It was the type of space he loves to play in so Jay Semko felt right at home during his show at the Humboldt and District Gallery.
“I’ve played art galleries in a few different cities and towns and I love playing in them. It looks beautiful and it sounds good and it feels really good.”
Semko solo trip into Humboldt was a precursor to reuniting with fellow Northern Pikes members for their Big Blue Sky 30th anniversary cross Canada tour.
While touring with the band is a great time, his solo shows do feel a lot more looser, says Semko.
“It’s just me and the guitar. I put out a set list of about 40-50 songs and I chose what seems appropriate at the moment.”
While there are some musical staples to his show, Semko says he can pick and chose what to play in the moment based on the crowd.
Semko is also free to tell stories of his over 30 year career, including stories of forming and working with the Northern Pikes and his time on the Canadian hit TV show, Due South.
Semko’s work on the show included two soundtrack albums that were released worldwide, including in Iran.
After the show was cancelled and syndicated in many different countries, Semko was invited to do a concert in Iran after getting an email from a Iranian fan who was also a musician.
“He said, I don’t know if you’re aware of this but the theme song with vocals is one of the few English language songs that get plays on the state radio here in Iran.”
According to the fan, lots of people knew the song and knew who Semko was so this person wanted to set Semko up on a tour of Iran.
While Semko was busy at the time of another TV show and was going to keep in touch with his Iranian fan, the tour was not meant to be. After eight or nine months, says Semko, he gets another email from this fan saying that he has fled to Turkey and that he should not come to Iran.
“The government started really cracking down on artists and musicians and free of expression. He said it wasn’t looking for him and he thought he was going to get put in jail.”
While this was a tragic yet oddly funny story that Semko likes to tell of his career, he says it was still cool to know that people are listening to his music from far away places.
While Humboldt is a far cry from Iran, there was no shortage of Humboldt fans at the sold out gallery show.
Semko was playing and storytelling in Humboldt for the first show in the second Humboldt Area Arts Council Organization of Saskatchewan Arts Councils (OSAC) Stars for Saskatchewan tour and was sponsored by Behiel, Will and Biemans Law Offices.
After the success of last years tour, which included headliners The Lion, The Bear, The Fox, Eric Harper, Middle Coast, the Fortunate Ones, it was an easy decision to bring in the Stars tour for another year.
Four shows will make up the 2017-2018 season, including next up Laila Biali on Nov. 2 sponsored by Weber Gasper Law Office.
The OSAC Stars for Saskatchewan Humboldt series is brought to Humboldt care of the City of Humboldt, Friends of the Museum and Gallery, and the Humboldt Journal.
