Alice Ping Yee Ho is renowned in the Canadian music community for her elegant compositions that play inventively among dissonances, pleasing harmonies, and colours inspired by Chinese opera and folk music. Her new CD, A Woman’s Voice, draws together a number of her vocal works and features beautiful singing and playing by various Canadian musicians,Continue reading “Alice Ping Yee Ho. A Woman’s Voice”
Genre Archives
Gayle Young’s Gentle Interventions
In early October 2021 Gayle Young and I meet in Toronto before heading to her home in Ontario’s Niagara region. The drive is less than two hours, yet somehow, our destination is so much further away. The spaces between buildings grow wider as do those between the little squares of light in the darkness. IContinue reading “Gayle Young’s Gentle Interventions”
Tanya Tagaq. Tongues.
Anger is an energy, and it’s always been the fire that feeds Tanya Tagaq’s music. Even when she wordlessly roars or coos, shrieks, or wails, it’s impossible not to feel her incendiary rage vibrating in your gut and through you, along with all the pain and joy, fear, and love swirling in the earthy andContinue reading “Tanya Tagaq. Tongues.”
Silla and Rise. Silarjuaq.
In 2017, the trio Silla and Rise released a self-titled debut that merged Inuit throat-singing duo Silla (Charlotte Qamaniq and Cynthia Pitsiulak) and the electronic beats of DJ Rise Ashen. They sounded like nobody else. In 2019, Galactic Gala proved that the innovative trio was crafting an undeniably distinct soundscape. Now, they return with Silarjuaq,Continue reading “Silla and Rise. Silarjuaq.”
Pamela Z. A Secret Code.
Characterized by the transformation of mundane experience into something beautiful and poignant, A Secret Code includes works from across Pamela Z’s repertoire—pieces written for dance, excerpts from larger works, and works from live-sampled concerts. Pamela Z uses extended vocal techniques, operatic bel canto, found objects, text, and digital processing. Her voice is rich and powerfulContinue reading “Pamela Z. A Secret Code.”
New Chance. Real Time.
Last night I held my finger to the sky and stood still long enough for the moon to shift one degree and crest my fingertip. This observation—that we feel the Earth’s axis in the vector of gravity’s pull—may verge on axiomatic, but to witness the Earth’s rotation, rather than infer it, nevertheless felt grounding. RealContinue reading “New Chance. Real Time.”
Lara Solnicki. The One and The Other.
The One and the Other; a title both rigorously specific and philosophically general, deftly fits Lara Solnicki’s third album. Built with equal measures of poetic craft, classical vocal training, and a jazz-infused exploration of form and improvisation, the seven tracks are a journey from tentative meeting to sorrowful parting. What, or who, has met andContinue reading “Lara Solnicki. The One and The Other.”
Sarah Albu and Vergil Sharkya’. Intoxidation.
Experimental vocalist Sarah Albu and composer and sound-artist Vergil Sharkya’ have come together to create a radiant sonic force. The duo’s first release, the eight-track digital-only issue Intoxidation, is full of the type of unabashed raucousness that involuntarily elicits a perk of ears shortly followed by several nods of acceptance. Highly imaginative track titles like Mâchoire deContinue reading “Sarah Albu and Vergil Sharkya’. Intoxidation.”
Phil Minton / Veryan Weston. Ways for an Orchestra.
English singer Phil Minton and pianist Veryan Weston have been working together since the early 1980s, their wayward path crisscrossing and combining music hall, art song, free improvisation, and union anthems. Usually restricted to duo and quartet formats, here they make the most of a unique opportunity to match their material to an orchestra, creatingContinue reading “Phil Minton / Veryan Weston. Ways for an Orchestra.”
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”