Anya M. Wassenberg's Blog: Art & Culture Maven, page 27

Worshipful Singles: Tino Ojeda - Almighty God/Poderoso Dios

Worshipful Singles:
Tino Ojeda - Almighty God/Poderoso Dios

Almighty God on Spotify Poderoso Dios on Spotify

A spiritual message gets an adult contemporary musical treatment in two new singels by pastor/singer/songwrirer Tino Ojeda. He's in the process of releasing an album through a string of singles. 

Tino Ojeda is the Worship Pastor at Emmanuel Bible Church, a vibrant Community made up of two language groups (English and Spanish).  From this ministry a collection of worship songs have been born with the express purpose of uniting cultures.

His message is one of universal love and acceptance. The tenets of Christianity are boiled down to their essence - love, faith, and leaning on God.

From the liner notes:

"I wear a bowtie because there was a bowtie-wearing news reporter in Chicago when I was a boy. My Spanish-speaking grandmother would ask me to translate the news to her (this was before Telemundo), but she only wanted to hear from Fahey Flynn who, in her estimation, was the most honest source. Years later, I realized the importance of integrity, and in this world filled with lies, the world needs to hear from the originator of Truth, Jesus Christ. My music brings a new perspective on God that reminds us He is more extraordinary and loving than we could ever imagine. A collection of songs in English and Spanish born from a bilingual church (Emmanuel Bible Church just outside of Chicago) where both language groups are prominent."

Personnel:
Tino Ojeda – Vocals/Guitar/Harmonica/Piano; Daniel Rainwater – Guitar; Aaron Keyes – Piano; Zach Smith – Bass; Ryan Siders – Drums 

Stay in touch:

Official Website: www.TinoOjeda.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/TinoOjedaMusicTwitter: https://twitter.com/TinoOjedaMusicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/tinoojeda/

Digital Platform Launch | Picanto.ca Showcases Canadian Contemporary Music

From a media release

Picanto.ca Showcases Canadian Contemporary Music

New online platform for Canadian contemporary music creators

Check out the October 14 launch party online

Toronto, ON …. On Thursday, October 14 at 7:30 pm EST, Canada’s music community came together for a virtual, musical discovery party to celebrate the launch of Picanto.ca, an innovative new digital platform for creative music content. Created by the Canadian Music Centre (CMC), Picanto.ca brings together a world of new and uncommon music from diverse genres through music videos, documentaries, educational videos, and live-streaming events. A new and exciting hub for Canadian creative artists and the music community, Picanto.ca was created by and for Canadian music lovers. 

“Discovery has always been at the heart of the Canadian Music Centre,” comments Glenn Hodgins, President & CEO, Canadian Music Centre (CMC), “About 10 years ago it was becoming clear that the world of broadcasting and recording classical, jazz, and contemporary music was in decline. Over the next decade, it would all but disappear. While we already knew that there was a need for a cohesive digital dissemination strategy for Canadian music in these genres, it has become especially important coming out of the pandemic, where the music industry has been severely impacted. Picanto.ca fills the need to create a connection that has been lost from the music back to communities and fits perfectly with the CMC’s role as a publisher, a recording label, and a champion for Canadian music.” 

On Thursday evening, event hosts Céline Peterson, a producer, artist representative, and jazz ambassador; and Marie-Annick Béliveau, an accomplished mezzo-soprano with a specialty in contemporary repertoire, showcased a selection of the platform’s nine musical categories which include: jazz/improvised; Indigenous; inter-cultural; sonic exploration/musique actuelle; electroacoustic, vocal/choral; chamber music; opera; and orchestral music. In addition to a site demonstration, the hosts sampled some of Picanto.ca’s current and diverse musical content, including drumming from Uzume Taiko, Canada's first professional Taiko group; music for three trumpet soloists and orchestra by Vancouver composer Anna Pidgorna and presented by Soundstreams; “All Could Change,” composed and performed by Montreal-based jazz vocalist Sarah Rossy; a new work by Indigenous composer Raven Chacon as performed by Vancouver’s Black Dog String quartet; and a striking video for “A Little Loopy” by Frank Horvat, performed by harpist Sharlene Wallace, to name just a few. 

Marie Annick Béliveau, mezzo-soprano (Image courtesy of the artist)

Picanto.ca – a blend of the words piquant (“having a pleasantly sharp taste or appetizing flavor”) and canto (“sing” in Italian), with an emphasis on the “can” for Canada – aims to nurture, support, and showcase Canadian creative talent at home and abroad. A hub for the contemporary music community, Picanto.ca provides a place for targeted enthusiasts who seek out contemporary music, reaching far beyond the short-form and song-based music that is already available everywhere else. It is a place for discovery of music that is contemporary, creative, and Canadian – and belongs on the international stage.

This fall, Picanto.ca invested in a pilot project for the creation of 7 new music videos which will be premiered on Picanto.ca in early 2022. The 7x Festival is the first of many projects to support artists on the new platform. Following an overwhelming response from artists and creators, 7 productions received an investment of $5,000 in video production fees.  Additional initiatives coming soon are pay-per-view videos and events, and livestreaming of performances.

Picanto.ca is made possible with support from the Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, the SOCAN Foundation, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council. The Canadian Music Centre, Tim Brady, and Le Vivier worked collaboratively to develop Picanto.ca. Many thanks to Picanto.ca Operation Lead, Stephanie Conn, and the Picanto team and staff at the Canadian Music Centre.

Dailin Hsieh Zheng, from the Canadian Music Centre BC’s Unaccompanied concert series, in partnership with Redshift Music Society of live performances of Canadian works for solo instruments.  (Photo credit: Jordan Nobles)
The Canadian Music Centre is a catalyst that connects you to the ever-evolving world of Canadian musical creation through performance, education, and promotion. The CMC provides unique resources for exploring, discovering, and performing Canadian music. We are passionate about nurturing a musical community that honours our legacy and supports the professional development of Canadian musicians and composers.  

Just For Halloween: Ghost Quartet In Concert Streaming October 29 To 31 2021

From a media release:

Exclusively For Halloween
The Return Of The Digital Production
Of The Smash Hit Stage Show
GHOST QUARTET IN CONCERT
Streaming October 29 - 31 Only!

#Hallowstream

Get Tickets

A haunted song cycle about love, death, and whisky, GHOST QUARTET IN CONCERT, a Crow's Theatre Digital Production based on the smash hit stage show, returns for a special Halloween engagement.

Featuring the original cast of Beau Dixon, Hailey Gillis, Kira Guloien, and Andrew Penner, four friends (or are they ghosts?), sing, drink, and tell stories that span seven centuries in this surreal, chamber musical of murder ballads, doo-wop, and a purgatorial intermezzo.

Written and composed by Dave Malloy, the Tony-nominated composer and creator of Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, Ghost Quartet began its life at Brooklyn’s storied Bushwick Starr, and went on to be performed at New York’s McKittrick Hotel, earning a New York Times Critic’s Pick, before taking the Edinburgh Fringe by storm in 2016. The 2019 Crow’s Theatre / Eclipse Theatre Company production at Streetcar Crowsnest was the show’s Canadian premiere.

Originally Developed and Arranged by Ghost Quartet (Brent Arnold, Brittain Ashford, Gelsey Bell, Dave Malloy), Annie Tippe, and Christopher Bowser.

GHOST QUARTET IN CONCERTWritten and Composed by Dave MalloyDirected by Marie FarsiA Crow’s Theatre Digital ProductionAll Tickets $20> Streaming October 29 to 31, 2021 @ 8pm

Canadian TV Queer-Story | SORT OF — A CBC and HBO Max original series

Canadian TV Queer-Story
SORT OF
A CBC and HBO Max original series

Premieres on CBC Gem on October 5, 2021Broadcasting on CBC TV Tuesdays starting November 9, 2021Will be available to view in the US (on HBO Max), UK, Australia, France, the Nordics and more at TBC dates

Toronto queer, trans-feminine, Muslim playwright and performer Bilal Baig (they / them) is the co-creator, co-writer and star of SORT OF, a new series streaming on CBC Gem and worldwide as of October 4.

Bilal Baig in SORT OF (Image courtesy of CBC)

Navigating life as a brown non-binary person ain't easy, even in a city as diverse as Toronto. SORT OF depicts the life of Sabi Mehboob, a gender fluid millennial. 

Life is messy, and the humour is often bittersweet. Sabi's carefully bland expression accepts everything, deflecting the many slights and discussions of "someone like you" as he slips from nanny to bartender to the youngest in a large Pakistani family to someone who's just looking for love. 

"Stupid cis-normy men and their cis-normy boners," says 7ven, Sabi's best friend, played by Amanda Cordner. 

Part-time nanny and part-time bartender, Sabi isn't exactly reaching their full potential as a human being. The story follows their attempts to lead a life as a queer / trans-feminine South Asian and Muslim, with all the layers of complications those various identities entail.

Amanda has an offer for Sabi: leave your meh lifestyle, and come with me to Berlin, the "queerest place in the galaxy" rent-free. 

It sounds like the greatest opportunity...or does it?

Bilal Baig and Aden Bedard in SORT OF (Image courtesy of CBC)

Sabi as a character is entirely believable, and devoid of the cringe worthy stereotypes that too often go along with portrayals of non-binary characters of any kind. That's where representation is the key.

As a performer, Bilal Baig is both authentic and sympathetic, exposing both the vulnerabilities and strengths of the character, and not afraid to show contradictions or weaknesses.

In the real world, Baig works with kids in underserved neighbourhoods to in the areas of creative writing, literacy, and combatting Islamophobia through the arts. That ease with children shows, and Sabi's relationship with the kids they nanny is the warm heart of the series. 

I'd describe it as a drama with comedy sprinkled into the mix, a coming of age story about different kinds of transitions, and a central question that will resonate with many people: is it possible to live a truly authentic life, and what exactly does that look like?

And, of course, will Sabi go to Berlin?

The series will make queer history as the first (Canadian) primetime TV series with a queer / trans-feminine South Asian and Muslim performer in the lead role  — as well as featuring one of the first non-binary lead characters on mainstream North American TV. The series proudly boasts a racially, culturally, trans and gender diverse team in front of and behind the camera. 

CBC and HBO MAX Original Series
Produced by Sienna Films/Sphere Media. Images courtesy of CBC.
Produced with the Participation of the Canada Media Fund (CMF).
Distributed Internationally by Sphere Media Distribution/Abacus Media Rights.

I Elect: Power Every Four Years (A voting rights film) At the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival In November 2021

 With material from a media release:

I Elect: Power Every Four Years
A voting rights film
At the 36th Annual Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival

Part of the "Machiavellian" FLIFF36 Shorts Program

Check Out The Schedule

Carey Brianna Hart's performance and monologue brings hot button political issues down to a human perspective in the short film, I Elect: Power Every Four Years. The voting rights protest film was selected to screen as part of the 36th annual Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, running in-person and digitally November 5 to 21, 2021.

The short film will screen it three times in November for festival audiences at two theatres:

Thu, Nov 4th, 1:00 PM @ Cinema Paradiso HollywoodTue, Nov 9th, 12:00 PM @ Gateway CinemaThu, Nov 18th, 3:00 PM @ Gateway Cinema

The film I Elect: Power Every Four Years has also won awards nationwide, including "Best Original Story" at the New York Film Awards, "Best Actress in a Leading Role," the 2021 Awareness Festival, the 2021 Whistleblower Summit and Film Festival Awards, the 2021 "Liberation / Social Justice / Protest Award" from The IndieFEST Film Festival, and more.

Filmed during the COVID pandemic to protest against the attempts to suppress voting rights, the one-act, one-woman, theatrical scene is originally from a stage play that has been adapted to film and is 26 minutes long. 

The scenario

In the grip of the COVID pandemic, just days before the 2020 presidential election when there was so much apprehension in the community, a woman in Miami recalls her shock four years ago on the previous election night of 2016, with renewed feelings of dread about this time around. The recollection of that blistering night as she watched those fateful election results sparks a memory that shatters her nerves ‒ as we witness her working her way through to a revelation of personal power.

Alone now, out of work and losing hope because of COVID-19’s chokehold on America, she struggles to breathe through painful memories in front of the video camera she has set up at home to record her message. As a way out of this downward spiral, she decides to make a video message to her fellow voters. She decides to give testimony to power. The power of voting.

It's an emotional journey into the reality of institutional racism, and the vital importance of voting rights. 

"I ELECT: Power Every Four Years" is a one-act, one woman show created and written by Bill Spring. The role of Bella is brilliantly performed by Carey Brianna Hart, who delivers a tour de force monologue. Ricky J. Martinez directed the film version of this project. Produced by Jose Lima. The Director of Photography is Dennise Perez. Location assistance provided by Locust Projects.

Jazz Reflections | June Garber: Off the Carousel (Independent / September 17, 2021)

Jazz Reflections
June Garber: Off the Carousel
(Independent / September 17, 2021)

Toronto-based jazz vocalist June Garber looks back on life with her fourth album Off the Carousel, her first record in five years.

Stream or Download at the Link

“My new album Off the Carousel was released on September 17, 2021. More than any other album I have ever done, this one encapsulates a mood, a whole experience. I wanted the album to reflect my life’s journey, on roads both rough and smooth," says Garber in a media release.

Jazz vocalist June Garber's Off The Carousel is a lush and romantic album of orchestral jazz in the classic style. The focus, rightly so, is her expressive soprano. The release was recorded during the COVID pandemic.

“Life is a journey..a wild carnival ride. And as the carousel slows...there is so much gratitude for the exhilaration!”

The song selection is eclectic, from well-known hits like Windmills Of Your Mind to lesser known gems. Curt Lewis' He Never Mentioned Love, rarely recorded, falls into the latter category. Here, it's elevated by a guitar solo like liquid gold by Jake Langley. Come To Me High is a premiere recording of the soulful ballad by British songwriter Rumer.

Just for a Thrill, a duet with powerhouse Jackie Richardson, nicely showcases both vocalists. Spain, the Artie Maren/Al Jarreau/Chick Corea/Joaquin Rodrigo piece, reveals a darker edge to Garber's voice in a Bossa Nova rhythm.

From June Garber:

“The title Off the Carousel reflects these experiences and a myriad of related thoughts –

Is it a feeling of dizziness and weak-leggedness to finally stand on terra firma?
Is it leaving something behind?
Is it finally a realization of what is real?

Is life’s ride slowing down, with gratitude for the exhilaration and with so much hope for those whose journey is beginning?

I don’t know really. Maybe it’s all of these emotions that enrich and add texture to our lives."

It's one of the musical gems to emerge from the pandemic. 

Personnel
June Garber: vocals; Lou Pomanti: keyboards (all tracks, except #6); Mark Rogers: bass (1,4,5,7); Steve Heathcote: drums (1,2,3,7); Jake Langley: guitar (1,4,6); Drew Jurecka: strings (1,2,3,4,5); William Sperandei: trumpet (7); Robyn Black: background vocals.

Stay in touch:

https://www.instagram.com/junegarbermusic/https://twitter.com/junegarbermusichttps://www.facebook.com/junegarbermusic

Eclectic Innovative Vocalism | Pamela Z: A Secret Code (Neuma Records / June 18, 2021)

Eclectic Innovative Vocalism
Pamela Z: A Secret Code
(Neuma Records / June 18, 2021)

Stream/Buy At The Link

Inspiration comes from everyday experience for vocal and musical innovator Pamela Z. The sounds of a typewriter, birds, the buzz of an airport check-in desk - they're all fodder for her musical imagination.

Her approach to song is idiosyncratic, sometimes like breathlessly sung poetry, other times, layered in loops of word and sound. She can make music out of virtually anything, it seems. 

Each track establishes a rhythmic idea and/or motif, and then plays with it, enlarges it. It's the kind of concept that can, and does, become gimmicky in lesser hands. Here, the results are compelling, even haunting in some passages.

There are sprinklings of what fellow composer Anne Lockwood calls her "surreal humour" in the liner notes - like the sounds of Typewriter, and in Other Rooms, an inane monologue. 

Quatres Couches/Flare Stains and A Piece of π are standout tracks that create an absorbing web of sound that weaves you, the listener, inside of them. Site Four builds drama with sound only, an insistent, throbbing pulse that runs through the piece.

It's vocalism unfettered by any sense of formal or theoretical restriction, and woven into pure expression.

A Secret Code is her third solo album after Echolocation (1988), and A Delay is Better (2004).

Heaven Inside A Cistern | Philip Blackburn: Justinian Intonations (Neuma Records / May 21, 2021)

Heaven Inside A Cistern
Philip Blackburn: Justinian Intonations
(Neuma Records / May 21, 2021)

Buy/Stream It On Bandcamp

Many compositions are inspired by specific places or spaces. But, has there ever been one before this inspired by the inside of a cistern?

The impetus for Justinian Intonations began as an acoustic test of the tones inside one of several ancient cisterns lurking beneath the streets of Istanbul.

The cisterns in question are centuries old. Carved out beneath the city of Istanbul, they are essentially gigantic underground tanks made of marble and granite, with stone columns that support an arched roof. They were built to store the water filtering in from aqueducts through the area. The recording was made in the so-called Theodosius and Basilica cisterns from the 5th and 6th centuries. Some include carvings that, when the cisterns were in use, would have been underwater. 

Blackburn analyzed the resonant frequencies, and what he found listening with headphones changed the direction of the project. He wove electric and acoustic sounds, adding vocalist Ryland Angel's voice to the mix, and it becomes a truly unique sonic experience. 

Sounds become ghostly, weightless in the environment. 

Out Beyond: a Call for Non-Judgment (2017), for conch shell chorus and voice, on a text by Persian mystic, Rumi is the first piece on the recording. The piece is fluid and expressive, pushing the edges of expression.

Cistern, Istanbul (Image by Salih Altuntaş from Pixabay) 

Grammy nominated British counter-tenor Ryland Angel’s has performed with major opera companies throughout the world, along with over 60 recordings. His voice is the emotional heart of the music, where the sounds shimmer, ebb and flow like tides in a dreamscape.

There is drama and tension within the flow, but just like in a river, the flow itself is never interrupted or ended.

Justinian Intonations is a seamless marriage of electroacoustic elements, ideal for meditation, relaxation and mindfulness.

Ambient & Alive | David Dunn: Verdant (Neuma Records / May 21, 2021)

Ambient & Alive
David Dunn: Verdant
(Neuma Records / May 21, 2021)

Note: This binaural recording is best heard with headphones Buy/Stream at the Link

What does such a composer do during lockdown, cut off from other musicians and artists?

If you're David Dunn, you turn inward. He recorded the sound of his own backyard in Santa Fe, New Mexico, using it as the basis for an entire composition. The result is a 78:44 piece that can serve as peaceful and soothing ambient environmental music, but also stands as a contemporary music.

The piece exudes a kind of optimistic modernism, if such a thing is possible, with late 20th century overtones of abstraction and bits of tonality. The ambient sounds of birds and insects blend in and out of electronic violins and drones, among other sounds. The composition unfolds in organic waves. 

Dunn talks about the project in a release.

"On its surface Verdant probably seems, in its extreme embrace of tonality, reminiscent of much late 20th century music (Tenney, Riley, Oliveros, Behrman, Budd, Feldman, etc.) and many popular “ambient” genres. However, beneath this veneer there are possibly some other, less familiar ideas. The intent may have more to do with the idyllic and elegiac effect sought by the English Pastoral composers after the violence of World War I and not merely a Post-modern conceit. While the motivation for Verdant was largely a response to the dark circumstances of 2020, it hopefully speaks to a more optimistic future and the favorable attention to that which we might otherwise take for granted."

Dunn is typically better known for interdisciplinary work, often blending art and science into fields like acoustic ecology, bioacoustics, interspecies communication and scientific sonification. 

His innovative body of work includes projects for sensory enhancement in hospitals and other healthcare environments, and the use of sound in managing forest and agricultural pests. One previous project saw him inventing a microphone sensitive enough to record tiny sounds like the one bark beetles make chomping on trees, among other things.

From Cuba With Love: Sonidos Cubanos 2 (Neuma Records / June 18, 2021)

From Cuba With Love:
Sonidos Cubanos 2
(Neuma Records / June 18, 2021)

Stream/Download at the Link

The work of five contemporary composers is featured on this new release from Neuma Records. Together, they illuminate the depths of compositional talent of artists of Cuban descent. 

Flores Chaviano's NiFe is a sombre tone poem, an appropriately elegiac tribute to victims of a 1995 mining accident in Spain. Ivette Herryman Rodríguez's Memorial sets Chrstina Rossetti's poem 'When I am dead, my derest,' to music. It offers a gorgeous interplay between soprano, (Grammy-nominated soprano Lindsay Kesselman), piano and cello with drama and power. Odaline de la Martinez' Litanies is ominous and atmospheric, building subtley in layers of orchestral colour. Martinez is well known in London's music circles, particularly as a conductor, and the performance by ensemble Lontano is sensitive and expressive. 

There are five excerpts from Sabrina Peña Young's Libertaria Song Cycle, all very brief, but nonetheless they tell a compelling story, from the fraught emotion of Mother Imagined to the angry exchange of Absolution.

Eduardo Morales-Caso's Evolving Spheres spotlights the bass clarinet in a duet with piano, showcasing the melodic and delightful sonority of the unusual instrumentation.

All the composers on Sonidos Cubanos 2 (the second in a Latin Grammy-nominated series) are recipients of the prestigious Cintas Foundation Fellowship that recognizes excellence among artists of Cuban descent. The collection is produced by noted composer Orlando Jacinto Garcia.