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Musical notes from here & there
A few random musical notes Khaira Arby: The singer from Mali made her first North American tour last fall. Here in Toronto, she sang at the Ashkenaz Festival over Labour Day weekend as a guest with the New York group Sway Machine (and also earlier that day live on air at CIUT FM). I was […]
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Award to Waleed Abdulhamid
This news is actually a couple of months old, but I just came across it today. Waleed, a native of Sudan, and one of the busiest musicans working in the Toronto African music community last may received the 2011 New Pioneers Award for the Arts. The award is organized by Skills for Change, a non-profit […]
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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 […]
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Desandann: Receiving long-deserved recognition
Sometime in the late 90’s, I first saw Grupo Vocal Desandann, a 10-member vocal group of Haitian descendants living in Camaguey Cuba. They played that night at Harbourfront, and I fell in love with their music. However, commercial success and wider critical notice has been sadly a long time in coming. Despite their alliance with […]
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Happy 100th Birthday to Big Joe Turner
Slightly belated congratulations to the greatest of the blues shouters, who was born in Kansas City on May 18, 1911. I’m sure Joe won’t mind me being a day late, as he’s been playing a steady gig in R&B heaven since 1985. He started singing on the streets & in church, and later became known […]
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Bo Diddley documentary (1966)
An excellent 20 minute documentary on the late Bo Diddley, made in 1966: See also Part 2, Part 3 A number of scenes were shot in Toronto’s Le Coq d’Or (or “The Le Coq d’Or” as it was often called). The club was home to Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks for many years. A bit […]