Anya M. Wassenberg's Blog: Art & Culture Maven, page 47

From Cumbancha: The Best Music From Across The World Of 2019 (A Playlist)

From Cumbancha:
The best of 2019
Too much music to keep up? We've got the playlist for you!

There's an overwhelming amount of music out there and keeping up with it can be daunting. Cumbancha head and Putumayo researcher Jacob Edgar has reviewed exorbitant amounts of music this year and made a playlist of his favorite songs from around the world released in the past year or so. You can check out the playlist for free on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music and Deezer. We'd love to hear what you think!

Best World Music 2019 Playlist

• Choose Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music and Deezer

SEMPRE: Ian Maksin new solo album release January 5 2020 & Tour

From a media release:

SEMPRE: a New Dimension
Ian Maksin new solo album release: January 5, 2020
Tour dates in NYC, Western Canada & San Francisco (See below)
• Stream it on Spotify
• Stream it on Apple Music
• Tickets to all tour dates

Having toured more than one hundred cities worldwide in the last year only, Russian-born Chicago-based cellist, composer and multilingual vocalist Ian Maksin, known for pushing boundaries of the cello well beyond its known scope and blending many genres together, is coming to NYC on January 5 to present his new album of all original instrumental music for cello. The album will include 9 tracks scored for multiple cellos, some with addition of percussion.

From Ian Maksin:

SEMPRE (Italian for always or forever) - a new dimension of infinity. I heard the cello for the first time when I was five years old. I closed my eyes and instantly got transported into an entirely new dimension where there was neither time nor space. I became overwhelmed with emotion of happiness to the point I wanted to cry. It felt like the sound was coming from deep inside human soul rather than a wooden box. I could no longer imagine my life without the cello. It was then when began my musical journey which is going on already more than thirty years. At some point I began to realize that my own music became the same kind of magic and healing force for a great number of people regardless of their race, religion or age. It became clear to me that music is one of very few things given to us that can bring us together, comfort, and inspire us to become kinder.



SEMPRE is an attempt to tune to a universal wavelength that will give us access to unlimited source of love, harmony and peace. May the sound of the cello, in its purest form, travel inside the deepest corners of the soul and fill them with its life-giving vibrations. May the simple caressing melodies become medicinal and consoling to those who need it, and may the become wings to those who are full of joy.

Drawing inspiration from all of my favorite sources - from music of the Renaissance and Baroque to works of contemporary composers such as Philip Glass, Ludovico Einaudi, Yann Tiersen and Leonid Desyatnikov, I wrote this music and breathed into it everything that is my life: mountains, ocean, sky, woods and big cities. Some of the compositions are tied to earthly landmarks - Paris, Vancouver, St. Petersburg, Yerevan, Lake Baikal; others - completely outside spacial dimensions. May this music make us all a little better.

A New York album release concert will take place on January 5 at 7:00pm at Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St. Apart from presenting music from the new album, Ian Maksin will perform other latest acquisitions from him world travels: his own take on music of Mongolian and Tuvan shamans, his own original ballads as well as folk and pop songs in different languages: French, Spanish, Macedonian, Russian, Ukrainian, Armenian and more.

Other tour dates:
FRI 17 JANUARY - Hycroft Manor, Vancouver, BC, Canada
SAT 18 JANUARY - Slovenian Club, Calgary, AB, Canada
SUN 19 JANUARY - Muttart Hall, Edmonton, AB, Canada
SAT 8 FEBRUARY - 906 World, San Francisco, CA, US

Stay in touch:
www.ianmaksin.com 
www.facebook.com/cellomaxx
www.instagram.com/ianmaksin
www.twitter.com/ianmaksin
www.youtube.com/ianmaksin

Experimental world music | A.D.: the server (Independent / January 3rd, 2020)

Experimental world music
A.D.: the server
(Independent / January 3rd, 2020)
• Check It Out

Global experimental electronica...okay, I made that up just now. But, what to call this very interesting sound? Three songs are available already in advance of the album release January 3.

This is what the producers have to say about the album:

We are P.C., producers for the server, an experimental world music record set to be released January 3, 2020. We have virtually formed the impossible band!

For 3 years we traveled from city to city with a mobile studio and recorded musicians in each area, stitching the sessions together into a massive global psychedelic oil spill.

This album features 300+ unique recordings, from hi-end studio sessions to lo-fi street scraps. No matter the sound source, we ground it down into a symphony of trash. The server is pulled from the utopian visions of a mystic poet & artist from india named A.D.; his mission was to create a new system of communal composition, with the core idea that the era of the individual author is dead. He performs hypnotic broken-spoken word incantations as a tour guide on each of the 8 songs.

A.D. is a mystic madman :: a next world poet & artist from the cosmos who recites broken-spoken-word incantations on each song.

the server ::: is the debut album by A.D., a disembodied tour guide through soundscapes of rhythm & drone. His mission for this project was to create an improvisational sonic system for the 21st century.

produced and mixed by :: P.C.
mastered by :: rashad becker @ dubplates & mastering

thank u so much to all the 300 amazing and awful musicians who ontributed their sound to this album x3 x3 x3

Stay in touch:
theserverad.net
instagram.com/theserver.ad

the server by A.D.

Rock Single: New From The Happy Freuds

From The Happy Freuds
A new video: Initial outtake / pre-album version. An unusually mellow and long fantastic piece of writing from Spanish award winning poet/writer Fernando Garcin. After seeing him in a small bar in Valencia, we ended up recording this a late Sunday night.

(Fernando Garcín, letra y música. 2014-2018)

Classic Northern Soul: Marva Holiday feat Joseph Chambers - To Love Somebody

Classic Northern Soul:
Marva Holiday feat Joseph Chambers - To Love Somebody
(Independent / 31 July 2015)
• Stream it on Spotify
• Get it on CDBaby

Singer/songwriter Marva Holiday has a message.

"One of my goals is to inspire older women," says Holiday. "I will demonstrate that it IS possible to dust off one's deferred dreams and 'go for it.' Age is nothing but a number. Making music, whether mine or that of others, energizes me. I will write and perform as long as there's an audience." 

Marva Holiday and Joseph ChambersShe's dusting off a cover of the Bee Gees hit To Love Somebody that she recorded a few years ago with the help of Joe Chambers, former lead singer and songwriter of The Chambers Brothers, (probably best known for the '60s rocker 'Time'.) Joe fronts his own group in Los Angeles, The Joe Chambers Experience.

Marva's version brings the song back to its RnB roots, with a laidback groove, and the vocal lines dancing around each other, rather than the lock-step harmony of the original version. Churchy organ and bell-like piano tones create interesting layers to the melody.

Best known for the irresistible Northern soul staple "It's Written All Over My Face," singer Marva Holiday was born in San Jose, California and and raised in South Los Angeles and Compton, CA. Her half-sister Yonnine was the daughter of jazz immortal Charles Mingus, who served as a kind of surrogate father to Holiday as well.

Marva's been a singer since her teens. Back in 1971, she was a staff writer with Motown Records' publishing arm, Jobete, for two years. She retired from performing briefly in 1977 to co-found the Scrunch Music publishing company, and later her own label, Zipporah, and returned to the stage as a gospel performer.

While she took time off for family, and unknown to her, Marva was becoming a sensation in Europe in the 1970s as part of the so-called Northern Soul movement. Northern Soul reveres 1960s sould singers, and many who were not famous the first time around have seen their stars rise since then because of it.

During her hiatus from the music biz, Britain's Northern Soul movement never forgot her collaboration with Sherlie Matthews, the 1967 single Woman In My Eyes. Growing interest led to her 2005 UK debut at the Cleethorpes Mirwood Revue

Holiday's remake of "To Love Somebody" heralds a new phase in her music career which she calls "Part Two." "It's difficult for female performers who are middle-aged and older to return to the music business once it's decided that they're 'too old,'" she notes. "I was pushed out of the industry by ageism, but I'm not letting that stop me from coming right back, right now!"

Marva is planning to release an original composition, "Reflections" by early 2020, with an EP of original material to follow.

Indie Music: Rob Alexander - Being Myself (Independent / 25 November 2019)

Indie Music:
Rob Alexander - Being Myself
(Independent / 25 November 2019)
• Stream it on your favourite service

Rob Alexander is back with Being Myself, his second album of melodic pop/rock. He's got a radio-friendly sound in a classic rock mode, characterized by a big voice and lush retro pop arrangements.

He's surrounded himself with a talented band on this release, including three members of Elton John's band, and others who are current or former members of Frankie Valli's band.

The first single from the album is Never Gonna Let You Go, a song he penned when one of his closest friends passed away this past year. It's a catchy ballad with some nice sax work from Rick Keller. With an interesting melody and harmonic changes, it's a standout track on the album.

Friend of Mine (Elton's Epic) is another intriguing track with multiple layers and changes. Fed Up has an insistent groove, fueled by the play between acoustic and electric guitars and the rhythm section. It's got a sense of urgency that isn't found on the other, largely upbeat tracks.

The songs cover a range of styles and genres inside the classic/retro rock realm. I-O-U is a funky disco track with an infectious beat, and Another Love Affair is a moody rock ballad with an earworm riff.

By day, Rob is a physician anesthesiologist living in South Florida, but with this second album, it looks like music may be gaining the upper hand.

Track List:
1. This Hollywood Road
2. Being Myself
3. We Own This Town Tonight
4. Life As We Know It
5. Never Gonna Let You Go
6. Friend Of Mine (Elton's Epic)
7. Our Love Will Last Forever
8. We're Living In A Dream
9. Fed Up
10. American Love Song
11. I-O-U
12. Another Love Affair
13. Secrets & Lies
14. Kaden
15. Loved By You

Personnel:
Gabe Lopez: keyboards/drums; Robbie Angelucci: acoustic/electric guitars; Kevin Taylor: acoustic guitar; Matt Bissonette: bass; Kim Bullard: keyboards; John Mahon: drums/percussion; Rick Keller: saxophone; Brian Brigham: backing vocals

Rencontres de Bamako Photography Biennale - Nov 30 2019 to Jan 31 2020 in Mali

From a media release:

The 12th Rencontres de Bamako
Streams of Consciousness
Bamako Encounters Photography Biennale
Various venues in Bamako, Mali
November 30, 2019 to January 31, 2020
The 12th edition of Bamako Encounters Photography Biennial will be an opportunity to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the festival. The Ministry of Culture, in partnership with the Institut Français, is pleased to produce this international event. Created in 1994, Bamako Encounters is today the principal event dedicated to contemporary photography and new imagery in Africa. Bamako Encounters is a platform for the promotion and visibility of photographers and …
Curatorial team, clockwise from top: Dr. Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung (Photographer: Alexander Steffens), Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh (Photographer: Kofi Kankam), Astrid Sokona Lepoultier (Photographer: Moussa John Kalapo), Aziza Harmel.Organized by the Ministry of Culture of Mali with the support of the Institut Français, Bamako Encounters is the principal event dedicated to contemporary photography and new imagery in Africa. Internationally renowned, Bamako Encounters is a platform for discoveries, exchanges, and visibility.

Sites: Musée National du Mali, Palais de la Culture – Amadou Hampate Ba, Mémorial Modibo Keita, Conservatoire des arts et métiers multimédias Balla Fasséké Kouyaté, Galerie Médina, Musée de la Femme – Mousso Kounda, Institut Français du Mali.

Bamako Encounters, the historical and internationally renowned Biennale for Photography and Video Art on the African Continent, is proud to announce the artists who will contribute to its 25th-anniversary edition.

Conceived by Artistic Director Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung and a curatorial team comprised of Aziza Harmel, Astrid Sokona Lepoultier and Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh, with artistic advisors Akinbode Akinbiyi, Seydou Camara and scenographer Cheick Diallo, this edition is an invitation to think about the artistic practice of photography as a stream of consciousness, as well as to consider photography beyond the tight corset of the photographic; the moment of a snapshot emanates from a flow of thoughts and associations reflecting the photographer’s inner voice, which is unavoidably and constantly in motion.

Titled Streams of Consciousness, after the eponymous 1977 record by Abdullah Ibrahim and Max Roach, the Biennale will employ multiple overstandings of how such streams can be used as photographic tools. Tools that bridge the African continent with its various diasporas, in addition to conveying cultures and epistemologies. ‘Africa’ has, after all, long ceased to be a concept limited to the geographical space called Africa. Africa as a planetary concept relates to people of African origin, the I & I, that are spread over the world in Asia, Oceania, Europe, the Americas and the African continent.
Charles Okereke, Homeward, Mali, 2010. Invisible Borders Trans-African Project. Courtesy of Rencontres de Bamako.The exhibition will apply the notion of streams of consciousness as a metaphor for the flux of ideas, peoples, cultures that flow across and with rivers like the Niger, Congo, Nile or Mississippi. This edition of the Biennale listens carefully to remoteness, and invisible matters, hitherto erased voices and images, and celebrates politics and poetics of (in)animate ecosystems.

It expands on the role of collectives in African photographic practices, and the possibility of collectively telling our own stories through images, arguing for the fact that in society we are not individuals, but dividuals: divisible entities that together make up a larger collective.

In an effort to go beyond the frame of photography as a visual experience, this Biennale will engage with the textuality, the tangibility, the performativity and above all the sonicity of photography. The sonic properties of photography are envisioned as streams of consciousness wherein the photographic and phonographic intersect. How can we understand the lyricism of the photographic in that space of cognitive flux? The stream in streams of consciousness is a spectrum that encompasses the conscious and unconscious and forms a space in which the notions of consciousness and unconsciousness collapse into each other.

Roughly eighty-five artists from all over the African continent and diasporas will showcase their contributions.

An exhibition told in four verses.

Four chapters have arisen from the artist selection, each of which will take the beholder on their own distinct stream of consciousness narrative. The chapters are named after verses taken from a poem featured in the prelude of The Dilemma of a Ghost, a play written by Ama Ata Aidoo.

‘The Sudden Scampering In The Undergrowth’On Presence of the Invisible, the Remote, and other Ghostly Matters
‘For The Mouth Must Not Tell Everything’On Politics and Poetics of Ecosystems
‘We Came From Left, We Came From Right’On Displacement, Errantry and Diasporas
‘The Twig Shall Not Pierce Our Eyes’On the Possibility of Hope and the Future as Promise

Solo exhibition: Gravity & Grace from sculptor Glen LeMesurier Nov 28 to Dec 28 2019 in Montreal

From a media release:

Solo exhibition:
Gravity & Grace from sculptor Glen LeMesurier
November 28 to December 28, 2019
4881, Boul. St-Laurent; Tuesday-Sunday, 11am-7pm
28 November 28–December 28, 2019
Vernissage Thur. November 28, 5-10pm

Montreal, November 2019 – Lauded local sculptor Glen LeMesurier will be exhibiting his new creations in his solo exhibition, Gravity & Grace, from Thursday, November 28-December 28 at Galerie Grace, 4881 Boul. St-Laurent. The artist, an alchemist of metals, has once again played with and explored different textures and states of his favorite material. Along with current work from the past nine months, there will be many pieces from previous explorations in steel. The sculptor will be present throughout the month-long exhibition.
Glen LeMesurier...grindingHere, we have gravity—parts of these works are heavy and challenge their weight against the vortices of space and time, and grace—the beauty of form, the melting of metal, and the poetry of space and time. Their presence reflects a dichotomy between their massiveness and the space they inhabit. “The gravity of the situation and the works, (through color, which could be understood as emotional field) and shape, suggest at times the teleological suspension of the ethical, which Kierkegaard spoke of in his early works. To manifest these principles through steel and reflect this to a viewer is, or could be, a febrile chance to connect, but I believe the movement of gravity and grace together can do this. I hope you like these works,” said LeMesurier.

Glen LeMesurier - Gravity & GraceDrawn to the place occupied by the individual in time and space, and the individual in his relationship to the other, Glen LeMesurier is a ‘green’ artist. He has developed techniques allowing the use of recycled objects, mainly focusing on large pieces of metal. Once recycled, these materials become sculptures that link the observer to the collective memory by raising the historical and ecological questions inherent to the actual past life of the objects. The artist believes that the transformation of these materials is similar to the mutations of certain mythological characters. In this sense, this transformation can appear at once surreal, poetic, playful and fabulous.

Glen LeMesurier - Gravity & GraceFor Gravity & Grace, LeMesurier has included a series of sculptures that reflect magical thinking and expressive form in steel. Some earlier sculptures are totem-like in their construction, at times conjuring up religious alter pieces; a result of 2-months travel and research of church iconography in Rome, Florence, Pisa and Sicily.

Artist statement: glenlemesurier.com/artist-statement/www.glenlemesurier.com IG: glenlemesuriersculptor FB:  sculptor Glen LeMesurier
Glen LeMesurier - Gravity & Grace

Singer-Songwriter Danny Medakovic: The Years

Singer-Songwriter
Danny Medakovic
The Years
• Pre-Order The CD+Songbook & Double-Vinyl Release

If you like your country/roots solid and well crafted, with layers of melody and catchy hooks, and a bonus songbook AND vinyl, Danny Medakovic's upcoming release is one that you'll want to get hold of.

Danny has built a career as a singer-songwriter whose lyrics are as down to earth as the blue collar Southern Ontario city he calls home. The project was inspired by a string of challenges and difficulties among his family and circle of friends - challenges that bring out universal emotions everyone can connect with.

There are 17 tracks on the album. King of the Jungle is a standout, a retro rocker with a country flair. There's a nicely understated organ swelling up underneath the guitar picking.

Carpe Diem is another interesting track - part country, part art rock, with a combination of acoustic and pedal guitar. Shake Hands With The Devil is a sad country ballad about Romeo Dallaire and his fateful experiences in Rwanda (inspired by the book of the same name). The guitar solo wails out mournfully, adding to the effect.

Danny has a nimble voice that suits the genre, with some lovely harmonies arranged by Juno winner Mike Trebilcock. He is a solid songwriter who covers well traveled ground with polished arrangements, and a range of genres from the straight up country of The Girl Effect and This Ain't Hollywood to the reggae-infused To the Top of the Mountain, with some country-rock thrown into the mix.

He's surrounded himself with talented musicians and singers to flesh out the album, with some interesting instrumentation to add to the variety, including cello and sax on a couple of tracks.

The package is ready for pre-order now, with shipments expected to go out December 5.

Personnel:
Dan Medakovic: lead vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, organ ; Michael Scott: Drums; Alan Hinckley: Bass; Chris Altmann: Pedal Steel; Mike Trebilcock: Signing and Arranging Background Vocals; Dave Pomfret: Background Vocals on Shake Hands with the Devil, I’m a Machine, The Girl Effect, This Ain’t Hollywood; Denis Keldie: Keyboards; Mark Volkov: Sax; Lester Smith: Harmonica; Geoff Ball: Cello

Niagara-on-the-Lake Icewine Festival - Jan 19-20 & 26-27 2019

From a media release:

Niagara-on-the-Lake Icewine Festival
Saturday to Sunday Jan 19-20, 2019
Saturday to Sunday Jan 26-27, 2019
• Find Out More 
• Find Out About More Icewine Festival Fun Through January 2020

For two weekends in January, 2020, the Icewine Festival takes over historic Niagara-on-the-Lake, as part of the larger Niagara Icewine Festival that takes places over the whole winemaking region over the month of January.

It's a wonderful opportunity to sample great wines and food, and celebrate the season in style. Here are some of the signature events in Niagara-on-the-Lake:

SPARKLE AND ICE GALA
ROYAL CAMBRIDGE AT PRINCE OF WALES, NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE
January 18, 8 pm to 11 pm
An Icewine Cocktail greets you as you enter the beautiful Royal Cambridge for an exquisite evening of culinary creations and live entertainment. Prepared by Signature Kitchen Chefs, VQA wines paired with an Icewine-inspired menu will tempt your taste buds. The evening ends with a fireworks display and icewine toast in the Icewine Village on Queen Street. Tickets are $95 per person and available for purchase at niagaraonthelake.com or call 905-468-1950.

NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE ICEWINE VILLAGE
QUEEN STREET, NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE
January 19, 11 am to 5 pm & January 20, 12 pm to 5 pm
January 26, 11 am to 5 pm & January 27, 12 pm to 5 pm
Niagara-on-the-Lake’s historic Queen Street transforms into an enchanting winter wonderland as the town comes together to play their part in wine country’s annual celebration of Icewine. The Icewine will flow as the Wineries of Niagara-on-the-Lake pour Niagara’s liquid gold and the renowned Signature Kitchen Chefs will tempt your palate with savoury and sweet Icewine-inspired culinary creations. When it’s time to warm up your toes pop into one of Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Landmark Shops. Admission to Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Icewine Village is free and samples by purchase of tokens.
Ice wine grapes, frozen on the vine. Niagara Peninsula, Canada (Photo by Dominic Rivard from Bangkok, Thailand under a Creative Commons (CC) license)COCKTAIL COMPETITION
QUEEN STREET, NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE
January 19, 9 pm to 11 pm
Shaken, stirred, muddled and mixed. When Niagara-on-the-Lake’s mixologists include Icewine into their cocktail repertoire, exciting things happen. Only one person will take away the top honours, but we suggest you sample each cocktail and judge for yourself. This event has become a highlight of our festival— don’t miss this party! Admission to the Icewine Cocktail Competition is free, sampling by token.

WHITE ON ICE DINNER
THE COURTHOUSE, NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE
January 25, 7-10 PM
Celebrate Icewine at an amazing dinner in the historic Courthouse on Queen Street. The evening will start with a sparkling wine reception in the Queen Street Icewine Village under the winter sky, followed by an outstanding meal featuring premium VQA wines and mouthwatering culinary creations from the Signature Kitchen Chefs inside the grand, century-old courthouse ballroom, and concluding with an outdoor icewine toast. This will be a night to remember, with live musical entertainment and dancing! $100/per ticket and includes wine and food. Phone 905-468-1950 for more details.

From last year's Festival - the Icewine Village: