Volume 16 Issue 4 - December 2010

Lula’s José

Lula’s José OrtegaKAREN AGESFWest, has been a hub of musical activity, most notably as an informal dining lounge and bar that has served up some of thecreative, performing, administrative, volunartistic director, he also overseas its outreachand educational programmes, and has voluninternationally known visual artist who has doto talk a bit about the Lula Lounge, his ownIn addition to being co-founder and artisticdirector of the Lula Lounge, you are also a visual artist. Can you talka bit about your background in art? ists working outside of the mainstreams of North American musicneeded a high calibre performance space that they could launch new José Ortega.What is your mandate or vision when it comes toprogramming? Our programming initially fohas grown to include everything from rock tochamber to blues, African, Brazilian and othersound system at Lula as well as our commitence that we can for the artists, we’ve had thepleasure of developing long term relationships of has changed it name to Lula Music andcontinue to support Afro Latin Brazilian forms as they evolve in acommunities by bringing artists from different cultures together toAt lot of what we do is really facilitating musicians, organizayears of running Lula have lead us to the realization that in order tohave a vibrant music scene, the city needs spaces where artists canBecause of our world music programming direction and theHow and when did you come to create what we now know as the LulaLounge, and who were some of the very first performers? We openedGeo.201 Church St., Toronto, ON. M5B 1Y7Tel: 416-363-0093 Fax: 416-3630-0053& Co. LimitedONLINE STORE NOW OPEN!!Shop online now for great deals on instruments, strings,accessories, cases, tools, wood, guitar parts, and more!WWW.GEORGEHEINL.COMIn addition to being a music performance venue, what other projectsis the Lula Lounge involved with? Over the past few years, as LulaThe OCADUProjectMonday, Jan 24, 8:00 pmThe Music Gallery, 197 John Street / ; OCADU students free416 924 4945continuummusic.org30 thewholenote.comDecember 1, 2010 - February 7, 2011

Music and Arts Centre, we’ve been involved inproduce a world music festival called Lulaworld toand Arts Centre also runs a very successful proThis interview can be read in its entirety online atthewholenote.comSome Upcoming World-Music EventsAround the Worldin 80 MinutesCeltic music combined with Latin percussion and The Year of theFloodin their original languages, and a composition byThree Appalachian Love Songs andKiran Ahluwalia.Karen Ages can be reached at worldmusic@thewholenote.com.ADVERTISERS’ INDEXAmadeus Choir 44 Christ Church Deer Park Jazz Continuum Contemporary Music December 1, 2010 - February 7, 2011 thewholenote.com 31