This newsletter is sent only to those
who requested it. Information on subscribing and unsubscribing is at
the end of this email. Please forward to
anyone you think may be interested.
A brief newsletter, partly to
highlight an excellent TV documentary Monday night.
In this issue:
1. TV Docs this week (Arabic music & The Gladstone)
2. What a Wonderful (Lula) World
3. Ba Cissoko - don't miss out
4. Grampa terrorizes little kids
5. Other events
1. TV DOCS THIS WEEK
a)
Between Two Notes
- May 7
An excellent exploration of Arabic music, and national and
cultural boundary crossing. Featuring musicians from Iraq to
Israel, including historical clips. Highly recommended.
More info here.
Read a review of the film
here.
May 7, 8pm The Documentary Channel
b) Last Call at the
Gladstone Hotel
The story of the transformation of the Gladstone, its
former residents, and the battles among the original purchasers.
Read the Toronto Star article about the documentary.
TVO, May 9, 10pm and May 13, 10 pm
2. WHAT A WONDERFUL (LULA) WORLD
The now annual Lula World
festival, now on (May 3-20) proves why the Lula Lounge is
the best music club in town. A mind-boggling tour of the world
of music brought to town is now in full swing. The Toronto Star
featured an excellent cover story in last week's "What's On"
section
http://www.thestar.com/article/209344. Visit
www.lula.ca to get a full list
of the shows in the fest. I have notes on many of them on my
events page as
well. A few highlights in the next few days:
May 9: David Buchbinder &
Hilario Duran: "Odessa/Havana" link Ukrainian and Cuban music
traditions
May 10: People Project and Kobo Town
May 11: Ba Cissoko (see below)
May 12: Ray Barretto Tribute with Ralph Irizarry
LOTS more. Check the links
above.
3. BA CISSOKO - Don't miss out
Lula Lounge, May 11
The first of two terrific and unique kora shows coming to town,
Ba Cissoko applies a new, and high energy take to traditional
West African music. (The other big kora show will be Toumani
Diabate's Symmetric Orchestra on Jul. 5 at Harbourfront).
Here's a note from
ejazznews.com, commenting on the band's appearance at the New
Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival:
But, you almost always
discover some great band you had never heard of before,
which cancels out the rare disappointment. This year it was
Ba Cissoko from the Republic of Guinea in West Africa.
The band was a four-piece with two koras, the huge
multi-stringed lute-like instrument, electric bass guitar
and a percussionist. From the beginning it was hard to
believe that all that music was coming from just four men.
But when one of the kora players fired up his Marshall
amplifier, a device more common to hard rock guitar playing,
my jaw dropped. By using effects more akin to rock, he
raised the intensity level through the roof. Like so much at
the Jazz Fest, it was the perfect confluence of traditional
and modern and the crowd ate it up.
Listen to his 2004 Womad concert
here. My photos of his 2005 Toronto concert are
here.
Toronto/Sudanese hiphop singer
Kikijiko (www.kikijiko.com)
will open. The sold-out Vieux Farka Touré show at
Harbourfront was probably the number 1 African music show of the
winter; this will likely be the best show of the spring, and may
also sell out. Don't miss out!
See Music Africa
website
for ticket locations. Show details
here.
4. SCARY GRAMPA!
From the New York Post
May 3, 2007 --
Kindergarten kids in ritzy L.A. suburb Calabasas have been
coming home to their parents and talking about the "weird
man" who keeps coming to their class to sing "scary" songs
on his guitar. The "weird" one turns out to be Bob Dylan,
whose grandson (Jakob Dylan's son) attends the school. He's
been singing to the kindergarten class just for fun, but the
kiddies have no idea they're being serenaded by a musical
legend - to them, he's just Weird Guitar Guy.
I guess Grampa's aren't what
they used to be...
5. OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS
"Rhythm & The Jews" film
series, May 10-12, various theatres
Canefire with Jason Wilson & Tabarruk, May 10, Trane Studio
Kiran Ahluawalia, May 12, Harbourfront
Stephen Marley with K'Naan, May 15, Phoenix
Karsh Kale, May 18, Dragonfly
And of course,
http://www.to-music.ca/events.htm has a lengthy list of
events for the next couple of months, including Afrobeat heaven,
Jun 29-Jul 1 with Antibalas and two of Fela Kuti's sons; monthly
world music events at the Gladstone; Mavis Staples on Canada
Day; Manu Chao; Bo Diddley; Mighty Popo, and lots more.
John Leeson
www.to-music.ca
...............................................................
This email should only be sent to those who have asked to receive
it.
To unsubscribe, go to
www.to-music.ca/newsletter.htm and
click the "unsubscribe" button, or reply to this email.
If someone forwarded this to you, and you'd like to subscribe, visit
the link above, and click "Subscribe"
