By ALLAN BENNER
Mark
Lalama nods to his daughter as he sits at his grand piano, and plays the
opening chords of Smile, the jazz standard made famous by Nat King Cole in the
1950s.
"Now?"
Breton asks. He nods again.
Breton
stands up and clears her throat. The 16-year-old Notre Dame student relaxes
against the wall of the old barn converted into a music studio beside their
restored Victorian farmhouse in rural Welland. She quietly starts to sing the
haunting melody in the warmly-lit room.
It
was Saturday morning, really just a few hours after the father and daughter duo
wowed the audience at Friday night's IlluminAqua concert at the Merritt Park
amphitheatre, where they opened for Canadian jazz legend Molly Johnson.
The
Lalamas had been up late following the show, but fatigue didn't diminish their
talent during the impromptu performance for a Tribune reporter who arrived a
bit too early to interview them that morning.
They'd
performed together many times before. They even performed on the IlluminAqua
stage a year ago, but it wasn't during an IlluminAqua show.
And
there's a big difference between a show at the amphitheatre and IlluminAqua.
The atmosphere during IlluminAqua, Mark explains, seems to transport the
audience and performers away. It doesn't feel like you're in downtown Welland
when the fire pots are burning on the recreational waterway.
"It's
an amazing place. It transports you."
Breton
is the third generation of Lalamas with a gift for music. Her 82-year-old
grandfather Marco Lalama lives in Welland and still performs with the Jimmy
Marando Swing Band.
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