Holiday classics, a Hollywood spoof and a homecoming long in the making: The upcoming Flin Flon Community Choir Christmas show has a lot in store.
A number of area performers, including Candia Cormack, Joanna Dauk, Angela Ishaka, Mark Kolt, Janeve Masson and groups like Imrianna Jones will take the stage.
The main feather in the choir’s cap for the show is the return of jazz vocalist Joanna Majoko to the Flin Flon stage. Born in Zimbabwe, Majoko immigrated to Canada with her family as a teenager and moved to Flin Flon in 2001. During her time in the community, Majoko first fell in love with music, a love that gradually led to her studying music in university, receiving a bachelor’s degree in music and jazz studies from the University of Manitoba, and embarking on a singing career that has seen her perform around the world and make inroads with important jazz scenes in Canada and the US.
It will be the first time Majoko returns to perform in Flin Flon since moving away and pursuing her dream.
“We’ve been talking about it for a couple of years, actually. We’ve been planning this since June. I’ve been following her career in the last few years and she’s just doing so well,” said Flin Flon Arts Council cultural coordinator Crystal Kolt.
During one of the recent Home Routes shows with Toronto-based group the Au Pears, Kolt said one of the performers said she was a friend of Majoko and sang her praises as a musician.
“They were impressed with her. She’s taking Toronto by storm and sometimes it’s a little difficult to break into that place,” said Kolt.
Majoko will perform with Creighton drummer Dean Martin and Lane Laderoute during her set, Kolt added.
Laderoute will also factor into the show in another way. He and Rob Mote will take on the roles of Rat Packers Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra during the show, performing their own rendition of their holiday classic, “A Marshmallow World.”
“It will be hilarious. They sound just fantastic. It’s just like they’re [Martin and Sinatra] there,” she said.
The show will be at 2 pm on Sunday, Dec. 9 at the RH Channing Auditorium.
