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Time, and another project have limited
updates to the website, photo galleries and this newsletter.
However, here are a few end-of-November items:
In this issue:
1. Upcoming Events: A big month for
African Guitar Summit fans
2. BBC World Music Award Nominations
3. K'Naan: a different message?
4. Top 100 Albums of all time?? (Well, this comes from TIME magazine...)
1. UPCOMING EVENTS:
Lots of "African Guitar Summit"
(solo and group) and other African music opportunities this month. Details
of all these shows (and more) are posted at
www.to-music.ca/event.htm
Fri. Dec. 1 (TONIGHT) & Sat. Dec. 16: Adam Solomon & Tikisa
The AGS guitarist helps open a new East
African restaurant, Safari Village. 1690 Danforth at Coxwell. $12 adv/$15
door, $24/$29 with buffet dinner. Call ahead: space is limited. 416 406-0534
Sat. Dec. 2: Donné Roberts
A fellow AGS member performs in a night in honour of
The Live
Music Report.
The LMR is a great local music website featuring live music (and other
performance) reviews, photographs, event listings and more. At a new jazz club,
The Trane Studio, Bathurst & Bloor. See event page for details.
Thu. Dec. 7: Adam Solomon
Adam plays a solo, acoustic performance in a fund-raiser for a
community-based radio station in Kenya. Sponsored by CKLN & Ryerson
Journalists for Human Rights. Featuring Adam in a solo, acoustic
performance. 6:30pm, 63 Gould St., 2nd floor. $10.
Fri. Dec. 22: African Guitar Summit
In their first Toronto club gig in two years at the Lula Lounge. Only
$15 at the door. No advance tickets, but you can reserve a dinner table
through the club. Pick up a copy of the new AGS II CD -- and get it
autographed.
Other shows include:
Sat. Dec. 2: Mr. Something Something
at The Gypsy Co-op. Local Afropop group in their last show of the year.
Sat. Dec. 9: Los Van Van
These guys are real Cuban heavyweights. Years of history, big band (16
piece). Fans will be coming from around North America to catch this show! At
the Kool Haus. The place will be jumping. See
www.vanvanintoronto.com. $40
adv/$50 door.
Fri. Dec. 8: Digging Roots at The
Trane
Fri. Dec. 29: Josh White Jr. at The
Trane
Sun. Dec. 31 (radio): Three hours of
solid Afro pop, soul and funk on Ken Stowar's Global Rhythms show. CIUT-FM
89.5, 3-6pm.
2. WORLD MUSIC AWARDS
The BBC
Radio 3 awards are the most prominent in the world music field. The 2007
nominees have
now
been announced:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/worldmusic/a4wm2007_nominees.shtml. At this
time, the website does not yet list the Album of the Year nominees, but they are:
Bellowhead: Burlesque
Toumani Diabate's Symmetric Orchestra:
Boulevard D' Independence
Lila Downs: La Cantina
Ali Farka Touré:
Savane
Toronto's K'Naan has been
nominated in the Newcomer category. I would be surprised if he didn't win.
And, more about K'Naan:
3.
K'NAAN
I’ve often mentioned K’naan in this
newsletter and website; he's a really impressive singer and songwriter who
looks is headed for some major worldwide attention. (In the UK
discussion forum on Charlie Gillett’s website, regular Howard Male listed K’Naan’s WOMAD performance as his top gig of the year. (“It moved me to
tears.”) You can hear some of K’Naan on Gillett’s radio show: both his WOMAD performance and his guest spot on Charlie's former radio show
are archived on Mondomix. Scroll through the Charlie Gillett section for the "K'Naan" and "Womad
2006" links.)
However, I was struck somewhat negatively
by K’Naan’s latest video, which he made concerning an incident that happened
to him in Sweden. One of the aspects of K’Naan’s songs that have impressed
many of us is his strong, visceral reaction against violence, as a result of
witnessing the true horror of violence in his native Somalia. (“How can they
go to war, when it’s war that’s terrorizing?” he sings in “Hoobale”). See
this news article for example.
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/features/article1146063.ece
At a show in Sweden, he and his band were
blocked by, and roughed up by security staff. Police came, and ended up
putting K’Naan’s manager in jail for the night. K’Naan’s reaction is
understandably angry
and emotional. His video tells the story from his
perspective, and includes actual footage from the incident.
However, despite what happened, I found it
pretty disturbing to hear him sing:
"I wish I had a knife. I'd stab
him..."
"I wished I was travelling with a gun. I'd a put 2 in each asshole"
The Swedish incident no doubt was pretty
messy, but surely he has seen much worse. That's what gives his words such
power. So when I heard him singing words like the above, it sounded like a
totally different K'Naan, a totally different message.
See his video here:
http://www.thedustyfoot.com/kickedpushed
(requires Quick Time). There will also be an item about this incident on
this week's Global
Village. Saturday, 6:30pm, Radio Two.
Last note:
4. Top 100 Albums of all time?
Well,
this
is TIME magazine's take. Some nice photos of many of the artists
here.
The article includes notes about each album, and podcasts on how they were
chosen.
John Leeson
www.to-music.ca
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