TRANSCANADARADIO is proud to celebrate Canada’s Current Cultural artists and their locations! Traveling across Canada’s vast surface and finding the best of the under and above-ground artists, and where to check them out in your favorite Canadian city! Pack your bags! We’re going on a road trip!
Title: Christmas With Caridad Location: Zaphod Beeblebrox, Ottawa Link out: Click here Date: 2008-12-19
Zaphod Beeblebrox is holding “Christmas with Caridad,” featuring Cubano Son and starring salsa diva Caridad Cruz. Since immigrating to Canada in 2003 from her native Cuba, where she sang professionally for 10 years, Caridad Cruz has attracted a lot of attention. Her debut Canadian performance with Jane Bunnett’s Spirits of Havana was broadcast nationally on CBC’s ‘Global Village’ and inspired a Globe and Mail reviewer to applaud her “warm ocean of a voice.” Caridad’s performance has also been described as “best heard live,” so it should be a good time at Zaphod’s. Also, I know a lot of the strippers from Barefax are into Latino music, so maybe they’ll also stop by.
Here are the event details:
Friday, December 19, 2008
Zaphod Beeblebrox
27 York Street, Ottawa
Age 19+/ General Admission ADVANCE TICKETS: $10.00 at TicketWeb.
Click here for the flyer.
Title: MALA Location: The Lamplighter Pub, Vancouver Link out: Click here Date: 2008-12-14
Mala is one half of Digital Mystikz: South London’s popular drum and bass duo. Pioneers of the thriving dubstep scene, Digial Mystikz are producers & DJs as well as label owners and promoters. These renaissance men unleash a dense concentration of good vibrations that would make Jah Shaka and Aba Shanti equally proud.
Digital Mystikz’ record label DMZ is a flagship for the movement. They have the respect of Aphex Twin’s Rephlex label and their popularity keeps growing. Their monthly DMZ night in deepest Brixton is where spiritual explorers go for the grittiest grime aftermath, where all drops come spiked with bouncing natty dreads and rude MCs.
Mala is dubstep royalty. He’s playing a Sunday night at The Lamplighter Pub in Vancouver because according to the organizers: “it’s the only day in the next half-year we could bring Mala to Vancouver.” It should be a great show so check him out on December 14th in Vancouver.
Moonstarr is back with a vengeance. After a long minute making beats for other peeps like Voice, LAL, Daedelus, DJ Kentaro, Zero DB and scoring music for film, our man heeded the calls and poured energies into his latest album, Instrumentals Forever. This is his second full-length release on Public Transit Recordings. Definitely a treat for all the heads, given the worldwide rounds and critical acclaim that followed his bossabreakbeat and synth-infused debut album Dupont earlier this century. Check it out!
If you’re still unaware, Sway, an upcoming media figure and musician from Toronto, launched a youth music program called Outside The Box to encourage and facilitate free music lessons for underprivileged children in Toronto aged 7-13 in response to cuts in arts funding. The program has been highly successful and it is the aim of everyone involved to make it a national campaign by 2010.
The first season of classes is about to end and there will be a wrap party with a media presence on Saturday 13-December. It’d be awesome if you could help promote this event and the wonderful program. You are also, of course, invited to attend and support the event.
Full details:
Masaryk-Cowan Community Centre
220 Cowan Avenue
Toronto, ON
M6H 3Y1
11am-4pm
*All activities and recording will take place on the 2nd floor.
Jaxpratt, aka DJ Jeff LaPratt, plays a great set on pure party anthems at the Mercury Lounge on Friday nights. This month is looking a little sparse with Jaxpratt at the Merc, but only because it’s the holidays and Friday nights are being ate by other performances. Jaxpratt has made a name for himself all over the St Laurent region playing electronic hits and mixing his own unique selection of beats. If you’re in Ottawa on a Friday night, check him out at the Mercury Lounge.
The Ottawa Xpress posted an article this week about the Canadian Floor Masters and their 25th anniversary. The crew got a ton of coverage back in the day for their trip to Russia during an unstable time. The crew followed Stephen Leafloor (a.k.a. Buddha), the founder of the group, and went on to do shows as well as community work. Working with first nations peoples, CFM were giving an otherwise underground dance, a good rep. The group affiliated themselves with the New York City Breakers and did great things for putting Canada on the map for something other than having a huge land mass. Congratulations guys!
Join CBC host Alan Neal for an eclectic triple bill concert featuring four Ottawa musicians. The concert will be recorded for national broadcast on CBC Radio Two’s Canada Live! Linsey Wellman (saxophones), Mike Essoudry (drumset, percussion), Adam Duncan (guitar) and Megan Jerome (voice, piano) are graduates from the music programs at Carleton and Ottawa Universities, and are now enjoying the spaces and flavors between traditional music categories. The concert takes place at the University of Ottawa, in Frieman Hall (Perez Building), on Sunday December 14, at 2:00pm (doors open at 1:30pm). Continue reading about the upcoming live concert on CBC Radio 2
Ben Bootsma, Matthew Maaskant, Keith Stirling and Jonathan Weverink are the boys that form qr5. They’ve got a pop indie sound that’s really upbeat yet totally mellow. The band have solidified themselves as Toronto locals. They’ve played weekly shows at College Street Bar downtown. They also sold out the first week in dowtown Toronto’s Rotate This after being featured in their listening booth. qr5 also have a proclivity for charity, having played benefit shows for non-profit organisations such as the Cambodian Land Mine Relief Fund and Artists Against War. We’ll be keeping you updated about their upcoming shows and albums. Until then, you can buy their latest album Pharmakon here. The album costs $12 plus $2 for shipping.
elsiane was formed when singer/songwriter Elsieanne Caplette and drummer Stephane Sotto partnered to merge their styles into something that blends classical, jazz, rock and electronic. Stephane has a rhythmic, soft beat that nicely compliments Elsieanne’s idiosyncratic voice. Together, they make music that sounds like the soundtrack for having sex in space on your way to heaven. If you’re down, I think they’re playing either the 13th or the 20th at the Merucry Lounge in Ottawa. I’ll be sure to update.
The Break Down started back in September of 2007 when they first jammed at the Thornhill Village Festival near Toronto. In the beginning, the band consisted of drummer Jay Sussman, bassist Richard Itzkovtich and signers Jay Jones and Lilly Mason. A year and change later they were joined by Demitri Petsalakis and several shows after that Alan Zemaitis came along on keyboard. The Break Down usually perform around Toronto and we’ll be sure to update you about their upcoming shows.
