Gig: "Support Afrofest" Concert

"Support Afrofest" Concert (feat. Ruth Mathiang + Waleed Abdulhamid / Donné Roberts / Fojeba / Resolutionaries Marimba Band / Afrafranto)

918 Bathurst. Friday April 22, 2011.

It had been an unsettled few weeks for Music Africa, the organization that runs Afrofest. When the news came through that the city was going to revoke its permission for the use of Queen's Park, it hit many as a shock. And, frankly, as a high-handed and patently unfair gesture, given that putting together an event as large as Afrofest takes months of dedicated planning, which was already well underway. While there is doubtless some merit to worries about the long-term effects on the ever-growing festival on the park and its gorgeous trees, pulling the rug on such short notice was highly disrespectful to a top-tier cultural event that had been held at the park for two decades. Fortunately, the community rallied around the organizers and that put a lot of pressure on City Hall. This concert was part of that effort, not a fund-raiser so much as a consciousness-raiser, and an effort to broaden the organization's membership base to help keep it resilient against future crises.

And so, on a cool and windy Good Friday I was headed down to the beautiful hall at 918 Bathurst and received my membership card as I made my way in. Unsurprisingly, it was a well-organized show, with some food booths in the back and the room set up with some dancing space in front of a few rows of chairs. The night began with Music Africa president Michael Stohr announcing that Afrofest would be held in Queen's Park in 2011.

That was a positive note setting the table for Ruth Mathiang and Waleed Abdulhamid, playing together this night as an acoustic duo. Abdulhamid — a busy collaborator as well as a bandleader in his own right — was on a stool with his guitar, providing the instrumentation and backing vocals while Mathiang filled the room with her voice and bright presence. "Hopefully you won't be sitting down too long," she said to the crowd, leading with the simmering "Mama Africa",¹ the music dropping out mid-song to get the crowd clapping and singing along.

The pair offered an intriguing mix of vocal textures, with Mathiang's smooth tones next to Abdulhamid's rougher voice like a smooth cheek rubbing against a whiskered one. There were also some contrasts in the subject matter, with a solemn ballad about the costs of war in Darfur on women and children followed by a celebratory wedding song from the same region. Relative to the sparse instrumentation, there was a lot of groove going on, and I was excited at extrapolating how that would get ramped up even more with a full band.²

Listen to a track from this set here.

Donné Roberts brought a slightly stripped-down band from the last time I'd seen him, now playing without First Nations musician Marc Nadjiwan. But the cross-cultural "Afro Pow-Wow" trappings were still apparent, both in the opening instrumental and in Roberts' chanting in "Malembo". That was layered on top of some nicely irresistible Malagasy grooves, with Roberts' powerful guitar work supplemented by bass/drums/percussion and sax.³ By the time the band was playing "Wenge Yongo", the dancefloor was filling up nicely.

As I'd experienced before, there were a few points that didn't have enough grit for my palate — sax player Rich Howse (a.k.a. Isax Injah) can sometimes get a little "smooth" for my tastes, but he balanced that out with some interesting touches, such as little lurches that sounded like turntable scratches and some echo-y dub squeals during "Ariengue".

A set like this was a good chance for the band to stretch out, with just five long songs in fifty minutes. That reached its zenith with "Sadebake" going past a quarter-hour, ending the set with an extended fiery groove.⁴

Listen to a track from this set here.

As things turned over, there was a quick acoustic mini-set from Fojeba. After that super dance party, it was a bit harder for a lone guy with a guitar to hold people's attention, but did manage to get some people clapping along. Besides his hard-hitting funky zouk sound, Fojeba is also a topical songwriter, and a couple weeks before the election, he made clear his preferences with a song about Jack Layton.⁵

Already being familiar with the Resolutionaries Marimba Band, I was looking forward to another chance to see their dance-friendly and decidedly catchy grooves. Powered by Chaka Chikodzi — plus some of the younger players he has mentored — rotating between three large marimbas, the music takes traditional Zimbabwean rhythms and kicks them up to dancin' speed with a funky rhythm section.

Once again, I was struck by the strong melodic sense here. Even though this grooves a-plenty, the marimbas really have a "voice", making each song something memorable you could hum along to. The crowd was a little slow to warm up to it, but once the irrepressible "Manhanga" started, they were clapping along and dancing.

Chikodzi is also wise enough to mix things up: before the marimbas kicked in for "Shauriyako" the rhythm section backed a hip-hop freestyle (though I didn't catch the rapper's name), and the slower rhythm of "Kurima" gave everyone a chance to catch their breath. Once they get rolling, the band really gives the impression that they could simmer along for hours with this stuff. This might be the hottest band out of Peterborough right now.⁶

Listen to a track from this set here.

From what I've seen of Theo Yaw Boakye, he's not one to turn down an invitation to help out a good cause. So even if it looked like a couple members of Afrafranto were unavailable, with the help of some fill-ins Boakye had no problem putting together an entertaining set.

Most notable was the absence of guitar hero Pa Joe, so though there was a capable replacement, it was no surprise that the guitar was accented less for this show. The slack in sound was made up by a pair of keyboardists as well as a trumpet player. The presence of the latter also implied a shift in tone from the more barebones palmwine that the band has previously specialized in to more of a classic highlife sound.

With this sort of lineup, it's no surprise that it took a couple songs for the band to warm up. But once they were firing on all cylinders the set sounded closer to the non-stop groove that the band is known for — not quite the effortless segueing from tune to tune that they can do at their best, but there were a few tidy and seamless transitions here.

And though this was still danceable, it was mostly a simmering and mellow mid-tempo set of slinky rhythms, well-suited for the later part of the night. You could almost close your eyes and imagine you were in a Ghanaian nightclub where things were winding down after a sweaty night of partying. While thoroughly enjoyable, this might not have been the band at its most powerful. But it was still quite intriguing to see them working at some different ideas — some of which would subsequently be incorporated into their regular bag of tricks.

Listen to a track from this set here.

A night like this was a powerful reminder of how important Afrofest — and Music Africa behind the scenes — is at uniting the various local African music communities. It was a triumph that the community rallied to ensure that festival went ahead last summer. As of yet, there's no word on the specifics on Afrofest 2012 — the website confirms that planning is underway, but venue and dates are still unconfirmed.⁷

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¹ If that wasn't an overt enough tribute to the legendary Miriam Makeba, Mathiang also covered her songs "Hapo Zamani" and "Malaika" during the set.

² And, indeed, that would turn out to be the case, as I'd later hear.

³ Roberts' bassist is David Woodhead, who would also be notable to many readers of this blog as the father of local indie mainstays Airick and Daniel Woodhead.

⁴ With his new album Internation just out, Roberts will be playing the Lula Lounge on March 20, 2012.

⁵ Fojeba will be playing the Main Hall at The Tranzac tonight (February 24, 2012). With his full band (including, last I saw 'em, some of the same folks in Roberts' band) and horns and everything, it's a funky and fun time.

⁶ And in a piece of well-timed news, the band has just released an album (called, quite accurately, Marimba Explosion), which is available on their bandcamp. It sounds like an energetic representation of their live set.

⁷ And in the meantime, the last of Music Africa's Black History Month celebrations will be at the Gladstone Hotel's Melody Bar tonight (February 24, 2012), with a "Young Stars Night" promising some Afro jazz and Hiplife styles. Free, 9 p.m.

Gig: Barnyard Records Triple CD Launch

Barnyard Records Triple CD Launch (feat. Rampersaud Shaw Neal Martin Krakowiak / Evan Parker/Wes Neal/Joe Sorbara / AIMToronto Orchestra)

918 Bathurst. Saturday, April 9, 2011.

I was glad to get a chance to return to the lovely space at 918 Bathurst St. And with an earlier start, the large hall felt brighter and airier with the day's last sunlight coming through the windows on the north wall. The event was a celebration of the release of three new albums from Barnyard Records, the adventurous local label dedicated to boundary-pushing improvised musics. As I'd learned in the past, they know how to create an occasion¹ and there was a positive vibe in the air as an older/Annex-y crowd started filling up the rows of chairs.

Radio host/out music champion Ron Gaskin MC'ed the night, leading off with a round of applause for Jean Martin, who was not only playing in the night's first set, but had a hand in the production of all three albums being celebra ted on the evening. In line with those dual roles, the opening quintet (billed just as the list of names Rampersaud Shaw Neal Martin Krakowiak) had, in fact, started as a recording project, producing the intriguing Halcyon Science130410 album. As captured by Martin on the disc, the music registers as much as electroacoustic environment as "jazz", making excellent use of the space between the sounds.

Live, that didn't register quite as much. In fact, the set started off with a full-on attack of sound, with darting lines from Evan Shaw (alto saxophone) and Nicole Rampersaud (trumpet) while Tomasz Krakowiak added percussive touches with with a single large drumhead and a host of other implements (including, it appeared, an orange).

The first section gave the feeling of tension and conversations stuck at cross-purposes before finding more unity of purpose after a quiet interlude with a nice duet between Wes Neal's double bass and Krakowiak's rubbed cymbal, with droney horns behind.

A second piece worked on similar principles, and again, I found the part where they were cooking less interesting than the quieter, spacious part — perhaps because this was an environment where the less-cramped passages sounded really great. An interesting set, but not quiet as impactful as they managed on the album, which I wholeheartedly recommend you pick up.

Listen to an excerpt from this set here.

As Barnyard has done in the past, the night's special guest was an esteemed Parker — although this time out, it was British saxophonist Evan Parker. I didn't know his work coming into this show, though looking over some of the musicians he's worked with (a rather lengthy list including such luminaries as Peter Brötzmann, Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor and John Zorn) gave the impression that this might be a noisy, free-squawking avant sort of set. But seeing him take the stage, the first term that came to mind would be "august". In a black shirt and slacks, slightly stout and a grey beard, Parker had a calm but forceful presence.

He was here to celebrate the release of At Somewhere There, a trio album credited to Evan Parker / Wes Neal / Joe Sorbara recorded on Parker's last visit to the city. Although there was no doubt that Parker was the star attraction, in his introduction Ron Gaskin reminded the crowd that this was a meeting of equals, and indeed, Neal (bass) and Sorbara (drums) weren't just providing rhythms for Parker to solo over — there was a lot of give and take here.

As the set began, Neal provided a rolling bass line to propel things along, but after that sat back for an interlude with Parker improvising to Sorbara's bowed cymbals. Meanwhile, a baby in the crowd was occasionally improvising along, and that fit in, too. Contrary to what I might have guessed, Parker's playing was soulful and meaty. Contained and linear, too — not making radical leaps, but moving as fast as a fascinating conversation.

The first piece, which self-organized into about three crests, went about twenty-two minutes. The second led off with Neal's lyrical bowing swooping against Parker's lines, while Sorbara added bells and shakers before building up into a more chunky rhythm. At the piece's fulcrum, Neal and Sorbara dropped out, and Parker played unaccompanied for about a minute and I felt a big welling-up of joy. This is why one goes to shows — this is why music is important. That was followed by Sorbara and Neal in a duet to respond, as Parker closed his eyes, and nodded his head back and forth a bit, grooving to it before coming back in.

I didn't know Parker at all coming in. I basically came to this show based on Barnyard's track record, but this was an excellent, emotionally-satisfying set, and made me truly glad I had come out for this.

Listen to an excerpt from this set here.

There was an unusual sort of shuffle between sets, when members of the audience started grabbing their chairs and heading up to the stage clutching stands and instruments. Eventually, they would settle into the form of the AIMToronto Orchestra, so thick on stage that I couldn't quite get an exact count — fourteen or fifteen deep, I think. Originally formed from the ranks of the local improvised music community in 2007 to perform a set with Anthony Braxton, the band has continued on to serve as a canvas for some of the more large-scale compositions of its members.

Conducted by Kyle Brenders, the band was playing music in the same vein as their Year of the Boar album. Lush and prickly in equal measures, the first piece progressed with a percussive lurch and the distinctive wordless vocals of Christine Duncan (founder of the Element Choir). The title, given at the end, was "Love", and that fit the befuddled, slightly daffy momentum of the piece.

That shorter aperitif was followed by the more expansive "Gander", another new Brenders composition. It was written for this occasion to be played with Evan Parker, who had heard it for the first time in the afternoon's dress rehearsal and come up with a part, the rest of the group adjusting to his additions — this is, after all, an improvising orchestra. "Gander" had a noir-ish kind of drift and stretched out with an elegant restraint, like fog settling in on a sleeping city where unsavoury incidents unfolded in the backrooms.

That vibe was rather different than the next piece (by guitarist Ken Aldcroft), which began with a squall. Not quite an uncontrolled clamour, but certainly with more things going in more directions all at once before coming into focus with Brenders taking up his sax to play along as well.

The set ended with Justin Haynes' "Circles Over Labrador". Also written for this occasion, Evan Parker again joined the ensemble, and this gave Parker a chance for his most "out" playing of the night in a piece that once again ranged from mildly atonal to lush before pausing for a quiet banjo/group harmonica interlude before ending in pleasant squeal-our.

Listen to an excerpt from this set here.

All in all, an excellent night. Praise is due to Barnyard Records for providing an outlet for adventurous and uplifting music like this. This sort of music — and most of these musicians — can be found playing pretty often at Somewhere There or The Tranzac, constantly working out new ideas, and it's always worthwhile to go see them putting things together in those informal settings. But it's also nice to have bigger shows like this to serve as a summation and a bold statement to go with the recorded artifacts that will linger with us afterward.

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¹ Speaking of which, the fantastic set by the Element Choir and William Parker that I had seen at the last of these Barnyard flings I'd been to has now been issued by the label, appropriately titled At Christ Church Deer Park.

Gig: Wavelength 516

Wavelength 516 (feat. Eons / Hybrid Moments / The Deeep)

918 Bathurst. Sunday, March 13, 2011.

A Sunday night Wavelength is nothing new, but there was a sense of novelty in the show's location, the recently-opened arts space at 918 Bathurst Street. Built as a church and more recently a Buddhist temple, I'd walked past the spot's modest streetfront façade many times paying it no mind — and was thus quite surprised at the grandeur of the main hall. The wooden slats of the high-arched roof meeting a line of windows along the walls gave the impression that this should be at some rustic location by a lake. The room had a woodsy and warm comforting vibe, and my first thought was that I wanted all subsequent shows of any variety to be held here.

Plus, this was a seated show, something worth savouring for a Wavelength. And catering to the unseatable, there was a large open space to stand and mingle behind the chairs. The stage was decorated with loosely-woven cables of fabric in front of the large monolith-like structure at the back wall. The church-y atmosphere seemed to mellow out everyone in attendance, including host Doc Pickles, who was soon grooving on a lone tealight at the front of the stage as he started things going. All told, it was a pitch-perfect atmosphere for the debut performance from the "spectral folk" of Eons.

This trio maps out a newly-discovered fjord on the Bruce Peninsula, feauring three of that band's members, but most centrally Matt Cully, who developed this as an outlet for his songs while BP remained on hiatus due to Neil Haverty's medical leave. There was an element of sadness underneath things that a friend's misfortune was the circumstance that brought this about, and that might be one element accounting for the mournful loneliness that animated the band's laments.

Cully's vox and guitar were supplemented by instrumental shading (on guit, lap steel and keyb) from Andrew Barker as well as Misha Bower's harmonies. The latter was an essential factor here, not just embellishing Cully's voice (which is certainly proficient, but left unadorned might not be enough to carry a full set) but also in acting as sparkplug yin to Cully's more low-key yang, adding her usual engaging presence on stage.

The first song established the mood and fit everything just right into the churchy space before it segued into a cover of Michael Hurley's "Werewolf". There were five originals besides that — the best of the bunch was probably "Arctic Radio", described by Cully as being "about what songs sound like when there's no one there to listen to them", again invoking that sense of spare loneliness that suffused the set.

But still, this was more a celebration than a gloom-fest. There were lots of friends from the BP circle around — not just musicians, but also artists like Jeff Garcia, who had created a fab silkscreened poster for the show. And as the set closed with "Chair on Fire", probably the most uptempo of the lot, the moment felt about exactly right.

Listen to a track from this set here.

Filling up the space with a decidedly different sound was Hybrid Moments, the rawk/improv duopoly of Matt Nish-Lapidus and Wavelength founder Jonny Dovercourt (both on guitars). Showing some continuity with their past sets — which tend to include some off-the-cuff structured improvisations — the pair opened with the more song-like "The Pugilist", which works off a central riff, tossed back and forth between the two guitars.

Things were more experimental after that, like the follow-up that built up to a shred-y dialogue before imploding into a metaloid grind. The set's second improvisation found Nish-Lapidus treating his guitar with drumsticks, one jammed under the strings and another used for percussion while Dovercourt created a churning white noise underneath. That slowly morphed into a cover of their band's titular song, The Misfits' "Hybrid Moments", with vox from Dovercourt, who was rocking a Tardis pendant on a chain around his neck.

Just as the music surfs the line between songs and improvisations, it also exists on both sides of the "environmental" barrier: there was something here for the people who wanted to sit down and pay attention, but it also filled the space nicely for the larger cohort who were standing around at the back of the room, treating this as aural wallpaper decorating their social interactions.¹

Listen to an excerpt from this set here.

"We really advocate body movement... mind movement.... move however you'd like to." This was the opening foray from Isla Craig, T.O.'s 2011 face of positivity. As The Deeep² got started, her own movement was limited, as she crouched on the floor above her loop pedal, building up layers of wordless vocals like pillars of clouds. Victoria Cheong was also down-low to the stage, twisting knobs while Wolfgang Nessel was a bit more mobile, wandering around with his bass.

There were three heads nodding as the music slowly built up, with the Deeep trademarks of looped skankin' riddims underneath Craig's vocals creating a slithering, watery vibe. Appropriate for a band celebrating the release of a 12" single, all the jams here felt like extended versions, with songs and sounds flowing back and forth.

During "Mudd", once the stew was simmering, Craig took her own advice, jumping down off the stage and walking up the central aisle to check on the sound from the floor. The mix in the room was, perhaps, a little too clear for the band's music, given its affinity for low-end glurp. Still, as the set progressed, it became more groove-friendly — though in a sort of molasses-y way — and Matt Cully led the charge to fill in the zone in front of the stage with dancers, Nessel quickly jumping down to join them.

With further ebb and surge, there was a break for the quieter reverse-warped mindscape of "Dreams". Ultimately, the set featured pretty much all of the band's repertoire, ending with a big dance jam leading into "Slow Coaster". A fitting celebration of the band's forward-looking vision.³

Listen to a track from this set here.

And as the show ended, the venue was nicely located for me to amble over to Spadina to go in the Kendal Avenue subway entrance, and nod hello to local hero Joyce Wieland's caribou before stepping on my train home. What more could you ask for?

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Wave-heads have a lot to look forward to in the next couple months. WL 532 goes tomorrow night (Saturday, January 7, 2012) at The Garrison, sporting a rocking lineup with Del Bel, The Hollow Earth, Persian Rugs and RLMDL. A quiter, sit-down show, featuring Thieves, Giant Hand and Holiday Rambler, will be on hand at Placebo Space (one of the city's comfiest venues!) on Friday, January 27, 2012. All of that is leadup to one of the most wonderful times of the year, as Wavelength's annual festival is set once again for the Family Day Weekend (February 16 to 19). And if that weren't enough, longtime Wavelength MC Doc Pickles is reclaiming Sunday nights with a new series called Crosswires that launches on February 26th, the weekend after the festival.

¹ No word on anything coming up from the Hybrid Moments camp, but I will note that This Mess, one of Matt Nish-Lapidus's other projects (who really nailed it at their debut show) will be playing the Silver Dollar on Thursday, January 26, 2012 on a bill alongside Cartoons and Hussy.

² The extra "e" was for "extra long set", the band playing for over fifty minutes, including several new/unreleased songs.

³ Such deeep waters can not stay still. These days, you can still find Isla Craig being Isla Craig, as well as working in a whole armload of other bands. VG and WG, meanwhile, have been crafting some experiments as HVYWTR, with some early results emerging a couple months ago — word on the street is that some tapes and live shows are on the horizon.