T.O. Music Pix Newsletter #40: July 12/07 Click here for information on
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Note:
Time demands will restrict my posting
of events, news, photos etc. this month, so this issue will serve as a
notice of a few July highlights:
In this issue:
1. Afrofest 2007: Thanks!
2. Recent photos: Seun, Mavis & Toumani
3. Upcoming: two hot shows; Billy Joe Shaver; World Rhythms & more
1. AFROFEST 2007
Last weekend was a fabulous time spent in Queen's Park. Congratulations and thanks to the
board and volunteers of Music Africa for their amazing work on putting on an
incredibly complex and successful festival. Afrofest is one of the things
that make Toronto a great place to live.
Photos will be posted as time permits...
2. RECENT PHOTOS: My photos from a few recent & excellent shows have been posted:
July 1, the superb Mavis Staples
caused the entire audience at the Toronto Jazz Festival to fall in love with
her, her voice, her spirit, her character: http://to-music.ca/gallery/070701_mavis
3. UPCOMING SHOWS
a) Two more hot shows for the hot summer
July 15: Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca at
Harbourfront Centre
What could be better for the soul than some hot Congolese-Cuban rumba?
This band really grooves. Check http://www.makinaloca.com/
for more info & song samples.
July 22: Stella Chiweshe: The Queen of
Zimbabwean mbira
This will be another of the year's memorable concerts. Watch her on this
YouTube video clip:
b) Billy Joe Shaver: July 23, Hugh's Room
Readers of this newsletter or my website,
are certainly familiar with his name, if not his music. Certainly, no other
non-African musician has had as many references printed here. Billy Joe is coming back to town at Hugh's
Room. If you know his music, you will certainly be there. If you don't, I
highly recommend you consider this show.
As I've stated before,
I consider the Texan singer and songwriter to be one of America's greatest
songwriters and poets. His music, while rooted in his own life story, can
stand on its own as a moving reflection of the turmoils, triumphs and
tragedies of life. He certainly has lived out more struggles, pain and
tragedy than most people would want to consider. His songs tell those
stories, and also show how he has endured, and continues to spread a message
of hope and optimism.
If you don't know much about him, I have a lengthy
profile (written 2 years ago) of him and his life as reflected in his music,
posted here:
http://www.to-music.ca/bjs.htm.
Here are a few YouTube video clips that
give a sense of his music, his life and his character:
From 1984, a younger Billy Joe, and a painfully
young Eddy Shaver (his son who died of a drug overdose in 2000), performing his
classic "Black Rose" ("The devil made me do it the first time / The second time
I done it on my own"). http://youtube.com/watch?v=OT3xxoyYlr4
Next, from July 2006 in North Carolina, Billy
Joe performs two songs in memory of Eddy. After talking about his son's death,
he advises young people, "If you tempt God long enough, he'll take you... Be
very careful". He then performs, virtually solo "Star of my Heart".
http://youtube.com/watch?v=AI1NgMvlUk0. He follows that with a song he co-wrote with
Eddy, "Live Forever".
A couple of Billy Joe stories:
"No Fool Like an Old Fool". A
story about a marriage that almost happened. Billy Joe's marriages are
part of his legend. He married his first wife three times (divorced
twice; she died of cancer in 1999). A few years ago, news came out he
was going to re-marry. Then he didn't. This tells that story.
Subsequently, he did marry, divorce, marry and divorce -- once again all
to/from the same woman. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3ybRH3IyYA&NR=1
Finally, a few excerpts from a recent book,
True to the Roots: Americana Revealed (Bison Original):
"Never was a man so talented and yet, at the same time, so humble.
The great Billy Joe Shaver is now well into his sixties. One of his recent
albums, Freedom's Child, is so soulful, so moving, and so personal that of
course, it has no chance at all of being played on mainstream country radio.
Plainly, Shaver is too hot for country to handle, and what a shame that is
because he speaks with the raw human emotion that used to define the genre.
...Radio can't understand him. Radio doesn't get it....
Some songwriters imagine. Shaver reflects on what life has taught him. His
songs are about the lessons of life, some learned and some regretfully ignored."
Besides Ricardo Lemvo (above), the
weekend includes Motown guitar legend Dennis Coffey (Jul. 13),
Afro-electro-funk of Mamani Keita & Nicolas Repac, and African
acapella gospel with Soul Influence
Bana Y'Afrique: Jul. 21-22.. The 8th
annual festival includes:
Aug. 1: Jayme Stoneat Hugh's Room
A highly eclectic banjo player (he's studied with musicians
as diverse as Bé Fleck & Toumani Diabate). For this show, he's
joined by Malian musicians
Mansa Sissoko
(kora) and Jay Youssouf (kamale n'goni), as well Grant
Gordy and Paul Mathew. $10/$12, 8:30
Out of town: The newsletter has
subscribers in both Montreal and the Peterborough area, so here are
a few notable events in those cities, for those who live there, or
those who would contemplate a musical visit:
Peterborough: Stella Chiweshe and her
Earthquake Band perform twice in Peterborough this month. (July 21, and also
July 28, as part of the 3 day Zimbabwean Arts Festival.
See
Africville website for details.
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