Celebrate Manitoba’s Musical
Legacy with
Shakin’ All Over
The Manitoba Museum has become a Mecca of Manitoba
music, complete with rare memorabilia, fascinating exhibits, vintage guitars,
live entertainment – and even disco balls. “It’s a celebration of
all aspects of Manitoba music,” explains John Einarson. Einarson,
one of Manitoba’s most noted and respected music historians, is the curator
of Shakin’ All Over: The Manitoba Music Experience.
The exhibit is a multi-media celebration of music in our
province over time. Each genre of music will have a semi-circular “pod”
space allocated to it, in which you can view artifacts, learn history,
and hear the music specific to that genre. The themes of the pods are:
Country, Folk, Jazz, Classical and Opera, First Nations, Metis, Franco-Manitoban,
Blues, Children and Family and Rock 'n Roll. The pods were designed
by the Winnipeg-based design firm of Hilderman Thomas Frank Cram.
“You follow your way through each of these nine pods, getting a sense of
the tremendous amount of music that has come out of this province,” says
Einarson.
The Country pod, for instance, features guitars
from Winnipeg’s
Linkon Pedal Steel Guitar company – the only Canadian
business that manufactures such guitars. Country fans will enjoy viewing
singer Cindi Cain’s famous stage outfits and boots, jackets from
the Double Eagle Band, as well as posters, pictures, and other memorabilia.
In the Rock 'n Roll pod, you can see bass guitars
and gold records donated by Bachman Turner Overdrive's Fred Turner,
original Garnet amplifiers from the 1960s, and the door from the
renowned Cellar night club of the same era.
Another show stopper? The gorgeous “bubble gum dress”
from Transit of Venus, the first Manitoba Opera performance commissioned
for main-stage production.
Einarson has also overseen the creation of a 70-seat
stage area where visitors can experience Manitoba music first-hand.
Shakin’ All Over: The Manitoba Music Experience runs until
Sept. 6