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 One of the giants of African music in Canada
and founder of the Afro-Nubians, Tarig Abubakar was tragically killed in a car accident in his native Sudan on Jan.
28, 1998. One of his best-known and most played songs revolved around
the phrase and theme, "Respect for the Great Africans".
On January 20, Tarig's friends, fans, fellow
musicians and family will join to give Respect for a Great African.
Toronto is blessed to be the most
multi-cultural city in the world. And for music lovers here, among the city's
treasures is a great African music scene, a result of the mix of a large
number of expatriates from across the African continent with others from all
other corners of the globe who appreciate and love the vibrant energy, rhythm,
heart and soul of the best music in the world.
But today's great African music scene in
Toronto did not just "happen", and it certainly would not be what it is today
without the contributions of Tarig Abubakar. In a Dec. 1995 review of Tarig's CD
Great Africans, Opiyo Oloya wrote
that, "In just two years, Tarig Abubakar and the AfroNubians have transformed the
Toronto African music scene from a basement proposition to an international
one."
As one example, the Canadian African music collaboration that
has recently attracted great attention (including a 2005 Juno award), the
African Guitar Summit, features 3 musicians (Adam Solomon, Pa Joe and Kofi Ackah)
who were members of the AfroNubians.
For all these reasons, we hope as many people
as possible can come together in
a tribute evening to Tarig Abubakar, organized by his youngest brother Almuiz (Mutaz)
Abubakar
Friday, January 20
The Cottage, 1220 The Danforth (at Greenwood)
Doors open at 8pm. Show begins 9pm. Free admission
Click here
for a WORD poster with show details.
Some of the musicians performing include:
Joseph V. Modi,
Frid Farah, Kamal Tyepalasma, Kikijiko, Diana Braithwaite... and more
surprise guests!
The above comments don't attempt to convey
anything of Tarig's character, the spirit of his life, or the impact on
others. I didn't know him -- and in fact only saw him perform once -- so I'm
not the person to try to convey that. A couple of remembrances written by
people who did know him well are well worth reading:
Opiyo Oloya's
remembrance, posted on RootsWorld,
as well as another
memorial, written by James Hale, seen
here.
 Highly recommended: the new (2005) CBC Records CD,
Tarig Abubakar and the AfroNubians Live --
recorded at the Bamboo Club and at Afrofest, produced by Todd Fraracci. Get
information about the CD (and order it)
here.
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Respect for a Great African: