Tom Landa didn’t pick music as a career, he said.
It picked him.
Growing up in Mexico City, he was surrounded by the music of the country but preferred to listen to pop and rock.
“Every penny and all my allowance went into buying 45s and I listened to the radio,” he said. “And, as a teen, I really got into rock music.”
(For those of you unfamiliar with 45s, they were seven-inch vinyl records that rotated 45 times per minute — hence the name — and invariably contained one song
on each side.)
Music went from his passion to his profession and he’s perhaps best known for The Paperboys, a folk-music band he created after moving to Vancouver.
That band’s first three albums each garnered Juno Award nominations, with the band finally winning one in 1997 for Molinos.
More awards followed and, while The Paperboys had elements of Celtic, African, zydeco, soul and country, Landa wanted to do more with the sounds of his heritage.
“The last two records with the Paperboys had Mexican influences,” Landa said, “but I wanted to go full hog into the Latin thing.”
Locarno was born.
It also combines various sounds, Landa said, but they all have the same Latin roots.
A Canada Council grant helped him hone his skills in the many sounds when he studied in Veracruz, Mexico, with Ramon Guttierrez, an expert in not only the songs of the Latin Culture but many of its unique instruments, as well.
Landa, for example, has added the jarana — a small stringed, fretted instrument — to the instruments he’ll pick up during a show.
He also plays piano, guitar “and a bit of banjo.”
Kamloopsians will have a chance to see him and his band on Thursday, Feb. 13, when Locarno performs at Calvary Community Church, 1205 Rogers Way, at 7 p.m.
As for the name, Landa said Locarno has several definitions. It’s a city in Switzerland, a beach in Vancouver and the name of a Spanish sailor.
He chose it because he wanted “a name that could be pronounced in English and Spanish. If we’d used a Spanish name, it would get butchered too much.”
IF YOU GO . . .
WHAT: Locarno
WHEN: Thursday, Feb. 13, 7 p.m.
WHERE: Calvary Community Church, 1205 Rogers Way
TICKETS: $28 for adults, $20 for youth (tax and fees included) at Kamloops Live Box Office,
1025 Lorne St., 250-374-5483, kamloopslive.ca
