Lark Clark’s first steps on the world music path can be traced to a junior high school assembly. Nigerian drumming patriarch Babatunde Olatunji introduced her to Yoruba rhythms. It kicked off a passion that drives her to this day.
Lark hit the road at age 17, leaving NYC for Seattle, LA and Mexico to search for her tribe among hippie communes. She ended up living in the bush on Cortes Island and Haida Gwaii for four years, learning all the crucial skills: how much a five-gallon pail of water weighs, what phase the moon is in, how to strop a knife on a flat rock, how to can fish, etc.
She re-entered the world via Grant MacEwan Community College in Edmonton. Graduation from the Music Theatre department led to a career in industrial acting (pizza commercials, how to change hospital bedsheets and other dazzling roles). She is still recognized by surprised fans as The Bus Driver and The Battered Woman.
After a singing stint with Pro Coro Canada, Lark founded the a cappella group Juba!, which sang southern African freedom songs and traditional music. Juba! performed across Canada as well as in Zimbabwe.
World Spinning
Lark Clark’s World Spinning explores how music reflects culture and shapes hearts. Lark’s passion is to discover connections and to hear music that’s completely new to the ears. We catch the latest incarnations as worlds collide: Somalia meets hip hop in Canada, flamenco meets jazz in Majorca. You’ll always hear lots of lively rhythms – Arabic, Latin, Polynesian – as we spin the globe. Featuring in-depth conversations with artists like Alex Cuba, Angelique Kidjo, Buffy Ste. Marie, or Zakir Hussein, experience the world through a multiplicity of cultural ears and eyes.
