COMMUNITY NEWS
Local Zimbabwean singer/guitarist TICH MAREDZA is recording his first album and is asking for your support. Please make a contribution to this extremely talented musician’s project at http://www.rockethub.com/projects/49861-please-support-the-tich-maredza-band-album-recording.
Apparently two of the hippest places for our Canadian artists to be this year are China and India! Flutist (Celtic, Asian, Latin, Jazz & Classical) extraordinaire RON KORB was recently in Shanghai representing the province of Ontario at the 2014 China Shanghai International Arts Festival Week along with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the Montreal Symphony.
Ron is in mighty fine company as this festival has featured the likes of Placido Domingo, Yo Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman. Zubin Mehta, Cecilia Bartoli, Andrea Bocelli, Simon Rattle, James Galway, The Berlin Philharmonic, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra over the years.
Accompanied by jazz pianist Chris Donnelly. Ron entertained the appreciative audience with mainly original material, and he invited special guests the Xin-Yi Chinese Traditional Chamber Orchestra to premiere two new works.
Five other concerts were on the touring itinerary while in China including in Kunshan and also the Grand Theatre in Wuxi. An outdoor event in Wuxi was curated by the Shanghai World Music Festival. Ron will be releasing an album featuring this cross Chinese cultural music next year. Congratulations Ron! http://www.ronkorb.com/
Also in China for the China Shanghai International Arts Festival Week was the RED SKY, Canada’s world renowned and unique Indigenous dance/theatre/music company. They performed the award-winning show, Tono. Founding Artistic Director Sandra Laronde has taken her company to great heights all over the world, and inspired a whole generation of young people across this country with her passion and boundless vision. http://www.redskyperformance.com/
Meanwhile in India (and Nepal) we have several of our finest musicians making waves. Tabla master RAVI NAIMPALLY is currently in Chandigarh studying tabla with a master of the Punjab style, Sushil Kumar Jain Sahib for the next month. Be sure to read his moving tribute to his father, who recently passed, in this issue of TWAS.
And Toronto-based Indian/Jazz/Funk fusion ensemble, THE AUTORICKSHAW TRIO (Suba Sankaran-voice, Dylan Bell-bass, Ed Hanley beatbox & tabla)., is currently wending its way through the country from Mumbai, to Bhopal, Delhi, Kolkata, Goa, and Bangalore (to name a few!). They will also pop in to Nepal for shows in Kathmandu and Pokhara.
Dylan Bell, Suba Sankaran & Ed Hanley
Visiting Bhopal will be particularly poignant as this marks the 30th anniversary of the Bhopal Gas Disaster. Deeply affected by this tragedy, the ensemble has written a song called City of Lakes, the proceeds of which will all go to the Bhopal Medical Appeal, supporting two clinics in Bhopal: Sambhavna, and Chingari. Sambhavna offers free healthcare to survivors, and Chingari cares for children born with congenital defects due to groundwater pollution. They are playing at the premiere screening of major motion picture ‘A Prayer For Rain’, starring Martin Sheen, as well as a couple other concerts in Bhopal.
Recording and video production are also on the Autorickshaw agenda so we are in for ample delights in the near future!
For the music video for City of Lakes go to http://youtu.be/BydB4_tUnP8 There are also earlier versions of the song Ed’s photos from when he was there in January) at http://youtu.be/l1Scc4yrh3A
An interview with Ed and a Bhopal survivor and activist Sanjay Verma can be found at: http://youtu.be/7-luT55gc28
And check out their website too at: http://www.autorickshaw.ca/
Back in Toronto’s Indian music scene, the ambitious TORONTO TABLA ENSEMBLE has recently completed a new studio in Little India on Gerrard St. Classes have already begun in the new space and the future looks promising indeed. You can contribute to this effort at https://www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/toronto-tabla-ensemble-centre-for-indian-arts-new-/#.VFGYH3mlA7k.facebook
read the story here: http://issuu.com/thebeachmirror/docs/eyb_bx_dec04
Their website is http://torontotabla.com/
And musician QUIQUE ESCAMILLA has just gone home for a much aniticipated visit to his hometown in Chiapas, Mexico. Here is his FB message:
“Thank you Canada and Canadians for 7 years of interesting and amazing life experiences in this country. Today I finally have a chance to go back “home” in Chiapas, Mexico for a little bit to see my family and my people. I’ll be back in 2015. Love to you all for the rest of the year and upcoming holidays.”
