A small example reminding us
of the power and spirit of music.
Adam Solomon of Tikisa and the African Guitar Summit sent
along the following email he received recently. Adam also
regularly plays in the subway -- Bloor/Yonge being one of his
regular spots.
Hello you don't know me but my name is E___. You gave me
your card this morning after I told you that I thought your
music was beautiful.
I just wanted to say that I was having a terrible day
before hearing your music. I've been pretty depressed over the
last little while and today was no exception. I was on my way to
an interview this morning and was feeling very sad. I had to
fight back the tears during the entire subway ride so my mascara
wouldn't run and make me look unpresentable.
When I got off the subway at Yonge and Bloor I heard this
incredible music and when I came upstairs, I heard you playing.
Your music was achingly beautiful. It filled my heart and soul
with beauty. I have not felt that sort of beauty in a long time.
Thank you very much for being there this morning.
I'm not a religious person but I do believe in signs and
in fate. After hearing your music, even though it was only for a
few minutes, I felt renewed. That feeling has lasted with me all
day. So I thank you for being there this morning and playing. It
made me remember that life and this world is filled with endless
beauty.
I hope to see your next show in October.
To hear some of that music, keep your ears and eyes open in
the subway, watch for Adam's performances solo or with his group, Tikisa
You can also hear Adam's recent recording, "Mola
Ajuae"
here.
AWARD
CONGRATULATIONS
TO KIRAN AHLUWALIA, JAYME STONE & MANSA SISSOKO
AND JANE BUNETT/DESANDANN (updated, May 25/09)
Kiran,
a
former Toronto resident, who now lives in New York City, was announced as the winner of the "Newcomer" award from
Songlines magazine. The
Songline awards are
partly replacing the former BBC Radio3 World Music Awards.
She's not exactly a newcomer here --
her first Juno nomination was in 2002, and she won in 2004 -- the
same year of the photograph (taken at Harbourfront). The award is
for artists with their "first major international release, available
in the UK".
Also, Juno congratulations to Jayme
Stone & Mansa Sissoko to Jayme Stone and Mansa Sissoko for their
well-deserved World Music Album of the Year Award for Africa to
Appalachia which is gaining notice around the world.
As well, Jane Bunnett's Embracing
Voices for Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year. That CD
prominently featured the wonderful Cuban acapella group, Grupo Vocal
Desandann. (Who will be releasing their second CD in June, 2009).
The giant of Ethiopian music died of an apparent heart attack on
Sunday (Easter in Ethiopia) after returning to Ethiopia from the
U.S. for the holiday.
Not as widely known in the west as
Mahmoud Ahmed, he was a bigger star in Ethiopia. Francis Falceto,
who assembled the superb Ethiopiques
series of CD's (now over 20 volumes) called him "the absolute and
unequalled icon for an entire country", and in a country still split
by ethnic and linguistic conflict, "the first ever pan-Ethiopian
star"
News and biographical information
about him, along with audio and video links is available
here. As well, here's a
video clip of him performing a couple of years ago in Los
Angeles.
This Sunday (Apr. 26), Nadine McNulty
will be playing some of his music on Karibuni, CIUT, 89.5 or
www.ciut.fm, 6-8pm
Update: Jan. 31: Alas, this wonderful story may or may not be true. But it's still
a good story. See this
news article.
This Feb. 3 will be the 50th anniversary of "The
Day the Music Died": the day a plane crash killed Buddy Holly,
Richie Valens, and The Big Bopper. Here's an early jump on the
inevitable media coverage. This comes up as a follow-up to the weird
story of the year:
"The Big Bopper" (real name
J.P. Richardson) was a DJ and a
classic one-hit rock & roll wonder, with his single "Chantilly
Lace". Now, almost 50 years after his death, his son plans to
auction his father's (former) casket on eBay. Dad was exhumed in
2007 and re-buried in a more prominent spot, with a life-size
statue. Before re-burial, at the son's request, an autopsy was
conducted to investigate various rumours about the 1959 crash. (e.g., The Bopper had survived, and
crawled for help; a gun had been fired in the plane).
The autopsy (done by a doctor from
the
"Body Farm" at the University of Tennessee) established that
the Bopper would have died instantly, but thanks to the 16 gauge
steel casket which was sealed within an inch-thick steel vault,
the Bopper himself was not in bad shape for a guy dead almost
half a century. His face was a bit bluish and moldy, but his
flat-top cut was in fine shape!
Son Jay (49) was born after the Bopper's
death, so the photo above (click for article and larger image) was the first time he'd "met" his father.
"Wouldn't it be wonderful to bring Dad back to
life?" he asked. He's now touring (as Big Bopper Jr.) in a
tribute act to Dad, Buddy Holly and Richie Valens. He said he
has "no personal use for the casket", but apparently plans to
use the money from the casket sale for a musical about his
father. Perhaps it will be put up in time for the 50th
anniversary of "The Day the Music Died".
Nobody has an idea of how much it might sell
for... apparently there really hasn't been a market value
established for used celebrity caskets.
Here's
the story from Beaumont Texas. And, getting away from the grave, here are two
takes on Bopper's one hit:
The
original, with BB lip-syncing and mugging on Dick
Clark's American Bandstand:
(The Big Bopper may be a one-hit wonder, but
he also wrote another 50's hit "Running Bear" by Johnny Horton.
Here's the
audio of the original. Classic backing vocals by The Big
Bopper and George Jones).
Rare video of Buddy
Holly. This was from a TV appearance on the Arthur Murray Dance Show. He & his group The
Crickets are introduced as "rock & roll specialists" by Mrs.
Murray
Tommy Allsup, Holly's
drummer
tells the story about how a coin flip resulted in him giving
up his plane seat to Richie Valens. And Buddy's bass player on
the tour, Waylon Jennings, let the Big Bopper take his place on
the plane. Here's
Waylon's
tribute to Buddy., "Old Friend".
Clip from the 1978 film The Buddy Holly Storyof The Crickets' performance at
Harlem's famous Apollo Theatre. They may or may not have been
the first white act to perform there, but apparently were booked
on the assumption they were black.
A few seasonal goodies... First, you
can download, "Tusheherekee
Christmas" ("Celebrate Christmas) from
Adam Solomon.
(Click to play or right click and "save as").
Finally, there is the 1963 LP, A
Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector (1963). It was originally a
flop (bad timing... it was released on the same day JFK was assassinated in
1963), it's now considered by many to be the greatest Christmas pop album
ever. A standout is Darlene Love's pleading
"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)". The whole album is available on
YouTube (audio only) in 4 parts. The first part is
here. Check the
"Related Videos" links on the right for the rest.
At least, the history of how the term came
into being in 1987 as a marketing term, as recounted in March,
2000, by Ian Anderson, publisher of fRoots magazine in
the U.K. Read the story here on the
fRoots website.
"It was to help these artists
get a bin at the record store", says
Joe Boyd
Toronto
Ethiopian singer, Kemer Yousef ("The Lion of Oromo") has returned to
Ethiopia -- as a star -- for the first time since he fled the country "on
foot with nothing 24 years ago".
Toronto Star writer John Goddard is accompanying Kemer,
and to date has written three related articles.
The first, Nov. 20 ,on the eve of their trip recounts Kemer's background
and what he faced when he left the country. It includes a video interview
with the singer talking about his music, and his life in Ethiopia and
Canada.
A
second
article, published Dec. 2, describes Kemer's first visit with his
parents since he left. (His father is now 103). The story also describes the
reaction to Kemer's return; his face is on the cover of magazines, and this
Sunday he plays an invitation-only concert in Addis Ababa's 20,000 seat
Millenium Hall.
On
Dec. 9, he wrote about Kemer's
big homecoming performance in Addis Ababa. (NEW:Jan. 11/09:
See a video clip
from that show here).
Kemer's first Toronto performance will be on Feb. 7 at
Harbourfront, in a "Horn of Africa" concert with Eritrean krar player,
Daniel Nebiat. See events page.
The Garifuna musician
from Belize, who produced one of
the very best albums of 2007, Wátina, died
on Saturday, January 19 after
having suffered a
severe heart attack and stroke.
This is terrible news. His music, his dedication to Garifuna culture, and by all accounts his wonderful and generous
personality will be sorely missed.
Of course, I had already
recognized his CD and July Harbourfront concert in my Best of 2007 list. I've
now updated that note with more information about him, including portions of his
acceptance speech for the WOMEX award in October 2007, and a wonderful video
interview with him at the Stern Grove Festival, San Francisco last July.
In October of last year, Andy and
his producer Ivan Duran jointly won the WOMEX award at that annual World Music
conference. Details on the award are
here, and a video excerpt of his speech and performance can be found on this
Mondomix page.
A
wonderful video interview from July 2007 done in San
Francisco. He never talks about himself, just about the
Garifuna people and culture. Interestingly, he notes that
there is no word for "music" in Garifuna... just "song",
which is why he says "voice" is the most important
instrument.
See also my comments on him in my
Best of
2007 pages which include various links about him.
The note below was
from my Jan. 10, 2007 newsletter. One year later, NOW magazine put
Ned on its cover with the feature titled "He's
Ned, he's dead, and he's making a comeback". The occasion was
the U.S. release of his CD, The Name is Ned, and the release
later this year of a documentary film on Ned.
I saw "In Memoriam" notices recently in the
Star and Globe for Ned, who passed away 20 years ago today.
Ned, whose real name was Robin Masyk was the one who first brought country
and rockabilly music to Queen Street (and to the airwaves on his CKLN radio
show).
I was happy to have known Ned, occasionally
seeing him perform, and even working for a brief time with him. His heart
was in his music, but he spent his days sorting and packing library cards,
while wearing his huge straw cowboy hat, and always his huge warm smile.
Every time I see a picture of him now, with his hat and his smile, I still
miss him.
"She was about the best thing goin' in the
woman line."
Bukka White, about Memphis Minnie. Quoted
in "Her Own Blues" by Roy Blount Jr., Oxford American
magazine, music issue 2003:
"The judge asked [Burnside] if he had intended
to kill the man. 'It was between him and the Lord, him dyin','
Burnside says. 'I just shot him in the head.'"
From a New Yorker profile by Jay
McInery of blues singer R. L. Burnside about Burnside's
homicide trial. Cited in "Authenticity be Damned!", by Will
Blythe, Oxford American magazine, music issue 2003:
"If my dad was alive, I don't know where he'd
be tonight, but it wouldn't be here."
Arlo Guthrie, accepting a Rock & Roll Hall
of Fame award in 1988 for his father Woody Guthrie, at
Waldorf-Astoria Ballroom.
And from Woody Guthrie:
"I hate a song that makes you think that
you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think
that you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to
nobody. No good for nothing. Because you are too old or too
young or too fat or too slim too ugly or too this or too
that. Songs that run you down or poke fun at you on account
of your bad luck or hard traveling. I am out to fight those
songs to my very last breath of air and my last drop of
blood. I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that
this is your world and that if it has hit you pretty hard
and knocked you for a dozen loops, no matter what color,
what size you are, how you are built, I am out to sing the
songs that make you take pride in yourself and in your work.
And the songs that I sing are made up for the most part by
all sorts of folks just about like you. I could hire out to
the other side, the big money side, and get several dollars
every week just to quit singing my own kind of songs and to
sing the kind that knock you down still farther and the ones
that poke fun at you even more and the ones that make you
think you've not any sense at all. But I decided a long time
ago that I'd starve to death before I'd sing any such songs
as that. The radio waves and your movies and your jukeboxes
and your songbooks are already loaded down and running over
with such no good songs as that anyhow."
A small example reminding us
of the power and spirit of music. 
Kiran,
a
former Toronto resident, who now lives in New York City, was announced as the winner of the "Newcomer" award from
Songlines magazine. The
Toronto
Ethiopian singer, Kemer Yousef ("The Lion of Oromo") has returned to
Ethiopia -- as a star -- for the first time since he fled the country "on
foot with nothing 24 years ago".
The Garifuna musician
from Belize, who produced one of
the very best albums of 2007, Wátina, died
on Saturday, January 19 after
having suffered a
severe heart attack and stroke.
I saw "In Memoriam" notices recently in the
Star and Globe for Ned, who passed away 20 years ago today.
Ned, whose real name was Robin Masyk was the one who first brought country
and rockabilly music to Queen Street (and to the airwaves on his CKLN radio
show).