DAVE PYBUS

A note to my Queenston School and Kelvin classmates and friends:

First, I would like to send a warm ìsaludoî to you all ñ to the handful of you with whom  Iëve maintained some contact , to the ones who have long faded from my memory and to the mysterious few who occasionally and inexplicably have appeared in my dreams over the last 30 years.  I also want to congratulate Grant for his perseverance,  his  phenomenal memory ( all that running must have  kept his neurons moving too) and a gregarious nature that cared enough about us all after so many years to want to get us back together. 

Iím sorry that I wonít be there with you. Itís not because Iím afraid to transit through the Toronto airport; I live too far away and the timing is not right for me to go back just now to Winnipeg. Iíve been living in Barcelona for more or less the last 30 years and recently have only  managed to get back to Canada every 3 or 4 years. While travelling through Europe as a 20 year-old packpacker, I was seduced by the Mediterranean climate and way of life, and particularly by the style, rythmn  and personality of the city. Here, Iíve  been able to develop as a professional saxophonist and also to create a family.

My wife Montse is a native Barcelonean and our family is formed by her son Sergi and our 3 sons, Miquel (21), and Marc and Biel (18). At home, we speak in Catalan . I also speak Spanish often in the streets ( the city is bilingual) and with friends from the rest of Spain and Latin America who are settled here.As for English,since the musicianís community in the city is very international, I speak it (not quite as fluently as I once did, Iím afraid ) with my American and European colleagues.

Professionally, I gig mostly around Barcelona and its hinterland. Over the years, Iíve been fortunate to have played all throughout  Spain and occasionally ( too occasionally) in other European countries. The music which I enjoy playing most is jazz or black American music (funk, Rín B). As a freelancer though, Iíve worked in all styles and also in TV and theatre. Iíve also taught in the local music schools although I admit that I prefer playing to teaching.

Grant made me promise that if I didnít come, I would send a extensive biography. Since we  musicians are constantly obliged to send out CVs full of exaggerations and half-truths to programmers to compete for work, I will spare you mine. And if anyone out of curiosity runs me down on Google, donít be fooled by a few unscrupulous usurpers of my name ñ no, the Dave Pybus who owns and manages a drag- racing track in Panama city is not me, nor is the even more famous death-metal bass player from Yorkshire  (ex- Anathema) who currently leads his own band –  Cradle of Filth.