British Columbia singer/songwriter John Welsh and the John Welsh Band are creating an honest-to-goodness viral sensation with the video for their infectious and superbly-crafted single Sayulita.
Released on April 14 on Facebook, within a month the video has received approximately 650,000 views, and that number is rising significantly each day! https://www.facebook.com/johnwelshmusic/videos/542122705974007/
Sayulita is the debut single from the impressively exotic new album !Vamonos Mi Chica!, which was released on May 12, to great critical acclaim.
The leader of the John Welsh Band has become well known for the way he blends Latin and other world music sounds into his original compositions, melding folk with an exotic international vibe that consistently wins over audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
The 10 song masterpiece of multicultural songwriting seamlessly weaves together a contemporary singer/songwriter structure, along with a distinctive and refreshing West African flair, thanks to long-time John Welsh Band member, the Nigerian born Courage Eigbike. The band is filled out by John’s brother Chris on bass, drummer Nathan Larsen, and guitarist Devin Modugno.
While Vamonos Mi Chica! (which translates to ‘Let’s Go, My Girl’) can be easily categorized as World Music, Welsh himself believes his music defies even that broad classification, in that it crosses so many demographic boundaries and appeals to a wide variety of audiences.
“It has a World Music sort of feel but I think it has more mainstream appeal. We play at a lot of venues where the audience are definitely not World Music fans but really enjoying what we’re doing because the music is just irrepressible.” said Welsh.
“People just want to dance and sing along to the choruses, and it doesn’t matter if the songs are in English, Spanish, or both.”
In his late teens the travel bug had a firm hold on Welsh, and soon trips to far flung locales, mostly in Latin America, became an integral part of his life. The lessons learned and the experiences he encountered in his various sojourns could not help but influence the music he was destined to create.
“I went to Mexico at 17 and that was it. I really loved the language and the people and at 19 went to Guatemala and worked as hard as I could to immerse myself in the culture. I was exposed to so much amazing art and music in Latin America. At university I made friends with kids from Mexico and Venezuela and got even more into the music and culture,” he said.
“I discovered that the music really brought people together; certain songs, no matter the language, just bring people together. So that marriage between travel and music really changed my life and the outlook on the power of music to cross barriers.”
For more information on The John Welsh Band, visit www.johnwelshband.com.
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