Reader’s Choice/Tom’s Top Tunes: Song #35/250…Down to the River by Ben Caplan

I always enjoy having readers reach out to me with song or artist requests. Lately I have gotten a few such messages, which warms my heart completely. To those who have contacted me, I just want you all to know that I have added your requests to my Reader’s Choice list and will get to each and every one of your picks in due time. For today’s post, I am drawing upon a name that was forwarded to me in the most concise and succinct manner possible. My pal, Andrea Storm, e-mailed the following message: “Two words: Ben Caplan”. That was it. As it turned out, it was all that I needed to hear.  Ben Caplan is an amazing singer who draws upon a background in the theatre to help give him a stage presence like no other. He is one of those hidden gems who is working his way through the ranks of both the Indie and Folk music scenes in Canada. I am reasonably confident that you will find him to be as captivating as I do and as Andrea does as well. So without further delay, please allow me to introduce to you, Mr. Ben Caplan. Enjoy.

As far as being a performer goes, Ben Caplan has many things working in his favour. We will get to his booming voice momentarily. But first, let’s start with something that I usually regard as being superficial in nature, and that is his appearance. In the case of Ben Caplan, his appearance is one of the most visually striking things about him. Far from being something that distracts from his talent, Ben Caplan’s appearance is an integral component of his identity. And it is personal identity that helps inform his musical stylings, so it is prudent for us to begin any profile of this great singer by talking about that face and, in particular, that beard. Ben Caplan’s beard is truly one of the most impressive beards I have ever seen in my life. In fact, it is so full and flowing that even Santa Claus pales by comparison. However, the story of Ben Caplan’s beard is much more than simply a fashion choice. What his beard truly symbolizes is the history of his family and his people and his desire to keep alive a traditional form of music called Klezmer music. 

Klezmer music is a traditional form of music and storytelling that features prominently in the history of Jewish peoples from Poland, Ukraine and other parts of Eastern Europe. If you know anything about history, then you will immediately understand that the Jewish peoples of Eastern Europe have had a long history of persecution, forced occupation and expulsion at the hands of a myriad of external foes. For these people, mere survival has often been the order of the day for their culture. One of the strategies that Eastern European Jews have employed to help maintain their heritage in the face of adversity is through the Arts. In particular, communal gatherings such as weddings, births and funerals have always featured the telling of stories, the singing of songs and the dancing of dances to music played by musicians who, as it turns out, look an awful lot like Ben Caplan does today. So, the very first thing to note about Ben Caplan is that he looks like a Klezmer singer. Now, let’s talk about whether he sounds like one or not.

He does.

Ben Caplan has a deep, rich voice that can be thunderous, at times. But being a theatre major has given Caplan the ability to use his voice for dramatic effect. Consequently, while his singing style can be accurately described as powerful and forceful, he is well versed in modulation and, as such, is just as skilled at dropping whole registers and whispering the most emotionally important moments of the songs that he is singing. One of the things about his voice that I like is that it is not completely smoothed and polished. There is a raspiness that occasionally leaves his lyrics roughly hewn. The variations in his voice between soft and loud, smooth and raspy, swift in cadence and dramatically silent, all combine to make him unique among modern singers performing today.

Ben Caplan was born in Hamilton, Ontario. However, he traveled to Nova Scotia in his early twenties and fell in love with the city of Halifax and the surrounding area so much that he lives there now. He is a folk singer by trade, but he also works as an actor at The Neptune Theatre in Halifax and in productions that tour across the country. Caplan often plays solo acoustic music when he tours, but he also performs regularly with a band called The Casual Smokers, as well as with his partner, Taryn Kawaja.  In the videos I will share below, I will present one with Caplan singing as a solo artist, one with his band and one with his partner, Taryn Kawaja. In all three cases, his musical stylings are a sight to behold. His stage presence can be mesmerizing. In fact, Ben Caplan has been recognized for his talent in the form of winning multiple East Coast Music Awards over the course of the last decade. He has four albums to his credit now, In The Time of the Great Remembering, Birds With Broken Wings, Old Stock and Recollection. In fact, his album Old Stock contains songs that form the soundtrack to a dramatic play about immigrants. Halifax has a long history of being the place where immigrants coming from Europe first arrive in Canada by sea. There is a wonderful museum in Halifax that is dedicated to telling the story of these immigrants and their stories. It is called Pier 21, after the actual pier at which these immigrants would leave their ships and be processed for entry into their new homeland. Old Stock, the play, was inspired by the story of family members of Ben’s and Taryn’s who made this exact journey almost a century ago. The play was made in response to the line infamously uttered by former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper about wanting a Canada filled with “old stock Canadians” and how intolerant a message that was to be sent to the rest of the world.

In any case, I will end this post with a shout-out to my friend Andrea Storm for nominating an underrated yet super talented singer such as Ben Caplan. In particular, I appreciate having my view of East Coast music broadened by this introduction. I grew up surrounded by music that was Celtic-inspired and so, as I grow older, whenever I think of music from back home, I hear fiddles and bagpipes in my mind. But listening to the indie-folk stylings of such a troubadour as Ben Caplan serves as a reminder that the world is a much broader and richer place than any of us realize at times. Even though Nova Scotia may be small in size, geographically-speaking, there is room for many voices around the table…Celtic, Indigenous, Folk, Rock, Country and Western, Gaelic and many more. To quote another Prime Minister, “Our diversity is our strength”.  Thanks again, Andrea. Ben Caplan is an amazing talent! For everyone else who is reading these words, please feel free to submit your own favourite artists and/or songs for me to profile on your behalf. Any artist. Any song. Any genre. Any era. All are welcome.

• The link to the video for the song “Down to the River” by Ben Caplan can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.

In this video, Ben Caplan is performing on the boardwalk at a place called Alderney Landing in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The water behind him is Halifax Harbour. If you follow the water all the way to the left of the screen you will see the Atlantic Ocean. The city across the harbour is Halifax, itself. In the Joel Plaskett song “Nowhere With You”, he sings of taking “The Dartmouth ferry into the town”.  Well, Alderney Landing is where you board the ferry that takes you across the harbour and into Halifax. I am actually surprised to not see the ferries shuttling back and forth in the background as Ben Caplan sings in this video.  

• The link to the video for the song “40 Days and 40 Nights” by Ben Caplan and the Casual Smokers can be found here. ***The lyrics version is here.

***The woman standing just to Caplan’s right (as we view him) is his partner, Taryn Kawaja.

• The link to the video for the song “Belly of the Worm” by Ben Caplan and Taryn Kawaja can be found here. ***The lyrics version can be found here. 

***This is a beautiful duet about a love between two people that extends beyond the bonds of earthly life, to the point where the two lovers reunite in the belly of the worm that digests them after death. Sounds morbid, but trust me, it is lovely. These two singers sure have an easy chemistry that is plain to see.

The link to the official website for Ben Caplan can be found here.

***One tiny piece of trivia before I go….Taryn Kawaja is recording music that will appear on her own debut album. She is recording that music at a studio in Montreal called Hotel2Tango. What is noteworthy about that is that Hotel2Tango is the studio that was bought and run by Godspeed You! Black Emperor so that they could better control the means of production for their own music. As this tale illustrates, Godspeed You! Black Emperor have broadened their reach and are working with other unique artists such as Taryn Kawaja, too. *(You can read the post about Godspeed You! Black Emperor here). If you are interested, the link to the website for Hotel2Tango is here.

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