Category: music

music performance and recordings

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more news

well.

i guess i am not as good as i thought keeping this updated.

mostly because the work life these days is kind of in limbo. i am making some sketches for an upcoming tv doc, waiting on a few grants to see if i got them….the same old thing i suppose, for those of you not familiar with the life.

some nice things, though: leela gilday was nominated for a juno for her album sedzé. since i was the drummer on the whole record, is it ok to say i was nominated too? i’m going to assume yes. so there: i was nominated for a juno! 3rd time lucky maybe. its a great CD.

also i am going to be providing music over the internet for the mirvish production of theatre gargantua’s production of e-dentity. very fun. i can do it in my pajamas if i want. oh, wait, i can’t. there’s going to be a webcam.

wish there was more music to share, but its all project based at the moment, so no peeking.

happy spring.

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back

i’m back.  even though i landed about a week ago.  keeping up and getting back into the groove is taking up a certain amount of time.

lots of great news on the work front, including a new myspace page to highlight composition and sound design work, shows with arabic singer maryem tollar, getting accepted to the 2nd round of the fresh ground commissioning selection process, and beginning the process of scoring a TV doc (more news later).

i have also been working on making some short films based on my experiences in india and created from lo res footage i shot there.  the preliminary work is proving to be very inspiring and i am really looking forward to the process of creating video works and scoring.

waiting on a few grants to see what i will be concentrating on next.

happy new year.

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john wyre, rest in peace

many of you interested in percussion music may know john wyre, formerly of nexus fame.  i am sorry to say that he passed away on october 31 at his home in st john’s, newfoundland.

there are better people than me qualified to eulogize him, but i did have the chance to work with him as a member of maza mezé a few years back.  we commissioned a piece from him and recorded a number of songs for our “secrets moon magic” CD for CBC.

he was an amazing man, with an incredible outlook on life, and music.  the first lyrics to the piece he wrote for us was “the joy of living/begins by giving/yourself away”.

rest in peace, john wyre.

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thinking

i’ve been thinking about improvising. and trying it out. technique is one thing. commitment another. i have trouble with the second. i think in improvising commitment comes first and only then can technique flow.

i’ll keep trying.

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artist profile

finally got around to updating the site.  cbc radio’s outfront made a short documentary about me and my world music life (thanks to producer laurence stevenson) and its up for your listening pleasure here.

happy thanksgiving.

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other minds

in searching around the internet archive, i found the other minds archive, chock full of lectures, performances and other audio from the amazing other minds festival. right now i’m listening to steve reich’s group perform 4 organs, my name is, piano phase, and phase patterns. fantastic.

check it out, as well as the other recordings (cage and feldman in conversation, evelyn glennie in concert, an interview with brian eno….).

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nuit blanche—the day after

played last night at nuit blanche, at the model for a public space (speaker). essentially a giant spiral seating structure, with an open space in the middle. the rain was on and off all night, so the mud was all over the place. not much different than the winnipeg folk festival, really.

ben grossman and i played a 45 min set of improvised music with hurdy gurdy, effects and various percussion. i was astonished at how many people were around, and stuck around and engaged with our music—everyone from jazzheads to hippies to frat house guys and high school students. it was an incredible social experience, and i am beginning to see what certain schools of thought around improvisation are talking about when they speak of the political overtones of improvised music. for me, it is more about mindfulness and listening, the collective meditation that the music inspires and demands. i suppose in many ways this is the presupposition for the social/political interpretation of the act of performing free improvised music.

in any case, a tremendously gratifying experience. one of my favourite moments: after our first 1/2 hour performance, i asked when we ended and someone yelled out “seven in the morning!”.

stay tuned—i am going to be broadcasting some live improvisation, both solo and duo in the near future.

peace.

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drum nation post

drum nation concert has passed.  after many crazy hours of prep and rehearsal it went off quite well.  we played a number of traditional and contemporary compositions and everyone fit on stage….i was especially pleased at the warm response we got to the more contemporary pieces we played with traditional instruments.  my contention is upheld—audiences are quite happy out of their element.

the encore was reich’s clapping music, with the audience playing part 1 (the unchanging one).   my fiendish mission continues.

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drum nation

we are in rehearsals for the smallworldmusic project drum nation. myself, rick lazar, kiyoshi nagata, patrick graham, ravi naimpally, mark duggan, and kwasi dunyo. lots of material to learn, and write. i am trying to craft a show that really spans the gamut of the possibilities of percussion music. i think its working….

if you are in toronto, come check out the show. weds, sept 27 @ lula lounge, dundas w and brock streets (between dufferin and lansdowne).

we are also having a workshop, where we explore some of the instruments and talk about composing percussion music, and its free! @ the now lounge monday sept 25 @ 7pm (church st just south of dundas).