Several Surrey-area musicians helped put a cross-genre, cross-cultural spin on a Christmas classic made famous by Elvis Presley.
A new video for “Blue Christmas” features a dozen collaborators who are part of the FUSIONpresents team organized by Sami Ghawi, the company’s director and producer.
The Apartment & Friends band recorded the song remotely over a two-week period, starting Nov. 30.
“It was a lot of hours within a very short time frame but all of us feel so accomplished,” Ghawi told the Now-Leader.
“The biggest thing was pulling off and merging six different genres of music into one collective, seamless song, then finding the perfect players to do it. It’s truly a unique artistic piece and a total FP team effort.”
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He hopes the song is viewed “as a gift to the community, as families around the world will likely be experiencing a ‘Blue Christmas’ this year due to travel bans and social distancing.”
The song features performances by Ghawi (guitars, vocals, percussion) along with David Symons (vocals), Isabelle Symons (vocals), Loris Gacic Lora (bass), Pat Anne Or (vocals), Myles Philpott (drums), Ben Dunnill (piano, keys), Colin David Sankey (bass), Paul Fader (drums), Eddie Lam Halen (vocals), Khyla Granstrom (vocals) and Elizabeth Irving (vocals).
The song, arranged by Ghawi and Dunnill, is posted to the FUSIONpresents channel on YouTube.com.
In the big picture, Ghawi thinks Surrey could be a more vibrant “music city” destination for people to hear and play a wider variety of music. He’s a partner in a Surrey Board of Trade initiative created to raise the profile of live music in the city.
• RELATED STORY, from 2018: Surrey as ‘Music City’: Musician and business group sound off about the possibilities.
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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