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A few notes on upcoming shows in August. Details of these and more shows are posted at http://www.to-music.ca/events.htm

1. Aug 1: tough choices
2. Caribana & more
3. More August Events
4. Looking ahead: Small World Festival
5. Looking back: download Samba Mapangala & photos

1. Aug 1: A real conflict this night for music fans. Take your pick...

Jayme Stone at Hugh's Room

As mentioned here previously, this is a highly anticipated show, exploring the African roots of the banjo. Jayme Stone, who has studied with banjo masters like Béla Fleck, recently spent 6 weeks in Mali, learning the origins of the banjo, and discovering unexpected connections between it and some traditional West African instruments. The highlight of his time was a night sitting in with Toumani Diabaté's Symmetric Orchestra, who put on one of the best concerts of the year here in Toronto earlier this month.

Wednesday night, he will be performing with two musicians from Mali: Jah Youssef, a kamale n'goni player, and kora player Mansa Sissoko, as well as Grant Gordy (guitar) and Paul Mathew (bass)

For more information, click his link above, read Greg Quill's May 2007 article in The Toronto Star, or read Jayme's "bluegrass blog" from Mali

Jayme and his musicians will perform live on CIUT-FM's "Take 5", between 8:30-10am, Wednesday.

8:30pm, $10/$12. More info here: http://hughsroom.com/

 

Kassav at the Danforth Music Hall

However, the same night, the legendary group from Guadaloupe / Martinique, who effectively created the music known as zouk, will play Toronto for the first time in their 28 years!

Click here for a biography (PDF document)

Details of the show (and a live video clip) here. (Click Events / Kassav / Play Movie). Tickets $39.50-$55.50 at Ticketmaster, & The Music Hall, 147 Danforth. Show 8pm.

 

TV & Radio: Stax Records; Femi Kuti & Lokua Kanza

The same night features the television documentary, "Respect Yourself: The Stax Record Story", featuring the story of the great Memphis label. The show includes performances by Otis Redding, Booker T & the MG's, and the Staple Singers. 8pm, WNED-TV, Buffalo.

And on radio, CBC Radio Two's "Canada Live" features four performances from the Montreal Jazz Festival, including Femi Kuti and Lokua Kanza. 8-10pm, CBC Radio 2.

 

Caribana weekend always features more music than seems possible in a few days. Some of the events (and relevant links) are posted on the events page.

The weekend includes all the Caribana events,  the Irie Music Festival, plus Island Soul at Harbourfront Centre (including films and live performances by Ernest Ranglin and the Mighty Sparrow). Sunday Harbourfront performances will be broadcast live on CIUT-FM.

As well, the Lula features a repeat of "Havana Norte" on Friday, Aug. 3

 

Aug. 2:  Selassee: African reggae, highlife & pop at the Lula Lounge
Aug. 9-12: Jazz By Genre Summerfest at The Docks.
Aug. 10-11: Toronto Flamenco Festival at The Music Hall
Aug. 17: Jane Bunnett with Jumpin' Johnny Sansone at Hugh's Room
Aug. 18: Michezo International Festival of African games and culture, Toronto Island
Aug. 20: Ike Turner & The Kings of Rhythm at the Phoenix
Aug. 21: Sly & Robbie at the Phoenix
Aug. 24: Pee Wee Ellis, Jason Wilson & Jay Douglas at Hugh's Room
Sep. 1:  Neway Debebe at The Opera House, a big night for Ethiopian music fans.

Sep. 19 - Oct 5: Small World Music has announced the lineup for its always-superb Small World Music Festival, which will end with the great Oliver Mtukudzi on Oct. 5

 

5. Looking back

Afrofest 2007 finished with a bang, courtesy of the Congolese/Kenyan stars, Samba Mapangala and Orchestra Virunga. You can listen to (or download) their full Afrofest set at the Matsuli website: http://matsuli.blogspot.com/. Scroll down to "Samba Mapangala Live". Click the Download link to listen, or save the link. (The file is about 90mb).

My photos of his show are posted here: http://to-music.ca/gallery/afrofest07_sambam. More Afrofest pics to come.
 

Also, photos of Billy Joe Shaver's July 23 show at Hugh's Room are posted here. At any Shaver show, it's almost as enjoyable watching him mix with the fans afterwards as seeing him on stage. Billy Joe has a legion of devoted fans.

John Leeson
www.to-music.ca

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