Award-winning multi-instrumentalist Shane Philip will perform twice in Red Deer this week.
The winner of Best Live Act at the 2013 Vancouver Island Music Awards will play at The Vat on Friday, blending guitar, drums, didgeridoo into his own melodic — and sometimes wild and tribal — beat.
The well-travelled musician will also perform, through a Red Deer friend’s organization, at a relaxation yoga class that runs at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday at A Whittle Piece of U Gallery at 4732 Ross St.
Philip is a former teacher, river rafting guide, triathlete and member of B.C. cross-country skiing team, who began gravitating towards music in a big way after learning the guitar.
He has said his “obsessive” personality shifted him towards playing umpteen different guitars, including Hawaiian, steel and slide, among others.
Philip was later exposed to such exotic instruments as a djembe hand drum from Africa and the didgeridoo, an enormous wind instrument developed at least 1,500 years ago by the indigenous people of northern Australia.
He performs his world-influenced music as a kind of one-man band.
Some of the songs have lyrics about wild salmon fishing, logging and politically charged topics, but some are just instrumentals with high-energy back beats, ranging from rock to African, reggae or folk melodies.
For more information about Philip’s performance at The Vat, call 403-346-5636.
To hear him perform at the yoga class, call 403-307-3528 to book a space in the class. It costs $20 for the 90-minute class.