Don't Miss

Alternative/World group The Beatroot Road release funky and fun debut single “Underground Roots”

By Kath Galasso on October 18, 2024

‘Underground Roots’ is the first release by the up-and-coming Alternative/World group called The Beatroot Road. Funky, light and fun, the lyrics carry a deeper meaning for the band.

It’s a song of hope – talking about the strength of
roots to withstand the seasonal changes of the overground world, whether they be in
plants, music or life: “So if you wonder how the underdog can manage a grin, it’s cos the
roots are underground and the blood moves within”

The Beetroot Road is a brand new project spearheaded by Mark Russell with violinist Hazel Fairbairn which operates more like a collective, with established artists coming together to release one track every six weeks, eventually leading to their first album in Spring of 2025. The concept is to explore a varied musical landscape with complex drum beats at the heart of each song. Whilst ‘Underground Roots’ has an African/Latin vibe, fans are put on notice that this is not the only style the group will undertake.

Russell says his style is hard to define, but ‘Underground Roots’ is a good representation of the complexity listeners can expect from the group, the track itself being a true fusion. Kenyan vocalist Lucinda Karrey was recruited for this track along with FukiAnditi on backing vocals, lending her sunny, simple style to the complex drums and production. Russell plays all the percussion in this track, with many traditional African instruments like the conga and cabassa, but adds a surprising twist with the bodhrán, a traditional Irish drum.

The video is also a fusion, with multiple layers going into the finished product, with 3D animation from Griang and Mesut C. from Türkiye, with live footage of Lucinia shot in Kenya by Alfie.

Stay tuned to see what this project comes up with next!

Musician Names/Instruments: Mark Russell (bodhrán, timbale, conga, cabassa,
tambourine, bass, guitar and synth) Hazel Fairbairn (violins), Lucinia Karrey (vocals), Fuki Anditi Julson (backing vocals)
Producer Name(s): Mark Russell

Websites:
Official Website: www.thebeatrootroad.ca
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBeatrootRoad/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@the.beatroot.road?lang=en ;
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/The_Beatroot_Road
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2igBGRo0CgkQaQmR6nrk9b
Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/the-beatroot-road/1767267942
Boomplay https://www.boomplay.com/artists/97726626
Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thebeatrootroad

The first release is ‘Underground Roots’ – a song of hope – talking about the strength of
roots to withstand the seasonal changes of the overground world, whether they be in
plants, music or life: “So if you wonder how the underdog can manage a grin, it’s cos the
roots are underground and the blood moves within”.

The main drum is a bodhrán – a Celtic goatskin frame drum – with additional Latin percussion instruments, bass, surf guitar and synth by Mark. All processed violins are by Hazel. Vocals on this track are by award winning Kenyan artist Lucinia Karrey, with background vocals by Fuki-Anditi Julson from Nigeria. Written by Demmy James, ‘Apes’, (London ’80s) and The Beatroot Road.
The video includes 3D animation from Griang and Mesut C. from Türkiye, with live footage
of Lucinia shot in Kenya by Alfie. Edited by Mark in North Van.

THE BEATROOT ROAD Biography:

The Project:
The Beatroot Road is a brand-new project with new releases every 6 weeks starting October
11th 2024 and leading up to an album release in spring 2025.
It’s an international, intercultural series of songs with half a century of history, originally
conceived in lockdown in a studio in the forest on a mountain near Vancouver – a varying
collection of works that have beats at the core, all showing deliberate disrespect to styles
and conventions wherever possible. Having grown tired of the same line-ups doing the
same ever decreasing variations within fixed genres, this project combines the wrong
instruments and the wrong styles with the right intentions.

The Music:
There is no one genre that could represent Mark’s production style, but these are not
intellectual experiments where you keep waiting for the tune to start. Mark says; “If asked
what it is, I like to call it music for dancing, but I’ve heard it called other things, some quite
kind, some not so much. That’s enough for me. ‘The Beatroot Road’ describes what it is;
this is just where we are right now on the journey.”
This music is, at its heart, processed recorded performances of music for dancing, played
by human musicians.

We mean this – there is no attempt at fame and fortune, we make music because we love
doing it, it’s what we do, and it’s what we’ve always done. We hope you like it.
Some of the songs were penned by the late, great and largely unheard Demmy James, who
wrote lyrics and songs with layers and a message. There isn’t enough of that these days, so
now seemed like as good a time as any to set them loose.

The People:
Mark Russell
Spending most of his early years in Khartoum in the Sudan, Mark returned to the UK to
finish growing up in a multicultural Scotland, where he learnt African, Caribbean and Celtic
drum styles alongside Rock and Roll music and all of its o[springs. He had to lie about his
age to get a job to buy his first drum set at 15, and since then his career has included
a covers band residency at a brothel, European and North American tours with black light
EDM fusion band ‘Horace X’, and playing Celtic dance music for UK royalty in a kilt.
Over the decades Mark’s personal musical high points include: opening for Lee Perry, (and
Toots, and Culture), recording with Dennis Bovell, and Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger,
having a Balkan fusion EP nominated for a UK Mercury award, international touring in
general, with the Canadian Festival circuit in particular.

A lifelong cultural nomad, Mark felt at home every time he toured Canada, and eventually
moved with Hazel to the melting pot of Vancouver where so many others live comfortably
within more than one culture.

Hazel Fairbairn
Hazel abandoned early classical violin training for Celtic fiddle, and went on to write the
world’s first PhD on Irish pub music at Cambridge University. After studying with South
Indian violin master Chandru, Hazel went on to play Romani & Cajun fiddle with Horace X,
while also running a Ceilidh band.

Since moving to BC, she has been adding cutting edge audio e[ects to the constant
exploration of the violin’s boundaries, and working with Mark to create the heavy rhythms,
tunes and textures that glue The Beatroot Road together. Hazel is also experimenting with
immersive audio recording, teaches music technology in Vancouver and creates
soundscapes for films by award winning poet Kim Trainor.

The other collaborators and contributors are all seasoned international session musicians
and artists with roots in Austria, Canada, China, Kenya, Korea, Moldova, Nigeria, Punjabi,
Türkiye, UK, USA, and Venezuela. …so far. They will all be introduced individually with each
release.

We represent and celebrate some of the many cultural integrations that our part of Canada
is travelling towards in the 21st century.