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 who are rooted in, Soul, Funk, Reggae, Beats, House, Breaks and all that afro-Jazz… and where to check them out in your favorite Canadian city! Pack your bags! We’re going on a road trip!
Joni NehRita passed through Ottawa tonight promoting her new Cd “A fine time”. The atmosphere at the Mercury lounge was comfortable and laid back, those present enjoyed the soulful voice of Joni. She was accompanied by three musicians who have been touring with her. The chemistry between them was interesting to see; the up beat Jazz drumming and funky bass lines gave it the kick it needed to make it a great show. Joni’s Cd is well worth the buy, as it sets the mood for a pleasant night. Check out her Myspace here.
Between time on tour through the US, her Shadow Songs project with visual artist Shary Boyle spanning Canada, and creating compositions for television, film, and contemporary dance, Winnipeg’s Christine Fellows produced her fourth full-length album, Nevertheless (Six Shooter Records 2007), a stunning collection of songs celebrating spinsters, pigeons, the apocalypse and the power of art.
Spin Magazine, Pitchfork, and noted musicians like John Darnielle (of The Mountain Goats) hailed her 2005 album, Paper Anniversary, and Fellows’ song cycle/score for The Spinster’s Almanac was nominated for a 2007 Dora Mavor Moore Award.
She is currently dividing her time between her work as composer-in-residence at Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers (2007-08), building a pigeon coop, and touring in support of Nevertheless.
Upcoming shows:
3 Aug 2008 20:00 Sappyfest with Leanne Zacharias
Just because we ran around Toronto for a week covering Canadian musicians doesn’t mean that we can’t find great acts in our hometown of Ottawa! I was at the legendary Zaphod Beeblebrox to catch two fairly new O-town bands: The Balconies and Politique.
Laura first played a kalimba in front of real live people in August 2005. Something about her plaintive voice and speculative lyrics, combined with the crisp, metallic sounds of the kalimba, struck people’s fancy, so she played another show. And then a few more!
Since then, she’s released two EPs, joined the Hidden Cameras and Henri Fabergé & the Adorables, acted as Music Director for the New York staging of Maggie MacDonald’s apocalyptic musical, “The Rat King,” been nominated for SOCAN’s inaugural ECHO Songwriting prize, and played shows in cities across North America.
Early this year, Laura was signed to Paper Bag Records, who re-released “Earth Sciences” in February 2008 with a remix by Joshua Van Tassel (Stop Die Resuscitate). With the completion of her debut full-length album - slated for an August ‘08 release - Laura is touring across Canada to check out the cities she didn’t get a chance to see in detail before. Please say ‘hi’ to her if you see her in your town or major metropolitan area!
Confederation Park was the home to legendary Herbie Hancock with his Grammy awarded Album “River: The Joni Letters”. The lyrics from the album “River” were written by Canadian artist Joni Mitchell. Herbie Hancock graced the stage with two fantastic vocalists, Sonya Kitchell and Amy Keys. Sonya Kitchell’s sound is a cross between Norah Jones, Ella Fitzgerald & Joni Mitchell. While Amy Keys a sound not unlike Tina Turner and Christina Aguilera.
There was definitely no lack of genius musical talent last night! Herbie Hancock was accompanied by Dave Holland on Bass, Chris Potter on Saxophone, Vinnie Colaiuta on Percussion and Lionel Loueke on Guitar.
As you may or may not recall, the NXNE event I was looking forward to the most was seeing Julie Doiron perform at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern. Well, let me tell you, that day was working very hard against me. I was having some accommodation issues so I was lugging around all of my equipment with me in a backpack. It then proceeded to totally down pour — thunder and lighting and cats and dogs and all that.
So here’s me, running in 6 inches of water from venue to venue in flip flops with a bag full of electronics while the rain just absolutely pours down on me. Doug got absolutely stopped up by the rain on his way into Toronto, so I was trying to hit as many venues I could and check out as many bands that night as I could. Around 10:45pm I decided to make a run for it (in what seemed to be the heaviest part of the down pour) from the Velvet Underground down the street to The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern. To continue reading about Julie Doiron’s show at the Horseshoe, click here.
Caught these guys sort of by accident while walking through Yonge-Dundas Square on Thursday on my way to see Sabrina Korva, Stand, and David Martel play at Sunrise Records.
They certainly caught my attention with their rockin’ guitar licks and the massive crowd that had gathered to watch them play.
On Saturday night Doug and I got a chance to see Hey Rosetta at the Horseshoe Tavern. I really enjoyed these guys. The vocals were stellar! And I’m a sucker for string instruments, man. The upright bass and violin definitely won me over. And it’s always great to see a lead singer get totally in to the music they’re making - shows a real love for the craft.
If you haven’t seen them perform before, I suggest you do. But if you absolutely can’t, do yourself a favour and watch the above video.
