically acclaimed albums for the label, collaborating with such master musicians as Alison Krauss, Jerry Douglas, Tim O’Brien, Stuart Duncan, Kelly Joe Phelps and Mike Marshall. During this period, Tony also performed and recorded with the band SugarBeat and the Rounder Banjo Extravaganza with Tony Trischka and Tom Adams.

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Beginning in the late 1990s – influenced by such musical heroes as Ry Cooder, David Lindley and Taj Mahal – Tony added slide guitar, singing and songwriting to his musical toolbox and began leading his own band. He is a tireless road musician who performs in a dizzying variety of formats: solo, in a duo or trio or with his full five-person band. He especially values the opportunities he has had to tour with such legendary musicians as Gregg Allman and with such esteemed slide guitarists as David Lindley, Derek Trucks and Sonny Landreth.

Tony has performed throughout the world at top venues and appeared at such prestigious music festivals as the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, High Sierra Music Festival, Jazz Aspen, Kerrville Folk Festival, Strawberry Music Festival, Winnipeg Folk Festival, Sisters Folk Festival, San Jose Jazz Festival and countless others.

Featured with Tony will be two other talented musicians. On fiddle, the Berklee-educated Five-Time National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest Grand Champion Luke Price. On bass, Todd Sickafoose, a Tony & Grammy award-winning composer, producer, orchestrator, bandleader and bassist.

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SOPHIE LUKACS

Sophie Lukacs is a Budapest born, Montreal-based, kora player, and singer songwriter. She blends Mandingue, folk, pop, and classical music genres to create a distinctive style. Inspired by 7 years of study in Mali with Kora virtuoso Toumani Diabaté, and her musical background in Western classical violin and Hungarian folk, Sophie's music - rooted in love and vulnerability - forges an intimate bond with audiences all over.

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She released her debut album in 2023 featuring two tracks with legendary Habib Koité, which won Best Global Roots Music Album of the Year at the 2024 Canadian Folk Music Awards. On stage, Sophie is accompanied by cello and percussion, and sings in all the languages she speaks: English, French, Hungarian and Bambara.

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