Upcoming events

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

April treats

A gloomy start to the month of “April showers”, but the musical forecast is anything but. Check the full event listings at www.to-music.ca/events A few goodies picked out from there below. (Details and links for all these shows are in the events calendar) April 5: Brazilian/Mexican grooves at the Lula: Aline Morales and Quique Escamilla. April 6, Batuki Music continues its new “Africa Up Close” series at the intimate NOW Lounge, with Malian griot Sountougoumba “Tapa” Diarra. Only $10 April 11: Jane Bunnett’s “Spirit of Music” benefit for Cuban musicians with a raft of guests including Molly Johnson, Njacko Backo and … Continue reading

Some event notes

See the newly updated event listings (www.events.to-music.ca), for details of these and many other shows. A few items of note: The Lula Lounge has a number of interesting shows coming up: “world jazz” on Friday nights (early show before the salsa takes over) including& Haitian roots (Feb. 24) & Mexican jazz (Mar 2) in the next couple of weeks Benefit for the Peruvian migrant workers killed recently in that traffic accident. Mar. 1 Akwaba Dance Company, Feb 26   Batuki Music Society with a couple of shows to watch for: The first of an “Africa Up Close” series in the … Continue reading

Bassekou… and other upcoming events

A few upcoming shows of note. Details of these, and many more (going into the new year) are posted at www.events.to-music.ca   Nov. 27: Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni Ba West African music fans around Toronto have been looking forward to this Sunday’s concert for some time: Bassekou Kouyaté and Ngoni Ba make their second Toronto appearance at the Great Hall (Queen W & Dovercourt). Anyone who saw this band — the only all-ngoni band in the world! — last year at Luminato will definitely be back for more. For my tastes, the group is one of the top live performances … Continue reading

Tonight & upcoming

Updates will be infrequent here until sometime in November, but keep an eye here and on the events page (www.events.to-music.ca) as well as Twitter (@tomusicpix) Happening in town today. More details on these and many other shows on the events page. Small World Music Festival holds a free festival all day, 1-11pm at Yonge-Dundas Square. Tich Maredza Band kicks off a long list of musicians and singers. Been hearing quite a bit about Brazliian singer Luisa Maita. Full details here Cheka Dioubaté’s annual Mamaya Festival, features a long list of musicians including Guinean guitarist Mamady Kouyaté. 6-11pm. http://www.mamayatoronto.com/ Also, griot/drummer/dancer … Continue reading

Event notes: Aug 7

A few items to watch for. See www.events.to-music.ca for more about these and many other upcoming shows: Stella Chiweshe is the big news in African music here, with performances Aug. 13, 20 & 21 and workshops. See elsewhere on this page for details Aug. 11-14: Two festivals: The Brampton Global Jazz & Blues Festival featuring a concert with Dr John & Jane Bunnett, plus performances by Bobby McFerrin, Rita Chiarelli and more. http://www.artofjazz.org/index.cfm African Dance Festival with performances & workshops at various locations. (The big concert is Aug. 14 at Nathan Phillips Square) Aug. 16: Fighting Against Famine benefit for … Continue reading

Event notes for this weekend

Some events to consider this weekend:  See alsowww.events.to-music.cafor more Jul. 22: Sexteto Tabala at the Lula Last weekend, Harbourfront held the Colombian Diaspora Festival (see Harbourfront blog for some video & photos) Friday night, the Lula hosts the Toronto debut of Sexteto Tabala, from San Basilio de Palenque (“the first free town in America”). The Lula describes their music as “a unique mixture of Cuban son with Afro-Colombian rhythms such as bullerengue, porros, cumbia and funeral rituals.” A chance to catch some unique music (I plan to). Details, links & video on the Lula website Note: NVOZ, a Columbian acapella … Continue reading

Event notes

Event listings (www.events.to-music.ca) have been updated. A few upcoming shows of note: Tonight (May 6) a rare chance to see music from Equatorial Guinea featuring Anastasio & Zalang Band in a free show at the Melody Bar, Gladstone Hotel. 1214 Queen W., 7-10pm. Part of “Gladstone World” co-presented with Batuki Music. Details on Facebook May 7-15: Toronto Jewish Film Festival. As Hot Docs winds down, this winds up, and it always features some music-themed films. This year’s include: “The Three Lenny’s”: a series of films featuring and about Leonard Cohen, Leonard Bernstein and satirist Lenny Bruce. Also, look for The … Continue reading