Recording: qeTTe fossa

Artist: qeTTe fossa

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Jama (Ministry of Phonic Services presents), October 18, 2025.

qeTTe fossa - [excerpt]

Moving inside after their month-long outdoor "Back to School" festival, Ministry of Phonic Services pulled together this night of sound poetry (and other noises) mixing international guests and local talent at The Jama (a new operation taking over the former Smiling Buddha). qeTTe fossa, a recent nom de guerre from the mysterious/multitalented Lenny opened things up, here in duo formation with drummer Mateos Labbé-Phelan in support. Moving from rising drones to impassioned soul shouts (and moving from the stage into the crowd), this showed off more of Lenny's boundless ssense of unfettered invention.

Recording: Mustafa Rafiq & Friends

Artist: Mustafa Rafiq & Friends

Song: [excerpt, in two parts]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Music Hosted by Karen Ng), August 19, 2025.

Mustafa Rafiq & Friends - [excerpt, part 1]

Mustafa Rafiq & Friends - [excerpt, part 2]

Visiting from Edmonton, Mustafa Rafiq set the stage for this group encounter with some tasty Tuareg-inspired guitar work, that infinite moving-but-staying-put melodic sensibility creating space for the local musicians to swirl around. (Those Toronto connections were: Sara Constant, flutes; Marilyn Yogarajah, trumpet and kalimba; Karen Ng, saxophone and percussion; and Lenny, voice and percussion.)

You can check out the full set over on youtube:

Recording: Mustafa Rafiq, Marilyn Yogarajah & Lenny

Artist: Mustafa Rafiq, Marilyn Yogarajah & Lenny

Song: He is Quiet and So Am I [poem by Mahmoud Darwish]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Music Hosted by Karen Ng), August 19, 2025.

Mustafa Rafiq, Marilyn Yogarajah & Lenny - He is Quiet and So Am I

This show collected together some of Edmonton experimentalist Mustafa Rafiq's Toronto connections; the whole group would play a set together, but the evening started with solo, duo, and trio mini-sets. For this trio encounter, Rafiq used Mahmoud Darwish's poem to provide a framework to improvise around.

You can check out some more from the first half's mini-sets over on youtube:

Recording: Pigeon Dance

Artist: Pigeon Dance

Song: [excerpt from first piece]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #98), December 3, 2024.

Pigeon Dance - [excerpt from first piece]

I asked Victor O to put something together for TCB and be responded with this should-be-a-full-time-band trio, with Clay on percussion/flute and Lenny on keybs/vox/chaos. Sounding like a late-night out-take from the In a Silent Way sessions when the acid was really kicking in, this was a pretty excellent psychedelic journey.

You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:

[Track Could Bend is back at Wenona on Tuesday (January 7th) with sets from Lostworldsounds, future proof, and Hex-a-Decimal. And get ready for February, with two big TCB special celebrations!]