WESTERN FRONT – Talk by Susie Ibarra and François Houle

Description:

As part of the 2025 Vancouver International Jazz Festival, Western Front hosted Susie Ibarra as an artist-in-residence and presented a conversation. As a Filipinx American composer, percussionist, and sound artist, she is known for her boundary-defying work that bridges traditional rhythms with avant-garde innovation.

The talk, moderated by clarinetist François Houle, blended conversation with live musical improvisation, offering insight into Ibarra’s artistic process, ecological research, and creative practice through both words and sound.

Presented in partnership with Coastal Jazz with support from the Government of Canada and SOCAN Foundation.

François Houle sits in the Grand Luxe Hall, smiling warmly, with his microphone lowered to his chest. He is in focus at the centre of the image. Susie Ibarra sits at a drum set in the foreground, slightly out of focus, with her back turned to the camera. Ibarra is speaking, while Houle listens attentively.

A seated audience watches François Houle and Susie Ibarra in the Grand Luxe Hall. Houle sits comfortably in a chair, smiling softly, with his microphone held up to the side of his face, and his body oriented towards Ibarra. Ibarra sits at a drum set, looking towards the audience as she speaks into a microphone.

François Houle sits in the Grand Luxe Hall, looking towards Susie Ibarra as he speaks into a microphone. Ibarra listens from behind her drumset, with a beaming smile on her face. Houle’s black-and-gold clarinet stands beside him. The first two pages from “Chapter Two: The Equation of the Rhythm of an Ocean Wave in Motion” from Ibarra’s book, Rhythm in Nature: An Ecology of Rhythm, is projected on a large white screen behind them.

François Houle plays his black-and-gold clarinet with a look of relaxed concentration on his face. His lips are pursed around the reed of the clarinet, and he holds its body with a soft, yet firm touch. He wears dark, rectangular glasses, dark pants, and a greyish-blue heather hoodie.

Captions:

Talk by Susie Ibarra and François Houle, video documentation, Jun 26, 2025. 1 hr. 20 min. 35 sec. Camera by Qiuli Wu.
François Houle and Susie Ibarra at Western Front, photo documentation, Jun 26, 2025. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
François Houle and Susie Ibarra at Western Front, photo documentation, Jun 26, 2025. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
François Houle and Susie Ibarra at Western Front, photo documentation, Jun 26, 2025. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
François Houle at Western Front, photo documentation, Jun 26, 2025. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
Susie Ibarra at Western Front, photo documentation, Jun 26, 2025. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.

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Western Front is a non-profit artist-run centre in Vancouver.

We acknowledge the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations as traditional owners of the land upon which Western Front stands.