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Ideas: A small-town musical roadshow
Ideas is a series talking about the communities, people, and ideas surrounding the music and culture industries. I love Ontario’s small towns; I grew up in one, a tiny village called Keene that, even today, is home to only about 500 people. I’ve got no illusions about small-town life – it can be stifling and tortuous, especially for a young woman with unusual tastes who doesn’t fit in. But there’s lots to be said for their sometimes-fading charms; heritage downtowns, odd little shops, idiosyncratic bits of architecture. They’re monuments to a time when our country was more sparsely populated but prosperous, when travel was slower, and when even a small…
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Artist Spotlight: Raging Asian Women
This weekend I headed down to Yonge-Dundas Square to catch a little of the Small World Music Festival. They had a terrific lineup, and one of my favourite live acts was playing – Raging Asian Women. Taiko drumming is a traditional Japanese form of performance where musicality and showmanship are both important, and RAW have it down. The first time I saw them was years ago, at a conference, and I’d had no idea what to expect. I’d seen and loved Taiko performances before, but nothing prepared me for the power of RAW. By the end of their performance, I had tears streaming down my face – not from sadness, but…
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Artist Spotlight: Euphonia
Over the weekend, I got an email from Richard Flohill, inviting myself and a handful of music-lovers out to Lula Lounge for a Monday night PWYC show. I hadn’t heard of the band, Euphonia, but the words Mozart-Mendelssohn-Haydn caught my eye, and Richard’s taste is pretty finely-honed, so I was in. I always feel a little sheepish admitting that I like Classical music; it’s sort-of the last frontier. People tend to react like you’re putting on airs, as if Classical music were a high-brow art form that only people from a certain generation and income bracket enjoy. But anyone paying any attention to music history can tell you that Classical…
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Artist Spotlight: Maracatu Mar Aberto
This past weekend was the Cabbagetown Festival, a community event with street vendors, a craft fair, lots of yard sales, food vendors, and music. ((Almost entirely awful cover bands, much to my dismay. But there were a couple of good acts – read on!)) Luckily enough for me, the whole thing took place right outside my door, so I spent most the two days strolling around, noshing on murtabek and roti, and meeting some of my neighbours. ((I even met a guy who has a bee hive in his back yard, who sold me a jar of Cabbagetown Gold – illegal bees make the best honey!)) Things were winding down…
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Artist Spotlight: Unbuttoned
Saturday was a beautiful day in Ol’Toronto, and I’d spent most of the afternoon in Riverside, catching an historical tour of the neighbourhood. ((Local history and old architecture are some of my favourite things.)) I decided to grab some Thai take-out on the way home, and explore some areas of town I hadn’t been through yet, and I meandered along, across the Don River Valley and into Regent Park. I’m endlessly curious about anything that looks like a free festival, so when I saw tents selling food and jewelry, I ducked down that street to check it out. I got a very friendly greeting at all of the booths I…
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Artist Spotlight: The 24th Street Wailers
The lineup for the Peterborough Folk Festival was released this past week, and for the first time in seven years, I didn’t do all of the booking. And for the first time in more than a decade, I won’t be working on the festival or even attending, because I’ve got another festival to run here in Toronto. ((Taiwanfest!)) It’s a weird feeling to see things roll along without you, but Nick’s ((PFF’s new Artistic Director!)) doing a great job, and so is Ashley ((PFF’s Executive Director!)) and the rest of the team. One of the bands that I booked in this year’s lineup is The 24th Street Wailers; ((Full disclosure:…
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Artist Spotlight: Aqua Alta / Jenn Grant
I know I already did one this week, but then this new stuff slid across my dashboard and it stopped me in my eternal scroll and I had to share it, so here we are. Two in one week. Except that this is actually two in one post, so three. Well, I make the rules, such as they are, so I guess I can break them. Aqua Alta is a new project by Jenn Grant, Charles Austin, and Graeme Campbell. So far, it’s barely more than a tease – a name, a one-pager website with no info or photos, and just three songs. The first two got my attention, but…
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Artist Spotlight: Lakes of Canada
I can’t remember where I first heard Lakes of Canada, but I feel as though in the last month or so, their name has come up a dozen or more times. Rousing, fun, intelligent, and skillful, I think they’d kill whether in an intimate bar or on a festival stage. This is the kind of band that can get a cross-generational audience up on their feet dancing as well as lining up at the merch table. Great harmonies and overall vocals, as well as a nice mix of instrumentation, make listening to their music a lovely experience. Add to that their really beautifully-crafted sound a slew of fun, watchable videos…
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Listening to 2012 Festival Submissions: Part 3
I get hundreds of submissions to the Peterborough Folk Festival every year, and this year I’ve decided to capture my favourites in a series of posts. You can read Part 1 here, and Part 2 here. Here’s a list of artists who I listened to who caught my positive attention for one reason or another; being included in this list doesn’t mean I’m going to book them (tho I’m noting the ones that are shortlisted for PFF 2012), or even think they’re right for our festival, but it does mean I think they’re doing something right, whatever that’s worth. Kae Sun (Toronto?) [PFF Shortlist] – Gorgeous acoustic guitar, poppy rhythms, and a hip-hop groove as…
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Listening to 2012 Festival Submissions: Part 2
I get hundreds of submissions to the Peterborough Folk Festival every year, and this year I’ve decided to capture my favourites in a series of posts. You can read Part 1 here. Here’s a list of artists who I listened to who caught my positive attention for one reason or another; being included in this list doesn’t mean I’m going to book them (tho I’m noting the ones that are shortlisted for PFF 2012), or even think they’re right for our festival, but it does mean I think they’re doing something right, whatever that’s worth. Vandana Vishwas (Missisauga) – I can imagine lying back in the grass on a sunny August day…
