What Is The “World”In This Music?A N D R E W T I M A RVALENTINEFIESTA ROMANTICAJohannes LinsteadoN .1 World Latin GuitarAntonitas D’HavilaoN .1 Gypsy Flamenco Guitar28-Jan The Studio at Hamilton Placewww.hecfi.ca 1-855-872-5000FOR TORONTO VENUESwww.uofttix.ca416-978-8849Free CD8-Feb Coconut Night Club - TorontoAntonitas D’Havila10-Feb Latin Fever Night Club - Toronto17-Feb Heliconian Hall - Antonitas D’HavilaSolo Flamenco Guitar RecitalWhat is “World Music” and who are its performers? For yearsdismissed it as irrelevant to the music I loved and mademyself. Now that I’ve served as your faithful world music columnistfor some months, however, I thought I’d use this end of year soapboxfor a further series of annoying questions arising from my simpleinitial one. The woods get much thicker before we can clearly seethe trees, let alone the clearing beyond.Is world music a commercial marketing category, coined by recordlabel executives in 1980s London, equipped with its own salescharts, radio category, journalistic terminology and record awards?Or a term coined in the early 1960s by the late ethnomusicologistRobert E. Brown at Wesleyan University, Connecticut for hisgroundbreaking world music studio and academic programs there,which became a model for universities, colleges and conservatoriesaround the world?Is it “local music from out there,” or “someone else’s local music”as some have proposed? Is it about “our” vs. “their” music, or aboutthe way musicians variously recombine the music you were born intowith the music you chose, moved into? Or is it a musical footballmatch playing out a disagreement between perceived authenticity(i.e. indigenous music) and hybridized musical categories, especiallythose seemingly “diluted” by pop culture?In the face of such a bewildering range of questions, just whatmusic are multiple, dynamic and overlapping. Another is that overthe last 30 years world music has clearly gone through a process ofated“roots music” to include a mounting list of newly created hybridsub-genres. Part of this process is no doubt the result of pressureson genre boundaries in the overall climate of a globalising popculture. There are commercial pressures at play here too. Accordingto a 2002 Unesco report by the latter half of the 1990s the value ofsupport for world music, has declined. On the one hand this has led,overall, for world music as well as for many other music categories,to a precipitous decline in overall album sales. Paradoxically it mayalso be directly linked to the vigour of the modest but vital local liveworld music performance scenes dotted around the planet, and to thetouring companies who (hope they will) pack our largest halls, oftenwrapped up in elaborately costumed and staged extravaganzas.There are examples of both on display in my column this issue.Happily for all of us, musicians of all stripes continue to make bothestablished and newly minted hybrid kinds of music that someonemay choose to dub world music — or not.I hope I haven’t lost you in my overview of some 50 years ofworld music, because, as you can see from what follows, our GTAmany of the issues I have mentioned.Parvaz Homay and his Mastan Ensemble present “Love, Wisdomand Human” [sic] at Roy Thomson Hall on December 2. Describedas a newly created concert “opera” by Iranian musician ParvazHomay, this production (in Farsi) is presently touring Canada andthe US. Judging from this group’s multiple albums and internationaltour dates they seem to enjoy a sold fan base among the Iraniandiaspora. At its Toronto stop, the Mastan Ensemble, a traditionalPersian instrumental group, is reinforced by a Western orchestradirected by Toronto conductor Kerry Stratton. A brief trailer videoon his website reveals Homay as a singer with a folksy voice. Onthe other hand, soprano Darya Dadvar sings in a distinctly operaticmanner. The dramatic baritone, Soli, rounds out the concert cast.On December 6, the world music Christmas calendar beginsin earnest with the Nathaniel Dett Chorale’s concert titled “AnIndigo Christmas: Navidad Nuestra” at Koerner Hall. The artisticdirector, Brainerd Blyden-Taylor has programmed a vibrant mix ofAfro-Latin and Andean rhythms and harmonies. The Latin musicquartet, Maderaz, and the celebrated dance collective COBA willadd to the choir’s celebration of Afro-centric dance, music andfolkloric traditions invoking the spirit of Christmas. The concertfeatures two choral gems by Argentinean composer Ariel Ramírez(1921–2010). His Misa Criolla (1964), now a staple of the choralrepertoire, is spiritually charged and at the same time deeply rootedin multiple music/dance forms from across South America includingthe chacarera, carnavalito and estilo pampeano, as well as AndeanLindsay, COBA brings it to life through staged dance representationsof the dance rhythms intrinsic to Ramírez’s score. Ramírez’ssignature Yuletide Navidad Nuestra, which serves as the concert’scentrepiece, is a suite of Argentinean carols marked by characteristicHispanic American music. The evening is rounded out byHaitian-born Sydney Guillaume’s Dominus Vobiscum interweavingGregorian melodies with Creole texts and rhythms; a trio of African-American spirituals by Minnesota composer Robert L. Morris; ana cappella interpretation of Go Tell It On The Mountain arrangedby Bruce Saylor; and Craig Courtney’s impassioned arrangement ofMary Had A Baby.Music Gallery’s concert on December 16 also has a Christmasthe Music Gallery’s “New World Series.” Titled “Asalto NavideñoReimagined: A Latin Christmas Concert,” the concert has threelayers: a remix of a classic salsa Christmas album, a seasonal celebrationand a resolute statement of pan-Latino culture. Originally astatement about New York Hispanic life, Willie Colon and HectorLavoe’s popular salsa Christmas album Asalto Navideño, now40 years old, is ripe for reinvention. Its lyrics speak of the joy ofChristmas, but they also explore themes of home and diaspora andeven propose new festive traditions. Today’s Latin sounds continue28 thewholenote.comDecember 1 – February 7, 2012
COURTESY SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTSShen Yun Performing Arts.to mix music from across the Americas, increasingly with the interventionof electronics. Therefore it’s natural that four “producers”have been commissioned to remix the album’s now-iconic material:Toronto’s DJ Linterna & Ulladat, DJ Javier Estrada from Monterrey,MX, and Sonora Longoria from Austin, TX. All are known for theirindividual combinations of music genres, groove and experimentation.Their electronic contributions will be mixed with live instrumentsincluding Steve Ward on trombone and vocals. Vocalist LidoPimienta, who splits her time between Toronto, London, Ontario,and Colombia, is a key voice in the evening; her striking hybridperformance style combining unaffected vocals and electronics.Moving into the New Year, on January 10, 2012 at noon, the LittlePear Garden Collective presents a different sort of festive entertainment,performing classical and contemporary dance works withChinese music at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four SeasonsCentre for the Performing Arts. The collective, directed by EmilyCheung, is Toronto’s Jingju or Peking opera company. That thisconcert is part of the “Dance Series: Chinese Traditions Then andNow” is yet another reminder that world music performances alsosometimes include dance.Keeping with the Chinese music and dance theme, on January 12to 15, Falun Dafa presents “Shen Yu Performing Arts” at the SonyCentre for the Performing Arts. This massive NYC based companycertainly aims high. It was established in 2006 with no less amission than “reviving 5,000 years of divinely inspired Chineseculture.” Its mission statement makes an eloquent ideological case,“After more than 60 years of Communist Chinese rule …Chinesetraditional culture has been all but completely demolished. However,the deeper spiritual core of the ancient culture, with its values ofbenevolence, honor, propriety, wisdom, and sincerity, as well asa reverence for the gods and the heavens, cannot be destroyed. Inorder to restore … Chinese traditional culture, a group of overseasChinese artists established Shen Yun in New York.”At the core of Shen Yun’s performances appears to be a vaststaged pageant, with tableaux enacted by dozens of performersclothed in impressive, brilliantly coloured, custom-made costumesand supported by an original musical score performed by a Westernorchestra, classical Chinese and regional ethnic dance styles, instrumentssuch as erhu and pipa, and characteristic vocalists. The show’snarrative is transparent. It moves audiences from the Himalayascreation over 5,000 years ago through to the story of Falun Dafain China today.” With over 100 artists “Shen Yu Performing Arts”might be one of the primary proponents of the “go big because youcan’t go home” school of world music (and dance) performance.May you all have wonderful Holidays, a stellar 2012 and be ableto go home if you want to.Andrew Timar is a Toronto musician and music writer.He can be contacted at worldmusic@thewholenote.com.the music educationstore at:TMSteve’s music would liketo wish our clients a safeand happy holiday seasonand best wishes for aprosperous 2012!please visit usin december to takeadvantage of our greatdeals on holiday music!stay tuned for specialnew year surprises we’vegot for our customers -coming in january!steve’s music, wherethere’s more to play andless to pay!415 Queen Street West, Torontostore: (416) 593-8888www.stevesmusic.comeducational@stevesmusic.compresentsFEB. 24 TH 2012 - 8PMIN CONCERTRoy Thomson Hall60 Simcoe Street, Toronto, ONFOR TICKETS CALL: 416.872.4255or pavlo.com & roythomsonhall.comTicket Price: .50, .50 & .50Sponsored byDecember 1 – February 7, 2012 thewholenote.com 29
What a range of stuff! A profile of Liz Upchurch, the COC ensemble studio's vocal mentor extraordinaire; a backgrounder on win-win faith/arts centre partnerships and ways of exploring the possibilities; an interview with St. Petersburg-based Eifman Ballet's Boris Eifman; Ana Sokolovic's violin concert Evta finally coming to town; a Love Letter to YouTube, and much more. Plus our 17th annual Canary Pages Choral directory if all you want to do is sing! sing! sing!
Arraymusic, the Music Gallery and Native Women in the Arts join for a mini-festival celebrating the work of composer, performer and installation artist Raven Chacon; Music and Health looks at the role of Healing Arts Ontario in supporting concerts in care facilities; Kingston-based composer Marjan Mozetich's life and work are celebrated in film; "Forest Bathing" recontextualizes Schumann, Shostakovich and Hindemith; in Judy Loman's hands, the harp can sing; Mahler's Resurrection bursts the bounds of symphonic form; Ed Bickert, guitar master remembered. All this and more in our April issue, now online in flip-through here, and on stands commencing Friday March 29.
Something Old, Something New! The Ide(a)s of March are Upon Us! Rob Harris's Rear View Mirror looks forward to a tonal revival; Tafelmusik expands their chronological envelope in two directions, Esprit makes wave after wave; Pax Christi's new oratorio by Barbara Croall catches the attention of our choral and new music columnists; and summer music education is our special focus, right when warm days are once again possible to imagine. All this and more in our March 2019 edition, available in flipthrough here, and on the stands starting Thursday Feb 28.
In this issue: A prize that brings lustre to its laureates (and a laureate who brings lustre to the prize); Edwin Huizinga on the journey of Opera Atelier's "The Angel Speaks" from Versailles to the ROM; Danny Driver on playing piano in the moment; Remembering Neil Crory (a different kind of genius)' Year of the Boar, Indigeneity and Opera; all this and more in Volume 24 #5. Online in flip through, HERE and on the stands commencing Thursday Jan 31.
When is a trumpet like a motorcycle in a dressage event? How many Brunhilde's does it take to change an Elektra? Just two of the many questions you've been dying to ask, to which you will find answers in a 24th annual combined December/January issue – in which our 11 beat columnists sift through what's on offer in the upcoming holiday month, and what they're already circling in their calendars for 2019. Oh, and features too: a klezmer violinist breathing new life into a very old film; two New Music festivals in January, 200 metres apart; a Music & Health story on the restorative powers of a grassroots exercise in collective music-making; even a good reason to go to Winnipeg in the dead of winter. All this and more in Vol 24 No 4, now available in flipthrough format here.
Reluctant arranger! National Ballet Orchestra percussionist Kris Maddigan on creating the JUNO and BAFTA award-winning smash hit Cuphead video game soundtrack; Evergreen by name and by nature, quintessentially Canadian gamelan (Andrew Timar explains); violinist Angèle Dubeau on 20 years and 60 million streams; two children’s choirs where this month remembrance and living history must intersect. And much more, online in our kiosk now, and on the street commencing Thursday November 1.
Presenters, start your engines! With TIFF and "back-to-work" out of the way, the regular concert season rumbles to life, and, if our Editor's Opener can be trusted, "Seeking Synergies" seems to be the name of the game. Denise Williams' constantly evolving "Walk Together Children" touching down at the Toronto Centre for the Arts; the second annual Festival of Arabic Music and Arts expanding its range; a lesson in Jazz Survival with Steve Wallace; the 150 presenter and performer profiles in our 19th annual Blue Pages directory... this is an issue that is definitely more than the sum of its parts.
In this issue: The WholeNote's 7th Annual TIFF TIPS guide to festival films with musical clout; soprano Erin Wall in conversation with Art of Song columnist Lydia Perovic, about more than the art of song; a summer's worth of recordings reviewed; Toronto Chamber Choir at 50 (is a few close friends all it takes?); and much more, as the 2018/19 season gets under way.
PLANTING NOT PAVING! In this JUNE / JULY /AUGUST combined issue: Farewell interviews with TSO's Peter Oundjian and Stratford Summer Music's John Miller, along with "going places" chats with Luminato's Josephine Ridge, TD Jazz's Josh Grossman and Charm of Finches' Terry Lim. ) Plus a summer's worth of fruitful festival inquiry, in the city and on the road, in a feast of stories and our annual GREEN PAGES summer Directory.
In this issue: our sixteenth annual Choral Canary Pages; coverage of 21C, Estonian Music Week and the 3rd Toronto Bach Festival (three festivals that aren’t waiting for summer!); and features galore: “Final Finales” for Larry Beckwith’s Toronto Masque Theatre and for David Fallis as artistic director of Toronto Consort; four conductors on the challenges of choral conducting; operatic Hockey Noir; violinist Stephen Sitarski’s perspective on addressing depression; remembering bandleader, composer and saxophonist Paul Cram. These and other stories, in our May 2018 edition of the magazine.
In this issue: we talk with jazz pianist Thompson Egbo-Egbo about growing up in Toronto, building a musical career, and being adaptive to change; pianist Eve Egoyan prepares for her upcoming Luminato project and for the next stage in her long-term collaborative relationship with Spanish-German composer Maria de Alvear; jazz violinist Aline Homzy, halfway through preparing for a concert featuring standout women bandleaders, talks about social equity in the world of improvised music; and the local choral community celebrates the life and work of choral conductor Elmer Iseler, 20 years after his passing.
In this issue: Canadian Stage, Tapestry Opera and Vancouver Opera collaborate to take Gogol’s short story The Overcoat to the operatic stage; Montreal-based Sam Shalabi brings his ensemble Land of Kush, and his newest composition, to Toronto; Five Canadian composers, each with a different CBC connection, are nominated for JUNOs; and The WholeNote team presents its annual Summer Music Education Directory, a directory of summer music camps, programs and courses across the province and beyond.
In this issue: composer Nicole Lizée talks about her love for analogue equipment, and the music that “glitching” evokes; Richard Rose, artistic director at the Tarragon Theatre, gives us insights into their a rock-and-roll Hamlet, now entering production; Toronto prepares for a mini-revival of Schoenberg’s music, with three upcoming shows at New Music Concerts; and the local music theatre community remembers and celebrates the life and work of Mi’kmaq playwright and performer Cathy Elliott . These and other stories, in our double-issue December/January edition of the magazine.
In this issue: conversations (of one kind or another) galore! Daniela Nardi on taking the reins at "best-kept secret" venue, 918 Bathurst; composer Jeff Ryan on his "Afghanistan" Requiem for a Generation" partnership with war poet, Susan Steele; lutenist Ben Stein on seventeenth century jazz; collaborative pianist Philip Chiu on going solo; Barbara Hannigan on her upcoming Viennese "Second School" recital at Koerner; Tina Pearson on Pauline Oliveros; and as always a whole lot more!
In this issue: several local artists reflect on the memory of composer Claude Vivier, as they prepare to perform his music; Vancouver gets ready to host international festival ISCM World New Music Days, which is coming to Canada for the second time since its inception in 1923; one of the founders of Artword Artbar, one of Hamilton’s staple music venues, on the eve of the 5th annual Steel City Jazz Festival, muses on keeping urban music venues alive; and a conversation with pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, as he prepares for an ambitious recital in Toronto. These and other stories, in our October 2017 issue of the magazine.
In this issue: a look at why musicians experience stage fright, and how to combat it; an inside look at the second Kensington Market Jazz Festival, which zeros in on one of Toronto’s true ‘music villages’; an in-depth interview with Elisa Citterio, new music director of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra; and The WholeNote’s guide to TIFF, with suggestions for the 20 most musical films at this year’s festival. These and other stories, in our September 2017 issue of the magazine!
CBC Radio's Lost Horizon; Pinocchio as Po-Mo Operatic Poster Boy; Meet the Curators (Crow, Bernstein, Ridge); a Global Music Orchestra is born; and festivals, festivals, festivals in our 13th annual summer music Green Pages. All this and more in our three-month June-through August summer special issue, now available in flipthrough HERE and on the stands commencing Thursday June 1.
From science fact in "Integral Man: Music and the Movies," to science fiction in the editor's opener; from World Fiddle Day at the Aga Khan Museum to three Canadians at the Cliburn; from wanting to sashay across the 401 to Chamberfest in Montreal to exploring the Continuum of Jumblies Theatre's 20-year commitment to the Community Play (there's a pun in there somewhere!).
In this issue: Our podcast ramps up with interviews in March with fight director Jenny Parr, countertenor Daniel Taylor, and baritone Russell Braun; two views of composer John Beckwith at 90; how music’s connection to memory can assist with the care of patients with Alzheimer’s; musical celebrations in film and jazz, at National Canadian Film Day and Jazz Day; and a preview of Louis Riel, which opens this month at the COC. These and other stories, in our April 2017 issue of the magazine!
On our cover: Owen Pallett's musical palette on display at New Creations. Spring brings thoughts of summer music education! (It's never too late.). For Marc-Andre Hamelin the score is king. Ella at 100 has the tributes happening. All; this and more.
In this issue: an interview with composer/vocalist Jeremy Dutcher, on his upcoming debut album and unique compositional voice; a conversation with Boston Symphony hornist James Sommerville, as as the BSO gets ready to come to his hometown; Stuart Hamilton, fondly remembered; and an inside look at Hugh’s Room, as it enters a complicated chapter in the story of its life in the complex fabric of our musical city. These and other stories, as we celebrate the past and look forward to the rest of 2016/17, the first glimpses of 2017/18, and beyond!
In this issue: a conversation with pianist Stewart Goodyear, in advance of his upcoming show at Koerner Hall; a preview of the annual New Year’s phenomenon that is Bravissimo!/Salute to Vienna; an inside look at music performance in Toronto’s health-care centres; and a reflection on the incredible life and lasting influence of the late Pauline Oliveros. These and more, in a special December/January combined issue!
In this issue: David Jaeger and Alex Pauk’s most memorable R. Murray Schafer collabs, in this month’s installment of Jaeger’s CBC Radio Two: The Living Legacy; an interview with flutist Claire Chase, who brings new music and mindset to Toronto this month; an investigation into the strange coincidence of three simultaneous Mendelssohn Elijahs this Nov 5; and of course, our annual Blue Pages, a who’s who of southern Ontario’s live music scene- a community as prolific and multifaceted as ever. These and more, as we move full-force into the 2016/17 concert season- all aboard!
Music lover's TIFF (our fifth annual guide to the Toronto International Film Festival); Aix Marks the Spot (how Brexit could impact on operatic co-production); The Unstoppable Howard Cable (an affectionate memoir of a late chapter in the life of of a great Canadian arranger; Kensington Jazz Story (the newest kid on the festival block flexes its muscles). These stories and much more as we say a lingering goodbye to summer and turn to the task, for the 22nd season, of covering the live and recorded music that make Southern Ontario tick.
It's combined June/July/August summer issue time with, we hope, enough between the covers to keep you dipping into it all through the coming lazy, hazy days. From Jazz Vans racing round "The Island" delivering pop-up brass breakouts at the roadside, to Bach flute ambushes strolling "The Grove, " to dozens of reasons to stay in the city. May yours be a summer where you find undiscovered musical treasures, and, better still, when, unexpectedly, the music finds you.
INSIDE: The Canaries Are Here! 116 choirs to choose from, so take the plunge! The Nylons hit the road after one last SING! Fling. Jazz writer Steve Wallace wonders "Watts Goode" rather than "what's new?" Paul Ennis has the musical picks of the HotDocs crop. David Jaeger's CBC Radio continues golden for a little while yet. Douglas McNabney is Music's Child. Leipzig meets Damascus in Alison Mackay's fertile imagination. And "C" is for KRONOS in Wende Bartley's koverage of the third annual 21C Festival. All this and as usual much much more. Enjoy.
From 30 camp profiles to spark thoughts of being your summer musical best, to testing LUDWIG as you while away the rest of so-called winter; from Scottish Opera and the Danish Midtvest, to a first Toronto recital appearance by violin superstar Maxim Vengerov; from musings on New Creations and new creation, to the boy who made a habit of crying Beowulf; it's a month of merry meetings and rousing recordings reviewed, all here to discover in The WholeNote.
2016 is off to a flying start! We chronicle the Artful Times of Andrew Burashko, the violistic versatility of Teng Li, the ageless ebullience of jazz pianist Gene DiNovi and the ninetieth birthday of trumpeter Johnny Cowell. Jaeger remembers Boulez; Waxman recalls Bley's influence, and Olds finds Bowie haunting Editor's Corner. Oh, and did we mention there's all that music? Hello (and goodbye) to the February blues, and here's to swinging through the musical vines of the Year of the Monkey.
What's a vinyl renaissance? What happens when Handel's Messiah runs afoul of the rumba rhythm setting on a (gasp!) Hammond organ? What work does Marc-Andre Hamelin say he would be content to have on every recital program he plays? What are Steve Wallace's favourite fifty Christmas recordings? Why is violinist Daniel Hope celebrating Yehudi Menuhin's 100th birthday at Koerner Hall January 28? Answers to all these questions (and a whole lot more) in the Dec/Jan issue of The WholeNote.
"Come" seems to be the verb that knits this month's issue together. Sondra Radvanovsky comes to Koerner, William Norris comes to Tafel as their new GM, opera comes to Canadian Stage; and (a long time coming!) Jane Bunnett's musicianship and mentorship are honoured with the Premier's award for excellence; plus David Jaeger's ongoing series on the golden years of CBC Radio Two, Andrew Timar on hybridity, a bumper crop of record reviews and much much more. Come on in!
Vol 21 No 2 is now available for your viewing pleasure, and it's a bumper crop, right at the harvest moon. First ever Canadian opera on the Four Seasons Centre main stage gets double coverage with Wende Bartley interviewing Pyramus and Thisbe composer Barbara Monk Feldman and Chris Hoile connecting with director Christopher Alden; Paul Ennis digs into the musical mind of pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, and pianist Eve Egoyan is "On the Record" in conversation with publisher David Perlman ahead of the Oct release concert for her tenth recording. And at the heart of it all the 16th edition of our annual BLUE PAGES directory of presenters profile the season now well and truly under way.
Paul Ennis's annual TIFF TIPS (27 festival films of potential particular musical interest); Wu Man, Yo-Yo Ma and Jeffrey Beecher on the Silk Road; David Jaeger on CBC Radio Music in the days it was committed to commissioning; the LISTENING ROOM continues to grow on line; DISCoveries is back, bigger than ever; and Mary Lou Fallis says Trinity-St. Paul's is Just the Spot (especially this coming Sept 25!).
