One hundred and twenty kids, seated on benches and gym mats, are beaming as they beat out a pulsating rhythm on small percussion instruments. Their ecstatic expressions match that of drummer and occupational therapist Leaf Miller [ABOVE PHOTO, LEFT, working with student at Abilities First School, Poughkeepsie, NY] who is leading this massive jam sessionContinue reading “Fresh Moves in Music Therapy”
Article Type Archives
Joshua Abrams’ Natural Information Society
THERE’S AN ENGAGING CATCH-AS-CATCH-CAN LOOK to Joshua Abrams’ Natural Information Society, something that immediately conveys a certain spontaneity, yet disguises—slightly—the complexity of the music. During the band’s North American tour in May 2015, which included performances at Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville and Toronto’s Array Space, an unusual combination of instruments was putContinue reading “Joshua Abrams’ Natural Information Society”
The Expanding Universe of Yamantaka // Sonic Titan
I HAD BEEN GRIPING TO ALASKA B, cofounder of the creative ensemble YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN, that Bloordale didn’t have any decent pizza. I’d recently transplanted myself to the Toronto neighbourhood, one of her stomping grounds, and found it discomfiting to not know where to find a sublime slice nearby. She suggested, of all places,Continue reading “The Expanding Universe of Yamantaka // Sonic Titan”
Jay Crocker Navigates the Music of Obstacles
“THEY WERE EXPECTING TO HAVE A swinging kind of jazz party, but we were doing nothing of the sort that night.” Percussionist Chris Dadge is recalling a particularly memorable gig at the Beat Niq Jazz & Social Club—a trad jazz club in downtown Calgary—during which he, guitarist Jay Crocker, saxophonist Dan Michael, and pianist Mark LimacherContinue reading “Jay Crocker Navigates the Music of Obstacles”
Allison Cameron’s Rarefied Soundworld
“I NEVER THOUGHT I WAS DOING ANYTHING DIFFERENT THAN ANYBODY ELSE—I just thought, I’m doing what anybody else would write,” states Allison Cameron, matter-of-factly. Anyone familiar with her music—or her characteristic wry humour—could read this particular remark as either amusing or evasive, disarmingly so. But, as I gradually realize, it’s actually rather telling of herContinue reading “Allison Cameron’s Rarefied Soundworld”
Cris Derksen enhances her sonic adventure
Some musicians fall in love with an instrument at a very young age and never look back; others experiment with many different ones before they find the ideal match for their talents. Cris Derksen is one of the latter. As a child, she first wanted to play flute, then saxophone, then double bass. Later, atContinue reading “Cris Derksen enhances her sonic adventure”
Vancouver’s Intercultural Music Scene
Intercultural music-making in British Columbia is nothing new. Gold seekers brought the violin to the province’s north in the 1890s, and their jigs and reels were quickly adapted by the region’s Tahltan musicians into a true hybrid form. In the mid-1960s, Vancouver performers from a variety of ethnic backgrounds found common cause in the R&BContinue reading “Vancouver’s Intercultural Music Scene”
The Mystical Instruments of Walter Smetak
In March 2014, I found myself facing the late Walter Smetak’s Pindorama, a seven-foot-two-inch-tall instrument installation comprising seven calabash gourds arranged in a diamond-like formation and resting on a bamboo pedestal. Dozens of clear plastic tubes with flute mouthpieces fixed at their ends hung from the gourds. Cowbells were suspended from the frame. Later, duringContinue reading “The Mystical Instruments of Walter Smetak”
Jean Derome’s Reflections of Joy
Over the past four decades, Jean Derome’s musical interests have spanned everything from standards to skronk. He has composed graphic scores for large ensembles, created multimedia works for string quartets, and devised music for dance, theatre, and cinema works. But what Derome is best known for is his key role in the development of theContinue reading “Jean Derome’s Reflections of Joy”
Video Game Music: New Directions in Play
The first time I played PaRappa the Rapper was a struggle. I was with my parents at a novelty deli where each table was outfitted with a television and a PlayStation video-game console. I didn’t have one at home, but a paper-thin, hip-hop cartoon dog named PaRappa that goes on some sort of adventure inContinue reading “Video Game Music: New Directions in Play”
Kris Davis nurtures new shapes in jazz
Kris Davis is working on setting a routine. It’s not an unusual task. It’s one that new mothers all over Brooklyn who work odd hours have to contend with. But it’s a challenge. She’s up at six a.m. every day with her son, who turned one in July 2014. While on new-mother duty, Davis isContinue reading “Kris Davis nurtures new shapes in jazz”
The Evolution of The Muted Note
The Muted Note is a marriage of music, dance, and poetry—specifically, the poetry of the late Canadian writer P. K. Page. Her work was the unexpected catalyst for the first creative collaboration between Scott Thomson and Susanna Hood, both of whom were long-time linchpins of Toronto’s artistic scene before moving to Montreal in 2010. TrombonistContinue reading “The Evolution of The Muted Note”
Louis Andriessen brings the noise
Louis Andriessen arrived on the international scene with a bang. In 1976 he unleashed De Staat (The Republic) on unsuspecting audiences. The political charge of the composition came from texts of Plato sung by four soprano voices hovering like ethereal apparitions over pounding, iron-fisted piano rhythms. The breathlessly whirling repetition was reminiscent of Steve Reich’sContinue reading “Louis Andriessen brings the noise”
Chiyoko Szlavnics draws the ear towards infinity
“I keep coming back to light on water,” says Chiyoko Szlavnics, explaining her interest in beating, that intriguing fluttering effect that arises when sound waves of slightly differing frequencies coincide. “It’s a very similar kind of synaptic experience—for me, at least. We don’t hear beating in music, normally. But it moves me, like sunlight dancingContinue reading “Chiyoko Szlavnics draws the ear towards infinity”
Erin Sexton
Erin Sexton is in awe of the universe. By situating her creative practice in relation to the stars and the planets, the Montreal sound artist seeks to engage in conversations with the cosmos. Her work is grounded in the hard materials we know as nature, electricity, and the elements. She employs matter, energy, space, andContinue reading “Erin Sexton”
Mark Molnar’s alternative trajectories
Harrowingly unbridled and unpredictable, yet blatantly meticulous in their construction, Mark Molnar’s compositions frequently emerge as rugged tangles of bowed-string sonorities. Even though their gestural expressivity might suggest that they could’ve been conceived in myriad other ways—through structured group improvisation, or perhaps through recording only—his pieces are written out with note-perfect exactitude. At first, oneContinue reading “Mark Molnar’s alternative trajectories”
The Restless Art of Radwan Ghazi Moumneh
It’s Friday night in Montreal, and a who’s who of local musicians is packed into the back room of Casa del Popolo to check out the first public appearance of Master of Masters My Master. Nobody knows anything about the music they are about to hear. All they have to go on is an eventContinue reading “The Restless Art of Radwan Ghazi Moumneh”
Nate Wooley’s Seven Storey Mountain
Jump into an early version of Nate Wooley’s Seven Storey Mountain, and you land in dark and turbulent, almost infernal terrain. Sounds are dense and blur into one another: trumpet amplified to distortion levels; prerecorded tape of unidentifiable noises; dense, rapid drumming of indecipherable rhythms. Later versions add more orderly elements: passages of stable pitchContinue reading “Nate Wooley’s Seven Storey Mountain”
Victor Gama builds a brave new soundworld
Wherever Victor Gama plays, you can be sure clusters of people will be jostling to percuss the upturned metal bowls of his tipaw (so called because the surface of the instrument looks like the pads of a tiger paw), to bow the eight metal strings of the tahra, or simply to wander the length ofContinue reading “Victor Gama builds a brave new soundworld”
Tanya Tagaq Grabs The World By The Throat
Watching Tanya Tagaq perform is more than just an auditory and visual experience: it’s physical. As the Nunavut-born, Manitoba-based throat singer moves around a stage, she unleashes something fierce and powerful that comes from deep within her body, yet seems positively unearthly. She mostly improvises her performances, tapping into traditional Inuit throat singing—growling, cooing, howling,Continue reading “Tanya Tagaq Grabs The World By The Throat”
The New Sounds of Lebanon
The experimental music scene in Beirut, Lebanon, may exist in relative geographic isolation from other global movements of a similar ilk, but over the past fifteen years it has become a dynamic hub for a dense concentration of fiercely independent musical voices. From humble beginnings and tiny numbers, the close-knit community has grown and thrived,Continue reading “The New Sounds of Lebanon”
The Ondes Martenot is Making New Waves
No one knows exactly how many functioning ondes Martenot are in use around the world today, but an informed, conservative estimate puts their number at sixty. In the course of half a century, Maurice Martenot, the creator of this most sensitive electronic musical instrument, was able to handcraft around 270 of them. More interested inContinue reading “The Ondes Martenot is Making New Waves”
Giorgio Magnanensi in the Sonic Playground
Admirers of Giorgio Magnanensi—composer, conductor, teacher, and the artistic director of Vancouver New Music Society—tend to be lavish in their praise of him. “Giorgio is singularly the best conductor of modern music, period,” says composer and Capilano University jazz instructor Bradshaw Pack. Vancouver music critic Alex Varty calls him “one of the most outgoing, provocative,Continue reading “Giorgio Magnanensi in the Sonic Playground”
Charlemagne Palestine Pulls Out the Stops
Interpretation takes the sensory experience of the work of art for granted, and proceeds from there. What is important now is to recover our senses. We must learn to see more, to hear more, to feel more. —Susan Sontag, “Against Interpretation” “My work speaks for itself and doesn’t need to be explained,” Charlemagne Palestine insists,Continue reading “Charlemagne Palestine Pulls Out the Stops”