tour de Fort to get ‘wyrd’

The Wyrd Sisters, who will perform here Friday night as part of the “tour de Fort” concert series, probably are one of the few groups to have chosen their name by looking through a dictionary.
Nancy Reinhold of Winnipeg, who founded the trio with Kim Baryluk back in 1991 (Lianne Fournier is the other member), said they picked up the name “kind of quickly”–getting a gig before they even had a name.
“At that point, we were just the trio,” she noted. “I was in a book store and I was looking through a dictionary of female signs when I came across the symbol for the Wyrd Sisters.
“It originally was the name of the ancient triple goddess, who represented the three phases of life,” Reinhold explained, adding the name has appeared in several works throughout history, including Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.”
While the term “wyrd” has been changed and used often in many fantasy works over time, it’s the original goddess aspect that makes the name appeal to the trio–probably because of how the original myth correlates so well with their music.
“Basically, we write about life and our experiences,” Reinhold said, from overtly political songs based upon reactions to current events to those that look more at the personal journey through life (like the ones on “Raw Voice,” their last album).
“It’s music that’s deeply personal, sort of an invitation to come into our lives and vice versa,” Reinhold said. “And that’s what we want to happen. We want an exchange of energy [with the audience].
“And when that happens, it’s a great experience, for both us and the audience,” she stressed.
The acoustic trio are well known for their rich harmonies, combining a mixture of folk, jazz, pop, and blues to produce a sound that is uniquely their own.
“First and foremost, it’s vocally-based music,” Reinhold said. “We sort of build everything around the three-part harmonies and around the lyrics.
“You will always be able to hear what we’re saying,” she added. “That’s our primary goal.”
Reinhold said Friday’s concert, which gets underway at 7:30 p.m. in the Townshend Theatre, would be an eclectic mix of old favourites and new music the trio hopes to put down on an album sometime later this year.
While the newer songs are often more challenging and fun to play, the older songs still pack a strong punch.
“It can be the oldest song . . . that ends up being the best one of the evening and people have the most emotional response to,” she noted. “That always end up being the best moment.”
Wanda Botsford, publicity director for “tour de Fort,” said getting the Wyrd Sisters to perform here was a very fortunate stroke of luck.
“Many people, when they discovered the Wyrd Sisters were travelling here, told us they travelled to Winnipeg just to hear [them] sing,” she remarked.
“They have all the qualities our audience seems to look for,” she added.
Friday night’s concert is sold out to passport ticket holders only.