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Bombino: Nov 29 concert archived online & interview
Update: Full audio of this concert is archived here The excellent new Tuareg guitarist, Omar Moctar, known as Bombino, played a blistering set this past July at the Lula Lounge, to a highly enthusiastic, but much-too-small audience. He’s touring again, but unfortunately will miss Toronto this time around. Catch him live online though, in a […]
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Youssou N’Dour to Put Music on Hold and Turn to Politics
From the New York Times“Arts Beat”: With his country gearing up for a hotly contested presidential election early next year the Senegalese singer and songwriter Youssou N’Dour, one of the biggest stars of the “world music” genre, is putting his career on hold to plunge into the political fray. It’s not clear in what capacity […]
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Odds, ends & catchups
As noted previously, I haven’t been able to post updates or newsletters recently. The events page (www.events.to-music.ca) now has extensive updates through the new year. Below are a few scatttered items that have been accumulating recently, in no particular order: “Music for Peace” Steve Paikin, on TVO’s “The Agenda” interviews David Buchbinder (Flying Klezmer Bulgar […]
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Benda Bilili! documentary opens Oct 14
A highly acclaimed documentary on the remarkable Congolese group, Staff Benda Bilili will open at the TIFF Lightbox on Oct. 14. The film was the first documentary to ever open the Cannes Festival, where it received a standing ovation. The group has achieved great international success in the last couple of years (but sadly hasn’t […]
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RIP, Jerry Leiber
One half of one of the greatest pop music songwriting teams ever (with Mike Stoller), Jerry Leiber died today at the age of 78. They wrote and/or produced hits for Elvis, The Coasters, Big Mama Thornton (“Hound Dog”), Peggy Lee, Charles Brown, Ray Charles, Ben E King (“Stand by me”). They don’t come any better. […]
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Njacko Backo: Children’s camp, Children’s book- Aug. 22-26
Summer’s not over yet. An opportunity for kids… Garrison Creek Art Centre’s African Safari, August 22-26 Njacko returns to the Garrison Creek Art Centre for a one week summer day camp where children will sing, dance, play music, and make an African animal sculpture! For photos from previous summer camps, and to see other camps […]
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St Louis Blues: Bessie Smith’s only movie
For no particular reason… The Empress of the Blues” in her only film appearance (what a shame!). Below are links to the full 15 minute 1929 film, built around her 1925 hit. It’s poor quality, but the opening gives you more evidence of how rotten her man is. This page has some background on the […]
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“Life could be a dream, sweetheart” : Toronto & the birth of rock & roll
The Torontoist on Jul. 30, carried an interesting article on one Toronto group’s role in the birth of rock & roll. In 1954, a vocal quartet, The Crew Cuts, were, as their name suggests, a classic example of the then-prevailing trend to have white musicians cover popular songs recorded by black musicians. This phenomenon of […]
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Vintage photos of Musicians from around the world
For a terrific and varied collection of photographs of musicians from around the world, visit this flickr page (“A gallery curated by Samm Bennett) Be sure to visit all four parts of the gallery. (I was directed to this via Twitter to this photozz.com page)