Posted by Li Robbins on November 15, 2007 at 12:01 AM
Studio Sparks are very excited (I believe "thrilled" was the exact word) to present this live broadcast, in front of their Studio 40-on-the-Sparks-Street-Mall audience, by Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero.
She's a classical pianist who also likes to improvise, harkening back to practices largely discarded now by classical players (it's true, the jazzers didn't get there first). Apparently her latest recording, Baroque, includes some of that improvisatory spirit, with interpretations of music including Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Handel's Hallelujah Chorus. (Hey, I once sung in a choir that felt like it was improvising every time we sang the Messiah, but that's another story, and not worthy of radio broadcast, as is the work of Ms. Montero.)
Posted by Li Robbins on November 15, 2007 at 12:00 AM
A concert straight from the heart of musical Quebec tonight -- recorded at the Festival Mémoire et Racines, featuring Les Tireux d'Roches (I think the closest translation is "the stone throwers) who have been performing trad. Quebec music since the 1990s. They aren't a revivalist band though -- they're also influenced by the music of North Africa, Scandinavia and the Balkans - as well as jazz. Let's see, what else -- their third CD, Roche, Papier, Ciseaux, released last year, was nominated for a Felix in the "Best Traditional Album” category at L’Adisq.
And a second concert on Canada Live on Thursday night (did I mention that is the show? no? sorry!) is by the Polish-born pianist and composer Jan Jarczyk, with the Schulich String Quartet. But for this show, and here's a nice link to Les Tireux d'Roches, Jarczyk arranged Quebec folksongs (and performed them at Tanna Schulich Hall at McGill University).
And in the hole, as it were, a third concert from Italian-Canadian singer Marco Calliari at the Lanaudière Festival, in Joliette, Quebec (home of the incomparable La Bottine Souriante!).
Posted by Li Robbins on November 14, 2007 at 04:00 PM
Very exciting to see that tonight Canada Live will be broadcasting a concert by Marcel Khalife, the virtuosic Lebanese oud player who is also a hugely influential figure in the Middle East, culturally speaking.
This concert, recorded in Edmonton, is from the same tour that came through my burg -- and the show here was was pretty great, so I can only imagine this one will be as well. The concert was an interesting combination of the boundary-pushing instrumental side of Khalife, and the older songs, songs that have galvanized people since the days he performed them in abandoned Beirut concert halls during the Lebanese Civil war.
And a second concert on Can Live tonight -- Edmonton acoustic blues artist Mark Sterling performs original compositions and blues classics with his trio, bass player and singer Ron Rault and harpist/singer Dave 'Crawdad' Canterra, under the moniker, Come On In My Kitchen.
Posted by Li Robbins on November 14, 2007 at 12:30 PM
I mentioned earlier in the week having gone to hear Caetano Veloso's Toronto debut -- incredible that the 65-year-old Veloso should not have played the city before now, given he, along with Gilberto Gil, are arguably the most famous Brazilian musicians in the world. (Maybe Milton Nascimento and all the Gilbertos should be added to that shortlist.)
Veloso, if you aren't familiar with his significance in Brazilian music, was one of the leaders of tropicalismo, which merged rock with modernist art, theatre, and Brazilian music styles, forever changing not only Brazilian music, but a lot of North American music as well -- influencing people like David Byrne, for example. And Veloso and Gil were perceived as such symbols (and threats) that they were jailed and sent into exile -- this was in the late 1960s.
Continue reading "What Caetano Veloso Listens To" »
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