New Age legend Laraaji has soared through a five-decade artistic voyage, propelled by the fiery spirit of positivity that’s represented by his trademark orange clothes. The seventy-six-year-old African-American visionary, who continues to joyfully record, perform, and present laughter-meditation workshops around the world, kicked off 2019 with a pair of releases from Canadian labels. The firstContinue reading “Laraaji, Forever Expanding in Experimental Directions”
Genre Archives
Charlie Morrow, Sonic Nomad
“My work is what it is and I move in many worlds. I would have nothing except for being carried on the shoulders of friendship and shared interest.” Intrepid sonic investigator Charlie Morrow’s early-’90s Lower East Side event, Urban Jungle, spilled out way beyond the confines of the Sareido Gallery on West Broadway, mushrooming intoContinue reading “Charlie Morrow, Sonic Nomad”
Toshiya Tsunoda. Extract From Field Recording Archive.
How can a field-recording artist reproduce the soundscape of any particular locale with relative precision? For Toshiya Tsunoda, the answer perhaps lies in the miniscule physical vibrations that occur within any given space. During the ’90s, Tsunoda found that experimental works utilizing field recordings were incongruent with his own interests: some used the enchanting soundsContinue reading “Toshiya Tsunoda. Extract From Field Recording Archive.”
What’s Inside Musicworks 134?
The artists in the Fall 2019 issue expand their perspectives through innovative collaborations and combos—they just can’t get enough! Order Musicworks 134 now. Ana Sokolović Serbian-born Canadian composer Ana Sokolović’s fantastical, imaginary worlds are encapsulated in her internationally renowned, critically acclaimed operas, chamber music, instrumental, orchestral, and interarts works. The multi-award-winning, Montreal-based artist garnered theContinue reading “What’s Inside Musicworks 134?”
Epa Fassianos’ Chromatocosmos
Epa Fassianos’ Chromatocosmos won third place in Musicworks’ 2018 Electronic Music Composition Contest, and also won first place in Category A of Musica Nova 2018 (the long-running international electroacoustic music composition competition presented by Society for Electroacoustic Music of Czech Republic). Chromatocosmos is an electroacoustic piece which is based on original recordings of the baglamas,Continue reading “Epa Fassianos’ Chromatocosmos”
Fall 2019
Chroma Mixed Media’s Water
Water, the second-place winner of Musicworks’ 2018 Electronic Music Composition Contest, is a multimedia performance piece structured around changing states of water. It was composed collaboratively by three members of Chroma Mixed Media for a performance with the Co.Crea.Tive collective that took place at the Golden Saucer in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Earth Day (April 22)Continue reading “Chroma Mixed Media’s Water”
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”
Flying Hórses. Reverie.
Redolent of icy streams, brittle emotions, and breathtaking, lonely landscapes, Reverie might be the perfect album for a long, cold winter. This is the second full-length release from Montreal pianist Jade Bergeron, and it’s not surprising to hear that she once lived and worked in Iceland; there’s a Nordic bleakness to the beautiful, sparse sounds,Continue reading “Flying Hórses. Reverie.”