Danny Michel on stage at Avening Hall
Musician Danny Michel is performing two shows at Avening Hall next month.
With an April 18 show having sold out in just a few weeks, a second show was added.
Michel will perform and tell tales of Belize, a country that has influenced his music and captured his heart.
Michel first visited Belize while on vacation more than 15 years ago and really liked the country. He said he has returned many times over the years. It is where he filmed the video for Feather Fur & Fin, wrote the album Sunset Sea and recorded his most recent record, Black Birds Are Dancing Over Me.
During his time in Belize, the Kitchener-Waterloo based singer and songwriter learned about the country’s music.
He said he noticed many of the records he loved were recorded in the same studio with the same producer.
In 2011 Michel contacted that producer Ivan Duran and asked if they could make a record together.
“They kinda scratched their heads wondering who this little Canadian guy was and I eventually talked them into it and that’s how that all started,” said Michel.
He recorded Black Birds are Dancing Over Me with the Garifuna Collective, an ensemble of local musicians.
The album, released in 2012, received a Juno nomination for world album of the year and together they toured Canada and the United States.
Several years ago, Michel was contacted by one of the founders of the Ocean Academy, a school on the island of Caye Caulker.
School officials had a goal to improve access to education for those people living on the island who could not afford to go to the mainland to attend high school.
Michel was asked to help raise $1,000 to pay the annual tuition for one student.
“I felt I had got so much from that country and I really loved it and I felt I should give something back so I said for sure. I thought $1,000 was pretty low so I said let’s go for more,” said Michel.
He said the school really needed about $33,000 to meet all of its financial needs.
So far, Michel’s fans have donated $68,000 through an online fundraising campaign and he continues to make regular visits to the school to take part in graduation ceremonies.
“Lots of kids I met on day-one going into school are now going off to university. It’s a fabulous little thing happening,” he said.
A Sunday matinee on April 19, beginning at 1:30 p.m., will be less of a foot-stomper, for which Avening Hall is known, with theatre style seating. During the show Michel will tell stories about Ocean Academy and his time in Belize. Doors open at 1 p.m. Cash bar.
Tickets cost $25 and are available online at www.aveninghall.com or by calling The Creemore Echo at 705-466-9906. For more information, contact sara@creemore.com.
