weather	:		mostly cloudy
outside	:		11.2°C
mood	:		entertained

It was a small private function so we got to chat with him a little. He doesn't speak a lot of English, but even so, you can hear his very fun, light-hearted nature coming through in everything he says and does.

But.

Oh.

My.

God.

Is this guy EVER TALENTED. He's a classically trained percussionist from the Leningrad Academy of Music and worked with the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra for a while. He plays all kinds of ethnic percussion instruments from the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania and many aboriginal cultures everywhere. Balalaikas, dumbeks, didgeridoos, gongs, drums of all types, xylophones, a string of bells on a rope, conch shells, a plastic pipe from Canadian Tire.

Boris sounds a little like Hank Azaria doing Chief Wiggum or Moe, but a bit deeper and with a strong accent. It'll take everything in you to keep from peeing yourself laughing when he holds up a bit of black plastic plumbing pipe and says, "this... uh... didgeridoo... from Canadian Tire... low budget." XD

He plays the ceiling... well, the real tree trunk didgeridoo against the ceiling. I have never heard anyone make the ceiling sound so good =)

Y'know that boingy instrument in the title theme of Survivor: The Australian Outback? This thing. I don't remember what it's called (a bullroarer?). He can play that and sing and dance around at the same time. It sounds positively electric to hear it in person.

I missed the Chutzpah Festival this February where he was performing. Ah well, he lives in the Lower Mainland now, so I hope to be able to go see him perform again sometime. And maybe buy his CD "Around the World with Boris Sichon" and get it autographed =) But he's such a leaf in the wind if you look at his life. There's no telling how long he'll stay here. =\