On the 2004 live-concert recording Tour de Force, the renowned American poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron introduces his 1981 song “Is That Jazz?”: “Go to your record store . . . look at the bottom shelf, you will find a box called miscellaneous. We are miscellaneous. We did not mean to be miscellaneous. Somehow itContinue reading “The Musical Colours of Dominique Fils-Aimé”
Author Archives: Musicworks
Wadada Leo Smith and the Possibilities of Dreaming
Think of this as a sketch. We’re not going to get into a complete report on the doings of Wadada Leo Smith here, his more than fifty recordings, his dozens of collaborations with luminaries from all over the globe, his long engagement with creative music. No, we’re merely orbiting the beautiful planet that is hisContinue reading “Wadada Leo Smith and the Possibilities of Dreaming”
Linda Catlin Smith Lets In the Light
It’s 2004. I am taking my first composition course at Mount Allison University. I have recently become enamoured of new music and am catching up on a long list of listening in the basement of the Alfred Whitehead Memorial Music Library. I come across Memory Forms (2001), a serene-looking disc with a still-life pear standingContinue reading “Linda Catlin Smith Lets In the Light”
Samuel Andreyev’s Sonic Organisms
There’s a strange duality about the music of Strasbourg-based Canadian composer Samuel Andreyev. His official bio states that his compositional process is “marked by a rigorous perfectionism,” which might immediately provoke the lazy cynic to slap it with the ultimate new-music pejorative: academic. His nimble ideas are, without fail, framed in tight, tidy structures andContinue reading “Samuel Andreyev’s Sonic Organisms”
11 Creative Music Festivals Making Waves in 2019
sponsored listings Intersection August 29 – September 1 in Toronto, Ontario Intersection is a four-day experimental music festival centered around a Saturday of free outdoor programming at Yonge-Dundas Square featuring a kaleidoscopic array of local and international acts from various corners of the avant-garde music world. Intersection this year kicks off with a free concertContinue reading “11 Creative Music Festivals Making Waves in 2019”
Manuella Blackburn’s Landline
In the pantheon of sounds, the tone, whirr, and ring of the rotary phone belong in the “gone but not forgotten” gallery. If someone’s mobile phone rings à la Ma Bell—as opposed to the usual pulsating buzz, pop-tune riff, or synthesized animal sound—we might get nostalgic and think something like, How quaint . . . that is,Continue reading “Manuella Blackburn’s Landline”
Trauma of My Mouth
In the spring of 2018, Chinese archeologists announced that they’d unearthed a four-thousand-year-old collection of jaw harps (kouxian in Chinese) at the Shimao ruins, a prehistoric site in Shenmu City in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province. These artifacts, which were carved from bone, are the oldest jaw harps ever discovered, but various historic versions of theContinue reading “Trauma of My Mouth”
Musicworks 133
The lively stories in the Spring 2019 issue are sure to spark conversations about the diverse ways that people develop creative ideas and potential. BUY THE ISSUE NOW! ON THE COVER: Montreal’s Dominique Fils-Aimé has moved from the mainstream spotlight to a more intimate creative space where many genres unite in her powerful, elegant, and soulful music. TorontoContinue reading “Musicworks 133”
Raven Chacon’s Harmonious Language
“I loved the Beatles so much that I totally exhausted listening to their music. I wanted more.” For Raven Chacon, the answer was easy. “I recorded all of their albums on cassette, then took the tape out of the shell and flipped it so I could have all the albums in reverse. So I hadContinue reading “Raven Chacon’s Harmonious Language”
Luke Nickel Transmits a Living Score
Luke Nickel has written me a piece. No, wait. That’s not quite right. Luke Nickel has left me a series of sometimes vague, sometimes specific instructions via audio recordings of his voice, which I am only allowed to listen to once, so that I might create a piece. Confused? Let me explain. Over the courseContinue reading “Luke Nickel Transmits a Living Score”