Author Archives: john

Retiring T.O. Music Pix (for now)

  November 7, 2013 - 6:06 pm | ,
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Note: I can still be contacted by email: website  (at)  to-music.ca As is apparent to anyone who has visited the website, or subscribed to my newsletter or Twitter feed, this site is retired… at least for now. I originally set up the website in May of 2005, originally as a place to store the growing number of concert photos I’d been taking.  The first newsletter went out in January, 2006. By my count, there were 165 newsletters over that time, plus numerous blog posts, articles and tweets. But it just became too time-consuming, especially squeezing this in along with a … Continue reading →

Achilla Orru: Tribute in Globe & Mail & UPDATE re: April 7 event

  March 18, 2013 - 9:28 pm | , ,
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A wonderful tribute to the late Achilla Orru (see post below) in the March 19 Globe & Mail‘s “Lives Lived“. Written by his friend & fellow Ugandan-Canadian Opiyo Oloya, who is also known by all African music supporters in the Toronto area. Many harried Toronto subway commuters likely never knew his name, where he came from, his mother tongue, or his deepest love. To them, Achilla Orru Apaa-Idomo was the blind black man with the sweet voice who played music on the funny-looking instrument in the station. Tribute/Fundraiser, April 7 A tribute to, and fundraiser for his wife and children will … Continue reading →

New events added

  March 7, 2013 - 10:18 pm | ,
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A few new events have been added to the Events calendar, including Apr. 7: Tribute to, and fundraiser for the late Achilla Orru (and his family) Mar. 14: Kae Sun May 25: Bonga & Don Nikas bring Angolan music to The Opera House Some more Small World Music Asian Music Series events More to come. Femi Kuti in town July 3. And don’t forget Oliver Mtukudzi on April 6!

RIP King Achilla Orru Apaa-idomo

  February 10, 2013 - 2:18 pm | , , ,
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Written while listening to Achilla’s 2004 CD, Dho-Mach (Sacred Gift)… The Ugandan and Canadian world music communities received sad news this past week, that lukeme player Achilla Orru passed away at the age of 53. apparently as the  result of heart disease. Some information about his passing is on this page, written by Davies Bagambiire. This page contains some biographical & music information. Achilla’s wife, Rose, lives in Uganda, but had just recently been granted a visa to enter Canada. There are fundraising efforts beginning to help her and their three sons  (aged between 2 and 6) to get to Canada. … Continue reading →

Townes Van Zandt tribute (from No Depression)

  January 16, 2013 - 10:22 pm | , ,
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Last week, Kevin Norton wrote a tribute on the No Depression website to the great Texas singer-songwriter, Townes Van Zandt, who died New Year’s Day, sixteen years ago. This sentence captured some of the flavour of his talent, his music, and his demons: If there was ever a musician that fit the mold of Robert Johnson’s blues man making a demonic bargain at a crossroads at midnight for his talent and then looking over his shoulder, terrified, as he fled for the rest of his life from some hell hound only he could see, it was Townes. Read the article … Continue reading →

An update about this website

  January 15, 2013 - 8:33 am |
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This is the first update of news or events I’ve posted here since last fall. For a time, the website had a technical glitch preventing me from updating it, but the main reason for the lack of activity has been other time demands. I admit, that much as I’ve enjoyed doing this, after 7 years of maintaining the website & newsletter, I’ve also very much appreciated the recent break. At this point, I’m not sure how or if I’ll keep the website/newsletter active, but at least for the immediate future, it will likely be much quieter than in the past. … Continue reading →

Radio: It still matters… it’s still important. Step up!

  October 20, 2012 - 12:24 am | , ,
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Radio?? How…. 20th century! Well… maybe, but radio is not only important for providing [fill in: information, news, music, social connections, etc., etc. …], it’s now scientifically established that radio makes you feel better!  (Thanks to Mediazoic for the Twitter tip!) You’ll actually feel better than if you spend your time surfing the Net. And it’s also a great social experience. But, it is also, as always, an immediate source of that information/news/music mentioned above. And, if your interests, tastes, viewpoints on those areas, are not well-served (I hope not!) by “mainstream radio”, if Internet streams and radio stations provide little, if any, information about … Continue reading →

Roots of rock & roll: “hillbilly & blues/R&B”

  October 19, 2012 - 11:51 pm | , ,
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I came across this 1951 video of the great Western Swing Band, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys on Twitter recently (posted by Afropop Worldwide no less!), singing their 1930’s hit “Ida Red”  — a song first recorded a decade earlier (by Fiddlin’ Powers and Family), and has roots back to an 1878 popular song, “Sunday Night”. The video is a terrific capture of one of the seminal bands that pushed country music boundaries in the pre-World War Two era. Wills was known as the “King of Western Swing” and recorded over a 40 year period. But the song made … Continue reading →

Sleepwalk Guitar Festival: A weekend of guitar greats and legends

  October 19, 2012 - 11:18 pm | , ,
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You won’t be able to sleepwalk through this guitar extravaganza. The 2nd annual Sleepwalk Guitar Festival at The Great Hall on the weekend of Nov. 2-4, sponsored by Six Shooter Records and curated by Luke Doucet will be filled with guitar stars and legends: in concert, in workshops and in interview sessions. The festival website with schedules, ticket info and more is here. The Six Shooter Facebook page has more information, and a raft of videos of some of the performers. Some more about a couple of the artists is below. James Burton Many years ago, whenever I read anything … Continue reading →

Upcoming events

  October 13, 2012 - 12:20 am |
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A few to watch for. See www.to-music.ca/events for details on these, and many other concerts and shows. Sat. Oct. 13: Reception for José Ortega’s art exhibit opening at IndexG Sun. Oct. 14: Royal Drummers of Burundi (2 shows) Markham Theatre Thu. Oct. 17: Be Good Tanyas at Great Hall Fri. Oct. 18: Béla Fleck & Marcus Roberts Trio at Koerner Hall Sat. Oct. 20-21: Iris Dement (she’s just released her first album of new songs in 16 years) at Hugh’s Room. Both shows standing room only.  Listen to a recent NPR profile. Sat. Oct. 20-21: Uma Nota Festival of Tropical Expressions: … Continue reading →