Peterborough Family Band Spreads Their Faith With New Children's Program 'Yes,Lord'

A local family band, Rhythm and Grace, has partnered with Salt and Light media to create an advent series for children.

Photo courtesy of Rhythm and Grace Music.

The Duketow family lives just outside of Peterborough and consists of Alex, Miriam and their nine children, aged 4 -19 years old.

Their original music draws inspiration from celtic, blues and gospel and includes fiddles, step-dancing, singing, accordion, electric bass, guitar, piano, and the Irish whistle.

When the Duketow’s were approached by Salt and Light Media and asked if they would create a music program to help children learn about and celebrate the Lenten season they jumped at the chance.

“The Easter programs were kindof a pilot program, then Salt and Light said they went over really well and asked us to do another series on Advent and Christmas,” said Duketow.

“It’s a real privilege for us to be able to help other children and families enter into the Advent and Christmas season,” said Alex Duketow. “It’s so special to have the role of reminding other the reason behind Christmas. It’s something that our whole family tries to remember because that brings true peace to our hearts- that God loves us unconditionally - so we share that with anyone that watches.”

Through October and November the Duketow’s were busy writing new music, and filming episodes.

“The kids have really enjoyed being part of the process,” he said. “As you can imagine you can’t just start practicing a couple days before. We’d be at the dinner table every day practicing.”

Now, ‘Yes, Lord’ releases a new episode every Friday morning for a kid-friendly approach to the Sunday Mass readings and homily.

“I’m so proud of the kids, especially the younger kids because they’ve just really shown how responsible they can be. We tell them often ‘The better you’re prepared to share songs with a bright smile, the more you’ll help other children have a bright smile on their face.’.”

Episodes can be watched online, or on Salt + Light TV LIVE

“It’s geared towards children, but a lot of people find that whether you’re a child or a child at heart you tend to appreciate this.”

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Local Art-Folk Band Ptarmigan Has Released Their Third Album “Cocoon"

Local art-folk band Ptarmigan released their third album, titled ‘Cocoon’ on Nov. 19.

The album title “Cocoon” speaks to the insular and fragile comfort of home and place and the transformations people go through throughout their lives.

“With this album entitled ‘Cocoon,’ we’re exploring the concept of home and how people build their homes literally and figuratively,” said Peter McMurtry, a bandmember, who grew up in Peterborough and now lives in Toronto.

Filtering stories of home through the lens of his own experiences, McMurtry draws inspiration from science fiction, fantasy, and stories of his own family history on Cocoon.

Bandmembers Peter McMurtry (vocals, banjo, guitar), Aaron Hoffman (vocals, mandolin, synthesizer, keyboards), and Sam Gleason (guitar) grew up in Peterborough and met while attending the former Peterborough Collegiate Vocational School, where they started playing music together.

“We explored folk music in high school, performing at coffee houses, and experimenting with different types of music in an environment that fostered creativity,” said McMurty. “With the school being so close to downtown, we were fortunate to perform in venues such as The Spill. That’s where we developed our strong grass roots, folk foundation.”

The song “Once I Knew” is accompanied by a video shot in the countryside south of Rice Lake, directed by Adrienne McLaren. Dancer Oriah Wiersma brought the lyrics to life in her choreographed movements. Viewers can see that and other music videos on www.ptarmiganband.com.

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Band 'I, The Mountain' Returns to Their Old Stomping Grounds for Last Leg of Tour

Pop/folk band I, The Mountain has returned from their East Coast Tour and has one final local show at The Garnet, on Thursday.

Photo courtesy of I, the Mountain.

While the band is based in Kitchener they got their start at Trent University, where three of the five-member band had classes together.

Matt Rappolt, drummer, and Matt Lamers, lead singer and acoustic guitar, began busking around Peterborough when they met.

They played at Peterborough favourites like The Spill, The Red Dog and The Garnet.

“We’re a little biased to Peterborough because it’s where we started, it feels like home,” said Lamers. “The Spill, we played there too many times, it was like a second home. Sometimes we were there three nights a week, occasionally we were just playing to the bartender.”

Rappolt and Lamers met Matt Morgan and recorded their first EP, before parting ways after University.

After many moves and working for a few years, the three got back together, along with Allison Dyjach and Rory McLachlin, to form ‘I, the Mountain’.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic they had few opportunities to play live shows, and did a lot of online performances.

While this allowed them to keep performing, Lamers says nothing compares to performing live.

The band released their debut album ‘Little Wild’ early in 2020, before the start of the pandemic.

They, fittingly, began their tour at Trent University on Sept. 9, and travelled to Ottawa, Halifax and PEI throughout September and October.

“It was euphoric in a lot of ways,” said Lamers. “We’re in a band to perform, our favourite part is the performance and the interaction from the crowd. The online shows were fun in their own way, but it’s nothing compared to feeling that live energy and getting that natural high of people singing your songs with you.”

The band will play with RedFox, a band out of Montreal, at The Garnet on Thursday at 8 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased at the door at 7 p.m. for $10.

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Peterborough Gets Awesome Bands and Musicians Like Metric, Arkells, Blue Rodeo and Jeff Martin (And Concertgoers Often Film It)

Metric at the Memorial Centre...

 
Blue Rodeo at Showplace...

 
Arkells at Wolfstock...

Matthew Good at Showplace...

 
Tragically Hip at the Memorial Centre...

 
Trooper at Little Lake Musicfest...

Stephen Fearing at PCVS...

Jeff Martin at Historic Red Dog...

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