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T.O. Music Pix Newsletter #109: June 1/10
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In this issue: 

1. Event notes: whatever your style (almost), it's coming to town
2. Luminato notes: That June 12 concert!
3. Desandann: set for success? (finally)
4. Updates from last newsletter: Hattie Carroll, Staff Benda Billili
5. Big news from Texas
 


1. Event notes

As noted in the last newsletter, because of the length of the event listings, I'm now marking listings that are new or have been updated in the previous couple of weeks in red.

What kind of music are you looking for? There are some terrific performers playing in town in the next week or two across a variety of styles:

  • Americana roots? Check the Avett Brothers June 1 at The Phoenix.
  • Drumming? This is the week! The Muhtadi International Festival offers two free days of drumming groups from around the world Jun. 5 & 6 in Queen's Park, and a launch event June 3.
  • Cuban? Arnaldo y Su Talisman, an 11-piece Havana-based band makes its first Toronto appearance, on June 3 at the Lula
  • Japanese taiko drumming? Toronto taiko stars Nagata Sachu play a free noon-hour gig at the the Four Seasons Centre, June 3.
  • Ethiopian? An excellent group of Toronto musicians -- who were very impressive at the April tribute to the late Ethiopian legend Tilahun Gessesse play a free gig Friday night (Jun. 4) in the Melody Bar at the Gladstone Hotel. The group includes vocalist Ermias Assebework along with top Ethiopian sax player Girma Woldemichael. Check them in a couple of video clips from that tribute show.
  • Afro-Cuban? One of the world's top performers, Ricardo Lemvo (photo), is in town this Saturday playing the Lula Lounge. Lemvo was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, of Angolan ancestry, now based in Los Angeles, his music is deeply rooted in Cuban clave, and sings in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Lingala and Kikongo. This show will mark the Canadian release of his 6th CD, Perspective.  Video clip here.
  • Blues? The free Waterfront Blues Festival is on all weekend at Woodbine Park, featuring Lil Ed & The Blues Imprerials and many more acts.
  • Persian? Small World Music brings back the great Persian classical singer Mohammad Reza Shajarian this Sunday, June 6, at Roy Thomson Hall.
  • Soukous? Quartier Latin Academia, a rumba/soukous group from the Democratic Republic of Congo, founded in 1998, play the Opera House, with Njacko Backo and Kalimba Kalimba opening.
  • Something else? Something more? Check out the event listings... this is just a partial list covering the next couple of weeks.

One upcoming show I mentioned in a recent newsletter is the June 24 performance by Australian Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu at the Enwave Theatre. A highly distinctive voice, he's eceived a huge amount of critical attention in the past year or two. He has a large and enthusiastic following; others aren't as convinced. You should check out his music and decide yourself. A video clip here; and a strong endorsement of him in this article by Eric Thorn on Roots Music Canada.

 

And, then there's Luminato...

2. Luminato notes

No doubt most people reading this have heard a lot about the great free African and other music performances during the festival, but it's worth again highlighting some of the treats we can enjoy during the 10 day festival.

Foremost of course, is the amazing free June 12 concert at Queen's Park. This would be a "don't miss no matter what" just for the first Toronto appearance of Bassekou Kouyaté and his group, Ngoni  Ba. Bassekou is truly one of West Africa's great musical masters, and by all accounts, the group puts on one of the best live performances on the world music scene today.

They'll be playing with American banjo master Béla Fleck who won a world music Grammy this year for his African Project, of which Bassekou was a part. (See my notes here from Bela's 2009 Nashville concert with some of the other performers in that project including Toumani Diabaté and D'Gary).

See film note below for another view of Béla's project.

Here's a very nice video clip of Bassekou; my Dec. 13 (2009) newsletter has some more clips and notes about him. And of course, the Béla-Bassekou performance is just the final treat of truly memorable day:

  • Tony Allen, one of the core components of Fela Kuti's sound, has received great accolades for his newest CD, Secret Agent, and makes what is apparently his first Toronto concert appearance. Secret Agent video here.
  • Rachid Taha, the Algerian "rai-rocker", headlines the "Rock the Casbah" portion of the day, and will do just that. Here's a video taste of some his rootsier sound.
  • Lo'Jo, a French group whose music is strongly North African-oriented (they were one of the key founders of what is now the Festival in the Desert which takes place in the Malian Sahara) makes only their second Toronto appearance. (YouTube video of them at the Festival in the Desert).
  • More: Karim Saada, Maryam Toller Ensemble, plus Mr Something Something.

And prior to the start of the concert, there's an opportunity to see the excellent documentary, Throw Down Your Heart, about Béla Fleck's musical travels in Africa, working with African musicians -- both famous and little known -- from several countries. Béla and Bassekou will attend the screening and will be available for a Q&A session afterward. ("Throw down your heart" was apparently a phrase used by East Africans captured for the slave trade, describing what they would do when they realized they would be torn forever from their homes).

Details of the screening are here.

There's so much more during the Luminato festival, much of which has already been noted on the website and in earlier newsletters, and all of which is available on the Festival website.  Many of the other African and other world music-related events are noted on my event listings.

No doubt there will be more notes coming in a future newsletter. (Of course, there are two more excellent free concerts on June 19 (headed by Salif Keita) and June 20). Check the event listings here and on the Luminato website. Also, see the Luminato "African events" flyer.

 

3. Desandann: set for success?

Readers of this website and newsletter will know that I'm a huge fan of the Haitian-Cuban 10 member acapella group, Grupo Vocal Desandann.

They play Toronto periodically, and are known here because of the long backing of flautist/saxophonist Jane Bunnett who has recorded with them on a few occasions (including for her recent Juno winning CD, Embracing Voices. Jane and her husband/bandmate Larry Cramer recorded a CD of Desandann last year, Pwan Dife, which sadly seems to have received little if any distribution.

However, things may be looking up for the group. Last summer they played some dates in the U.K, including the WOMAD and Edinburgh Festivals, arranged by a long-time English supporter of theirs. On this tour, they connected with Peter Gabriel, who, understandably, was highly impressed, and they have now recorded a new CD for his Real World label.

They were back in the UK last month, and did a series of live radio and TV appearances. The CD is scheduled for release in September, and they will be doing some international touring to support it.

I'm of course very happy for their long-deserved success. I was able to visit the director of the group, Emilia Chavez at her home in Camaguey, Cuba this past January, and she was quite happy about how things had gone in England.

Some links about them: (They're known in the UK as The Creole Choir of Cuba)

 

4. Updates / additions from last newsletter
A couple of notes to add to some items in the last newsletter:

a) Bob Dylan & "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll"

The last newsletter noted an excellent 30 minute BBC documentary (no longer online) about the famous 1963 Dylan song concerning the killing of a black Baltimore barmaid by a young wealthy tobacco plantation owner. As it turned out, both families continue to harbour a deep resentment towards the singer. (William Zantzinger, the man who was found responsible for Carroll's death called Dylan "a scum bag of the earth" in the documentary, but as it turns out, Carrolls's children and grandchildren also resent Dylan, who gained wide recognition early in his career over the song, but who never contacted anyone in the family, or ever offered any help to them despite their great needs.

A very extensive accounting of the killing, the song and their aftermath is on this website.

 

b) Staff Benda Billili

I noted in the last issue, the highly acclaimed Congolese group is playing July dates in Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City, but sadly it appears not in Toronto. A documentary about this remarkable group and their story was recently shown in Cannes (and reports indicate it was greeted with a standing ovation). See this account in The Times of London.

 

5. Last note: big news from Texas...

...Willie has cut his hair

 

John Leeson
www.to-music.ca