Liona Boyd Reheats Popcorn From the ’70s

The Canadian classical guitar queen dusts off a vintage disco-synth instrumental.

Liona Boyd serves up a fresh take on the disco-synth classic Popcorn with her latest single and video — showcasing today on Tinnitist.

“This version of Popcorn has been several years in the making,” the Juno-winning first lady of the classical guitar reveals. “I’m so happy to finally be sharing both this instrumental song and video!”

Filmed in Toronto, as well as Palm Beach, Florida, the playful and colourful video radiates Boyd’s love of life — all while continuing to highlight her tenured career enthralling millions with her signature romantic spin on classical, folk, and world music.

“I filmed the video in a studio in Toronto with messy, colourful scribbles on the wall,” she says. “I danced in five-inch spike-heel platform shoes, and wore a funky bell-bottom outfit I found in a little store on Yonge Street. After a quick change, I pranced around in a designer green and black evening gown — which was first featured in my video for Vivaldi’s Allegro. For fun, I even painted my fingertips pink, and wore a chunky turquoise ring my late mother and I had chosen in Arizona back in the ’60s, as well as some pink enamel earrings from my jet-set days in Acapulco. Later, I filmed in various locations in Florida, and we also included some clips from my ‘former life’ in Los Angeles.

Photo by Dean Marrantz.

“The video is full of callbacks to my past,” she says. “There’s a mini-clip of my beloved cat Muffin, a snippet of Venice, San Miguel del Allende, Moorish Dance, and the Bel Air shoot carrying the white parasol my mother gave me one birthday. The video also uses images superimposed from some of my oil paintings, as well as those of my late father. It also features several guitars — including one purchased in Istanbul in 2016.”

Recipient of both the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario, Boyd is the winner of five Juno Awards, five Guitar Player Magazine’s Classical Guitar Musician of the Year awards, the Vanier Award, the Women Who Make a Difference award, the Prix ‘Esprit du Ciècle — plus four Honorary Doctorate of Law degrees and an Honorary Doctorate of Music degree. She has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Guitar Museum, as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award from the JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Competition, and has been inducted into Guitar Player Magazine’s Gallery of Greats.

Since the beginning of her career in 1974, Boyd has released 28 albums. Her holiday special A Winter Fantasy continues to be televised annually across the United States and Canada. She has collaborated with the likes of Sir Andrew Davis, Yo Yo Ma, Eric Clapton, Gordon Lightfoot, Tracy Chapman, Ronnie Hawkins and Olivia Newton-John, to name a few. The author of two books, No Remedy for Love and In My Own Key, Boyd is also a dedicated philanthropist and activist for a lengthy selection of charities close to her heart.

Watch Popcorn (Remix) above, hear more from Liona Boyd below, and pop over to her website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest news.

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