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: Femi Kuti Location: Montreal, Toronto Link out: Click here Start Date: 2009-01-14 End Date: 2009-01-15
Femi Kuti accompanied his father’s musicians until 1986 when he went solo and began his own band. For the next 20 years, Femi developed an afrobeat with soul-jazz nuances that is entirely his own. He sang with Motown back in the early 90’s and then took a radical shift of musical stylings in 2001 when he joined forces with rappers Mos Def and Common for the album “Fight to Win.” Femi also has his own nightclub, the Shrine, located in Lagos, Nigeria. The Shrine is a political hot potato as well as a great place to hear cutting-edge African beats. You can check it all out in Femi’s DVD “Live at the Shrine” or hear him when he comes to Canada in January of 2009.
Title: Ben Wilson Location: Tranzac, Toronto Link out: Click here Date: 2008-11-29
Ben Wilson is from Ottawa but he’s done a lot of traveling in his day. His album Staying Places, is dedicated to his travels. Written, recorded, produced and mixed by Wilson in his own basement studio, the artist demonstrates a motivated and independent attitude. Take the time to hear about his unique perspective on the places he’s been both physically and mentally. He’ll be playing the following venues:
11-24 – Peterborough, Ontario – The Spill
11-26 – London, Ontario – The Alex P. Keaton
11-27 – Kingston, Ontario – BarNone
11-29 – Toronto, Ontario – Tranzac
Title: Caridad Cruz Location: Black Sheep Inn, Wakefield (Ottawa) Link out: Click here Date: 2008-11-30
Caridad Cruz Vilain was born in Havana, Cuba, into a musical family deeply rooted in Afro-Cuban culture. Her family was always musically inclined and her father was an accomplished professional violinist. Caridad’s career began in 1993 as she played venues across Trinidad, Cuba, Costa Sur and Ancón. In 2007, her career took off on the Ottawa scene with appearances in the National Arts Centre’s Quebec Scene festival, the Ottawa Jazz Festival and the Ottawa Bluesfest. Check out her blend of Cuban and French music on Sunday, November 30th at the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield.
Title: DJ Colette Location: Reflections Cabaret, Halifax Link out: Click here Date: 2008-12-31
DJ Colette is super cute with a heartwarming demeanor. For the past ten years she’s been with the SuperJane troupe with fellow Chicagoan DJs Dayhota, Lady D. and Heather. On top of that, her independent tracks have been incredibly successful. Her album Hypnotized became the most downloaded dance album on iTunes (US). Other songs like “What Will She Do for Love” became Billboard’s No. 1 Dance Club Play Single as well as being licensed to The Devil Wears Prada soundtrack. You can check out her latest stuff when she plays Reflections Cabaret in Halifax on New Years Eve.
Title: Miguel Migs Location: MOD Club, Toronto Link out: Click here Date: 2008-11-21
Miguel Migs has been in countless house compilations, not to mention his TV appearances like Six Feet Under, Sex in the City, and MTV’s Road Rules and Real World. His tracks fill nightclubs but his fan base are just as interested in chilling out with his albums too. “It’s music you can enjoy and listen to at home, in the club, or anywhere. Not necessarily just to rock the dance floor.” He’s been around the world playing his over 100 original productions and remixes. Check out what the hype is about at MOD Club in Toronto on Friday, November 21st.
Title: Joubin Location: Stereobar, Montreal Link out: Click here Date: 2008-11-30
Joubin is Persian and from Montreal. He’s had a successful career that has included producing remixes for Chus & Ceballos, Victor Calderone, D-Formation, Lula, DJ Paulo, That Kid Chris, Carlos Fauvrelle, Midnight Society and others. He puts on a great house set and he’ll be playing Le Stereo in Montreal on November 30th.
Title: Team Canada Location: Quebec City Link out: Click here Date: 2008-12-05
Team Canada are DJ Grandtheft from Montreal and DJ D.R.one. The two began their careers together throwing rip-roaring parties on the East Coast and released their first album together in 2004 called “Classic Material Volume 1″. They’ve gotten so big that even DJ Z-Trip played one of their tracks, without a shoutout I must add. Recently, the group signed with DJ AM’s management team in LA joining a strong team of AM, A-Trak, Steve Aoki, Eli Escobar, Stretch Armstrong, DJ Spider, DJ Fashen, Kevin Scott, DJ Scene and Pase Rock. Team Canada are signing their own DJs too with Jr. Flo (Toronto) Illo (Ottawa) Pump (Calgary) and Hedspin (Vancouver), forming their own crew/management agency: The Eh! Team. Check out them out in Quebec City on December 5th where they’ll be playing club bangers like the one embedded below.
Title: Marie-Josee Houle Location: Avant-Garde, Ottawa Link out: Click here Date: 2008-12-06
Marie-Josee Houle was born in Val d’Or, Quebec and raised in Edmonton, Alberta. Skilled in the accordion, she sings and writes in both English and French, making her sets a beautiful blend of English and French Canada. Her music combines classical, punk rock, and French cabaret sensibilities into one sultry stew of sound. Houle’s solo debut, Our Lady of Broken Souls, won Best Folk Album with the Ottawa Xpress over artists such as Jim Bryson and Andrea Simms Karp. With the help of Canadian and Norwegian bands, as well as producer Marius Gengenbach, she finished her second album in 2008 while in Oslo, Norway. Marie-Josee Houle will be playing one of my favorite little Russian-themed venues, Avant-Garde, on Saturday, December 6th.
[UPDATE: Maya is playing a live show on CBC radio 1 on DEC 5th. We'll keep you updated]
Maya is one of Toronto’s young and upcoming musical talents. Her music is a blend of Jazz/Soul/House and Classical, making for both relaxing tracks and club anthems. Mayism got her career started very early. At 15, she had traveled around the world as both a soloist and chamber player. In recent years, she’s been the lead vocals for a TCR favorite – King Sunshine. Now, she’s launching her solo career and we’re sure she’s going to be huge. Check out the following tracks and judge for yourself!
Title: LAL Location: Wrong Bar, Toronto Link out: Click here Date: 2008-12-04
Lal, is Nick Murray on electronics, Ian de Souza on Bass, Rosina on vocals and Rakesh Twari on percussion. The band has been known to dislike being labeled a trip-hop band, and would rather describe their music as “the sort of music that you would hear in an opium den–something that can take you to a different place.” In any case, the band is a diverse blend of talent and musical stylings that sounds great in any night club or lounge. The band will be playing Wrong Bar in Toronto on December 4th so check them out.
