Rola Harmouche (RH): Thanks for letting me know about the show.
Prasun Lala (PL): Well I needed someone to understand the Arabic….so my pleasure. What does “Tadamon” mean?
RH: Ummm…“to stick together”….um…“to join forces” [Googles]….“solidarity!”

On June 9th, 2011 – Tadamon! presented a concert at La Sala Rosa for Artists Against Apartheid XVI as part of the Suoni Per Il Popolo Music Festival. Shadia Mansour headlined with openers Samian and the Narcicyst “for an evening of rhymes and resistance from Turtle Island to Palestine”.
http://www.tadamon.ca/post/9278
Samian was first up. He’s an Algonquin hip-hop artist who raps about life on First Nations Reserves in Quebec. He has collaborated with Sans Pression on Premières Nations, Anodajay and Loco Locass, and has performed in various corners of the world, including the 2010 winter Olympics in Vancouver.

PL: I’d never heard of Samian before this. And I was blown away.
RH: Yeah. I found his performance to be a surprising debut for the evening. I went to the show with the expectation of watching performances relating to Palestinian and other Arab struggles. It was chilling to be faced with Samian’s portrayal of the difficult living conditions of the First Nations right here in Canada.
PL: I was under the impression that South African Apartheid policy was actually based on our system of Native Reserves here in Canada….
RH: But in the end you found out you were wrong.
PL: Yeah – I don’t know where I’d originally heard that years ago – but people still make analogies between the two. Either way – I found him very compelling. I’m partial to rapping in French – something about the smoothness of it all making everyone sound like they’ve taken a dose of Q-Tip, and he was good. Also the first time I’d heard rapping in Algonquin. I liked his DJ too (I think it was DJ Horg). Samian wasn’t big on lyrical gimmickry but more on a smooth delivery of the content – in French he was obviously directing his message to those outside his community.
RH: And it seems to me that the message was strongly received – both during songs and in-between as he spoke of issues facing his people. In “Le rap pour moi”, he describes his motivation for rapping: “Le rap pour moi c’est beaucoup plus qu’un beat je m’en sers pour dénoncer les injustices de mon pays”. Maybe it is because I am not normally a huge fan of rap, but I really appreciated his straight-forward-no-hype-almost-polite-yet-still-in-your-face delivery.
PL: That’s one long hyphenated description buddy.
RH: What I mean, buddy, is it’s as though he didn’t need a whole song and dance show in order to deliver his message; the lyrics did that on their own. The issues he touched on ranged from the community’s difficulties with satisfying basic needs, to his own problems with drugs and the law. I really liked his Algonquin rap too; he mentions his reason for doing so in “Le rap pur moi”: “quand j’le fais en Algonquien c’est pour que mon peuple puisse comprendre et je le ferai jusqu’a ma mort pour que mon peuple se souvienne”.

Next Up was The Narcicyst (Yassin Alsalman). Now a Montrealer, he is originally from Basra, Iraq and was raised in Dubai. He has collaborated with Shadia Mansour [Hamdulillah] in a song about his home town of Basra as well as with Omar Offendum [#JAN25] in a song about the recent Egyptian uprising – both tracks are getting a lot of press. He has shared stages in the past with the likes of Talib Kweli, Kanye West, Dead Prez and co-Montrealer – A-Trak.

PL: The Narcicyst seemed to have a huge hometown following. He’s obviously a good (outrageous) showman with killer support from I Am Black Girl and Meduza (both from local Montreal hip hop act Nomadic Massive) as well as DJ BuddaBlaze. His forte is satire and irony (in lyrics, attitude, and attire) and I’d like to see him again in another context. The other artists on the bill were a little more direct in their message but I think I get his send-up of pop culture in general and rap culture in particular while doing his version of political commentary. For example – his song (P.H.A.T.W.A.) and accompanying video use a mix of humour and rap culture references to portray an unpleasant border interrogation he had en route to NYC.

PL: You got into the Syrian rapper who came on with him.
RH: I personally loved Omar A. Chakaki (stage name Omar Offendum)’s performance.
Syrian-American Omar Offendum was born in Saudi Arabia and lives in the United States. He raps in both English and Arabic. His songs include a translation of a poem on Damascus by famous Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani into English. He was also behind the #JAN25, the song about the Egyptian uprising that included many collaborators, such as The Narcicyst.
RH: I liked his style and his flow. I saw an interview of his on Aljazeera English where he discussed the #JAN25 song. He is very well spoken. I also loved his T-shirt that said: ‘zaatar, breafkast of champions’.
PL: I liked him too – and he referenced Gil Scott Heron (who’d died a few days before) in his lyrics on the song about the Egyptian uprising: “I heard ‘em say ‘the revolution won’t be televised’/ Al Jazeera proved ‘em wrong/ Twitter has him paralyzed”.

We came up with some questions and Omar Offendum was kind enough to answer Rola by email:

Q1: I loved your take on Nizar Qabbani’s poem on Damascus. My own visits there have been limited to the shopping districts – very vibrant but also overwhelming at times. Your song invokes a very positive and peaceful impression of the city, and your lyrics seem like a personal account. How much of your own experiences did you incorporate into this translation? Did you have to make many changes in order to modernize the lyrics for rapping?
Omar: My song ‘Damascus’ is a translation of Nizar Qabbani’s ‘Al-Qaseeda Al-Dimashqiya’ (The Damascene Poem) … I tried to do justice to the poem and capture the essence of his words / themes as best I could. The lyrics are completely inspired by his original verses, and there were only a few small instances where I had to add a line to complete the traditional 16-bar Hip-Hop structure. I’ve always felt that his poetry was timeless, and the reason why I chose to translate this particular piece was that I felt it would resonate with a wider audience. Quite often I’ve found that people are surprised it is even a translation of an Arabic poem … This tells me that I’ve done my job!
http://offendum.bandcamp.com/track/damascus

Q2: You’ve mentioned in a previous interview that your goal is not to be necessarily labelled as an exclusively political artist. However, we are curious – how did your involvement, along with other artists, come about in collaborations such as Artists Against Apartheid and the #Jan25 song about the Egyptian uprising? Your songs still seem to have a socially conscious aspect to them even if they are not overtly political.
Omar: I’ve always maintained that the universal struggles for peace, justice and equality are something that all people of conscience share regardless of their ethnic / religious / political background. That said, being from Syria and having family and friends from all over the Arab world – including Palestine & Egypt – made collaborative efforts like ‘Artists Against Apartheid’ & #JAN25 quite natural for me … At the end of the day, my main goal when making music is for it be what I consider all good art to be – an honest form of self-expression. For a Hip-Hop artist this essentially translates as ‘keepin it real’ … The songs I write are simply reflections of my state of mind and the concerns of my community – which happens to be a global one given my life experiences of immigration and travel. They stem from a desire to show solidarity with my sisters & brothers back home while raising awareness amongst my neighbors & friends here in North America. However, this doesn’t mean they need to be overtly political. The fact that I am a young Syrian/Arab/Muslim bilingual male who can perform comfortably on any stage – and in the process is able to directly relate to ‘Western’ audiences through the language of Hip-Hop – is in itself a statement … The medium is the message!

Q3: In the same interview, you also talk about the notion of hip hop bridging borders, especially amongst the Arab nations. Do you consciously try to write music that attempts to bridge borders between Arabs and non-Arabs, particularly in North America? If so, what do you think is the greatest challenge?
Omar: I’ve found that building bridges across cultures – especially those that are often portrayed as being ‘at war’ with one another – is one of the most gratifying aspects of being an artist. I’ve done this quite literally with the translations of classical Arabic poetry and ancient stories into English, and vice versa. I also go out of my way to perform entire verses / poems in Arabic to a non-Arab audience as I feel it can help demystify the language for people who are only accustomed to hearing it from extremists or dictators in the mainstream media. Celebrating the common elements of humanity we all share is the best way to move past our differences and towards a greater sense of unity across borders … We are One Human Family!

Q4: Obviously lyrics are quite important to you, but you also put a lot of attention into the production and musicality of your songs (for example the Beatles sample in “Majnoun Layla”). This brings us to the last and clichéd question: What type of music did you listen to growing up and do you listen to now?
Omar: I was exposed to a wide range of music in my childhood, and for that I am grateful. My mother listened to classic Arab singers like Fairouz, Um Kalthom, Abdel-Halim Hafez, & Fareed Al-Atrash. My friends and I would keep up with the latest Hip-Hop releases, many of whom still inspire me to this day: Rakim / Public Enemy / A Tribe Called Quest / De La Soul / Nas / Tupac / Biggie / Wu-Tang / The Roots / Outkast / Mos Def / Talib Kweli / Common (I could keep going but I should probably stop there haha) … I was also influenced by the musicality and conscious lyricism of many Reggae artists, including: Bob Marley / Peter Tosh / Dennis Brown / Gregory Isaacs / Steel Pulse (again, I could go on!) … Nowadays, things have come full circle and I often find myself listening to my peers, like: The Narcicyst / Lowkey / Shadia Mansour / DAM, etc … I am proud to have shared many stages with them over the years and look forward to future collaborations!

Finally, Shadia Mansour came on the stage. A British-born Palestinian, she started singing at the age of 5 years old. Dubbed as “the first lady of Arabic hip hop”, she raps and sings in Arabic about Middle East issues. She has recently performed and was well received in various cities in the United Stated and the West Bank. She also opened the Annual Black August Benefit for Political Prisoners along with [hip hop legends] Q-Tip, EPMD, Bilal, Blackmoon and Immortal Technique.
PL: Pretty electric when Shadia Mansour came on no?
RH: Yup – the crowd loved her.
PL: I couldn’t understand a word when she was singing – but I still got goosebumps. She was very intense – and would pick people out in the audience to focus her words – not for theatrics – but to get her message across.
RH: Yeh she was very intense. The lyrics were very arresting, made more powerful by her Palestinian accent (which I now find very suitable for rap), in contrast to her simple and elegant look and traditional Palestinian dress. I don’t know why that struck me.
PL: I also found her rapping voice appropriate and strident – I think that’s what gripped me. But then she’d seamlessly switch into singing melodies.
RH: I found her voice beautiful.
PL: It was – and although it is very much in the nature of R&B and hip hop to mix the two (rapping and singing) – for me it was novel to here these Arabic melodies in that context. You said her voice is quite authentic?
RH: Yeah – I read that as a child she sang traditional Arabic songs with her mother.
PL: What was her song about the scarf?
RH: “El keffiyeh arabeyye”, meaning the keffiyeh is Arabic, is a song about the headdress traditionally worn by Arabs. She describes how the Kiffiyeh, which has become a symbol of the Palestinian Intifada, is being commercialised as Israeli wear. I first thought the keffiyeh was a metaphor for Palestinian land being stolen, as she rapped (in Arabic): “Stealin’ something that ain’t theirs, I can’t allow it–”.

PL: I recently heard a BBC story about the keffiyeh – how there is only one producer left in the Palestinian territories – and that producer is having trouble competing with cheaper Chinese imports.
RH: Her song “Killon Indon Dabbabat” (they all have tanks) is an original yet somewhat disturbing take on an Arabic nursery rhyme. The original song is about a child describing how everyone has cars but his grandpa has a donkey. It’s cute, referring to an older simpler time, how grandpa doesn’t care what others think. When she started singing the original, a lot of people knew it and were singing along (including me). She then transitioned into her own song, about the “others” (Israelis) having tanks and “us” (Palestinians) having rocks. I felt the mood suddenly change to a grim one. It hit home for me, as I saw it also as a comparison between a peaceful childhood described by the nursery rhyme and one stolen by war and violence. You see I sing the original song to my nephew all the time – now I’ll think of her every time I do so.

PL: I liked it when she was singing directly to the kid – a preteen – who was in the audience with his dad – both wearing keffiyehs. She was good at engaging the audience in general and having people comment back. She’s a very charismatic performer.
Anyways, a highlight of the evening was everyone coming on stage for the finale. It capped off a great show.

For info, great music and CD purchase

Samian:
http://www.samian.ca/

Omar Offendum:
http://offendum.bandcamp.com/
Destiny — http://youtu.be/xhVAA01kQpA
Finjan (Live on Dubai TV) — http://youtu.be/UWyGm1LBpnQ
The Last Arabs (The Narcicyst feat. Omar Offendum) — http://youtu.be/Vze1Z7MaMik

The Narcicyst:
http://www.iraqisthebomb.com/

Shadia Mansour:
http://www.myspace.com/shadiamusic

Artists Against Apartheid XVI co-presented by:
2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy
Art Threat CKUT radio
Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG), McGill University
Simone de Beauvoir Institute, Concordia University
Suoni Per Il Popolo Music Festival
Tadamon! Montréal
Wired on Words

Artist Statement:

Singing and songwriting has become an extension of my dreamtime, a way to distil spirit and set free my pain, passions, confusion, solitude, vanity and love.

Bio:

Louise began singing in Chœur Maha in 1991 and then became a founding members of Ensemble Rubia. There she discovered her passion for song-writing and in 2005 performed solo at spoken word events, poetry readings such as Poetry Plus, and other social events.

Louise composes in both English and French, the English compositions are in the folk-roots genre, emerging from her Irish and Scottish heritage and her French chanson style is influenced by both Quebecois and French composers. With the help of guitarist Rodrigo Salazar and percussionist André Martin, she has put several songs to Son, Samba and Tango rhythms. She finds inspiration in nature, stories, small wonders and the foibles of everyday life.

For a taste of her music: www.myspace.com/louisedessertine

Bio:  Rodrigo Salazar, guitar

Rodrigo Salazar

Rodrigo Salazar a étudié la basse acoustique et l’enseignement de la musique au Conservatoire de l’ Université de Concepcion au Chili. Il s’est établi en Argentine, où il a travaillé avec plusieurs formations de Jazz. Il s’est ensuite installé au Brésil où il a pu se consacrer à la musique populaire brésilienne, plus particulièrement la guitare, la basse et la voix. Il vit à Montréal depuis maintenant 18 ans où il a participé à de nombreux évenements culturels comme le Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, le Festival Nuits d’Afrique et plusieurs d’autres.

rodysalazar@hotmail.com

www.myspace.com/rodysalazar

Song Lyrics:

Gaïa

Gaïa, Gaïa, la Rainha, la Linda, Gaïa, Gaïa, apaixonada do sol (a cappella)

Gaïa, Gaïa, la Rainha, la Linda

Gaïa, Gaïa, apaixonada do sol (X2)

De tes cheveux neigent des pétales de toute les couleurs

De tes yeux tombent des averses en féconces pleurs

De ta bouche  jaillit le cri du flamboyant péroquet

De tes oreilles nait le silence de la brousse aux aguets

Gaïa, Gaïa, la Rainha, la Linda

Gaïa, Gaïa, apaixonada do sol (X2)

Ton souffle éveille les quatres vents,

Ton coeur, le pouls de l’Amazonie

De ta gorge gronde le jaguar

De tes seins, les fleuves coulent à l’infini

Le torrent longe ta nuque,  et fait vibrer ta peau               

Se forme en jolie cascade, qui ruiselle dans ton dos

Tes doigts sèment les graines, tes paumes marquent le temps

Tes belles mains se promènent, et unissent tout les amants

Gaïa, Gaïa, la Rainha, la Linda

Gaïa, Gaïa, apaixonada do sol (X2)

Ton ventre enfante la terre noire

Tes cuisses, toutes créatures

Tes jambes, des troncs solides

Tes pieds les rythmes du tambour

Tambour -Solo

Le torrent……

Gaïa, Gaïa, la Rainha, la Linda

Gaïa, Gaïa, apaixonada do sol

© Louise Dessertine, Avril, 2003

Montreal Serai Editor Rana Bose interviewed Catherine Potter, leader of the Catherine Potter-Duniya Project, after her show at the MAI in Montreal.

MS : The show La Convergence des Continents at the Montreal Arts Interculturels on 23rd January, 2009 was very tight and innovative with an interesting visual backdrop provided by VJs jocool and Liberty. North Indian classical flute as played by you fused with the Senegalese Kora played by Montreal Kora player Zal Idrissa Sissokho, and Quebecois Jazz guitarist Jean-Marc Hebert. Resulting in some very interesting improvisations. Let me ask you right away, what was driving the pulse of this show, meaning what beats were you improvising around, the tabla of Subir Dev, or the drums of Tom Gossage. I ask this because both of them are so tight and volatile and yet set an interesting dual pace?

CP:  What you refer to as “the driving pulse” of this new repertoire is not so much the percussion instruments, as it was with my last album, but rather the rhythmic and harmonic force of the kora, the West African harp. I had worked with different kora players over the years and, in fact, my first Duniya group in 1985 was with kora player Nathalie Dussault. I had been waiting for an opportunity to integrate the kora into Duniya Project because it is such a beautiful palette to play off of; like a wonderfully complex and rhythmic tanpura around which the drum and tabla grooves were also created. I worked a lot with Zal while writing these new compositions in order to tune his instrument, quite exceptionally, to the modes of the North Indian ragas. This allowed me to write original material for the kora with the other five instruments and to find ways to use the traditional Mandingue kora accompaniments with these new tunings. 

MS:  I know that you trained under Hariprasad Chaurasia and you have played live with him in concerts. Who in the Jazz flute world has had an influence on you? I heard Yuseef Lateef and Rahsaan Roland Kirk in some segments. Am I right?

CP:  My approach to cross-over music is not only in my way of composing and in bringing musicians from different traditions together, but also in my own improvisational flute vocabulary.  I have a background in jazz flute, having completed a jazz studies degree at Concordia, and I’ve probably been influenced by those jazz flutists whom I like such as Yuseef Latif (who himself was influenced by Indian music.)  However, I’ve think I’ve also been influenced by many other jazz and world musicians including Wayne Shorter, John McClaughlin, Zakir Hussain, Pat Metheny, Paul McCandless and Jan Garbarek.

MS: This is a world music ensemble you have put together Catherine Potter-Duniya Project .  How did you put this band together and what were your inclinations towards this fusion? Is this where you are settling into? Or would you tour also playing exclusively North Indian classical? Also tell us something about the musicians and your interaction with them. How did it develop? They are all such individual stars, especially the Kora playing of Sissokho, guitarist Jean-Marc Hebert and contre-bassist Nicholas Caloia.

CP:   I founded this ensemble in 2001 as a performance platform for my original compositions. Since the early 1980′s, it was something I knew I would eventually do but I had to wait until I felt that I had certain mastery over North Indian classical music first. I needed to feel that I was using the knowledge and art which has been passed on to me with respect and was able retain the depth of this music rather than simply borrowing from it, as do many musicians trying to create world music would do. I was shuttling back and forth between Mumbai and Montreal to study with Pt. Chaurasia Between 1990 and 2001 and I released my first album of ragas, Bansuri,– in 1997. As much as I love North Indian classical music, my original work better reflects who I am artistically and culturally. It is also great to practice and perform as a group. Here in North America where Indian classical concert opportunities are few and far between, one can spend a lot of time practicing alone and it becomes quite isolating. I feel privileged to have such amazing collaborators such as Thom Gossage on drums, Nicolas Caloia, Subir Dev; they all contribute their creativity to the project and they are all excellent improvisers. Zal Sissokho is an excellent traditional kora player who is in the process of opening up to new ways of using his instrument and Jean Marc Hébert was an excellent choice for these new pieces because his eclectic playing is like a bridge between our different musical cultures.   

MS:  It is great to see a woman composer from Quebec, highly accomplished in North Indian classical music, lead this world music band and put it together. This issue of Montreal Serai has a theme Women: Changing the World! You are unique in that sense. Over the years I have seen you perform, there has been a consciousness about the rights of women and the relationship to your music. Comments?

CP:  On the eve of International Women’s day, I must admit this is a difficult question to answer.  Unfortunately, I don’t  feel things have changed much and many of the challenges faced by women musicians remain the same.  If I have made any contribution in changing things, it would simply be in the choice to persist in a extremely male-dominated musical milieu, where even my guru-bhais would often tell me I was wasting my time because i was a woman and certain male musicians I’ve collaborated with have told me “no woman musician could ever kill like men” (?!) What to say to that, besides the fact that I’m not interested in killing?

MS : Tell us something about the India tour you did in 2008. What were the venues and how was it received? Who accompanied you? Give us some highlights.

CP:  We had a fantastic tour Europe and in India where the Duniya Project album was released by Music Today under the title “Following in the Footsteps of Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia”.  We performed in Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Mumbai, London, Dublin, Paris and Brussels, including some prestigious venues like the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai, Congo Square Jazz Festival in Kolkata, the East-West Encounter Festival in Bangalore and the Pavilion Theater in Dublin.  What I found most touching was doing 3 cd launches in large music stores in India.  Ordinary people just showed up not knowing what they were about to hear and were very visibly touched by the music. There was a question period with a microphone for individuals to express their impressions or ask questions. I was really touched to learn how they were moved by my music and my playing, more so than some of the feedback from “elite” audiences.   We also got a very good response from the Indian press.  I understood that it is easier to be acknowledged as a musician doing what they call in India, “fusion” and which I prefer to call original cross-over music, than as a full-out Hindustani classical flutist.  While here in the West, we have gotten beyond the need to have Caucasians Europeans perform Western opera in order for it to be considered “authentic”, there is still a widely held belief in India that you have to be ethnically “Indian” to be able to play Indian classical music “authentically”.  This attitude has had an effect on how the Western world perceives those like myself who have chosen this path.

 MS: What is the look ahead? What plans do you have? What are you working on?

CP:  I’m presently in pre-production of my third album, which will include most of the pieces from La Convergence des continents.  We are also promoting this new show to eventually tour both in Canada and again internationally and will hopefully show-case it at CINARS 2010. I was brought to Morocco a couple of months ago where my career is being promoted and had some wonderful opportunities to collaborate with Moroccan musicians. I will return later this year for more collaboration and to continue working on building a festival tour there for Duniya Project in 2011. I also plan to return to Indian next winter for a few months with a Shastri fellowship to continue to study ragas with Hariprasad Chaurasia, to seek inspiration in the wealth of South Asian musical traditions and to work on new original material.

The Housewife’s Lament was written as a protest song, out of the experience of women in the not too distant past.  The song originated during the Civil War in the United States.  It was found in the diary of a 19th century Illinois pioneer woman, Mrs. Sara Price, who had seven children and outlived them all.  It is about the grit, the grim and the chores of everyday lived by those women.  Women have always worked although their work has been undervalued and underpaid, but they have always worked.

The Housewife’s Lament  (performed by Anne Dubrofsky)

One day I was walking, I heard a complaining,

And saw an old woman the picture of gloom.

She gazed at the mud on her doorstep (’twas raining)

And this was her song as she wielded her broom.

            Oh, life is a toil and love is a trouble,

            Beauty will fade and riches will flee.

            Pleasures they dwindle and prices they double,

            And nothing is as I would wish it to be.

There’s too much of worriment goes to a bonnet,

There’s too much of ironing goes to a shirt.

There’s nothing that pays for the time you waste on it,

There’s nothing that last us but trouble and dirt.

            Oh, life is a….

It’s sweeping at six and it’s dusting at seven,

It’s victuals at eight and it’s dishes at nine.

It’s potting and panning form ten to eleven,

We scarce break our fast till we plan how to dine.

With grease and with grime from corner to center,

Forever at war and forever alert.

No rest for a day lest the enemy enter,

I spend my whole life in struggle with dirt.

[extra verse by Marion Wade]

We’re still chasing dirt but we’re not just complaining.

We stand up for our rights and we ask men to share.

We fight with them sometimes, sometimes we’re “explaining”;

If we’d all stop to listen, someday we might dare

            To make life worth its toil and love worth its troubles,

            Though beauty and riches may stay or may flee,

            And pleasures they’ll triple or certainly double,

            When things will be as we would wish them to be.

Artist Biography:

Mike Wozniewski is a designer and developer of interactive software for the arts. As a freelance researcher, he maintains collaborations with several recognized institutions and works with many creative minds who likewise seek to push the boundaries of computer-mediated artistic expression.

Studying with the Centre for Intelligent Machines at McGill University, he developed the core technology for the Audioscape Project , which has been featured in several artistic installations, performances, and international conferences. At the Society for Arts and Technologies in Montreal, he continues to create open source tools that enable artists to make use of new technologies.

Mike’s previous work is centered mostly around the use of virtual reality technology, interactive systems, and immersive projection environments with 3D audio. However, recent projects involve more mobile and location-based technology. Examples include the Raw Materials project, that allows the public to use their cell phones to contribute images, sounds and videos during live events. The Mobile Audioscape project, on the other hand, uses GPS tracking and wireless connectivity to create mixed reality environments in outdoor spaces. Ultimately, he aims to create the tools that artists need to connect people with each other and with their surroundings, while allowing for creative expression.

See  http://www.mikewoz.com/ for more information.

Artist Statement:

My desire is to engage the public and to provide artists with the tools and technologies required to capitalize on user-generated content and social media.   All of the software I create is available for free with an open source license, meaning that anyone can take it, change it, and use it however they wish. I strongly advocate the open source movement, creative commons licensing for art and media, and the copyleft model in general. I think creativity is facilitated by one’s tools and will best flourish with unrestricted access to all utilities and media.

Mobile Audioscapes:

As computation becomes more mobile, we see the public engaging with digital information while on the move. New forms of artistic expression are thus possible, since the public has tools to connect and take part in events as they happen. Furthermore, with location-aware technologies such as GPS, artworks can be associated with real world locations, and virtual elements can be overlaid on the physical environment, creating a medium that operates on a potentially grand scale, shared by multiple distributed participants.

The SoundPark installation is a motivating example of this type of mobile arts application. It operates in a city park (in this case, Parc Jean-Mance in Montreal), and allows users to discover and rearrange sounds that have been scattered throughout the location. Participants need to actually walk around in order to experience and manipulate the material, but in doing so, they can create their own customized musical mix. In the video on our front page or the Table of Contents page, we see a game-like version of the system, where participants are challenged to recreate a particular mix.

Another example that encourages public involvement is the Raw Materials project, which provides the technology for cell phone users to contribute text messages, images and videos to public events in real time. It is thus possible for audience members to send comments or photos of themselves, which can be displayed on large screens during concerts, or mixed by a VJ to become part of the show.

The video below documents one such event, held on March 6th, 2009, which took place simultaneously in two locations: at the Society for Arts and Technology in Montreal and Great Northern Way Campus in Vancouver. The audiences from both locations contributed images and videos of their surrounding neighborhoods, which was remixed by artists and displayed to the public:

 

Find more videos like this on W2: Community Media Arts Vancouver BC

Look forward to the premiere of Audio Graffiti this summer, which will allow mobile participants to leave audio tags and mix music in an urban environment. (Part of the International Computer Music Conference. August 21, 2009. Location to be announced.)

Credits:

 * SoundPark was developed at the Shared Reality Lab at McGill University, with funding from the NSERC/Canada Council for the Arts New Media Initiative.

 ** Raw Materials was developed in collaboration between the Society for Arts and Technology and Mobile Muse .

[There's increasing evidence that increasing wireless communication and cell phone usage in particular are linked to a concomitant increase in head and neck cancers.     Serai Editorial Staff]

I’ve known Jason Breckenridge for many years and over that time the two insights I’ve gained about what makes him tick are 1) He concocts the most ridiculously unattainable schemes in an effort to make his working life as enjoyable as possible; 2) He invariably succeeds in pulling off these “unattainable” schemes. So when Jason pitched the idea of a series of television documentaries to Al Jazeera on the topic of the “Music of Resistance” – a series that would have him flying all over the globe gaining access to the inner sanctum of the likes of Seun Kuti, youngest son of Jason’s absolute idol Fela Anikulapo Kuti, creator of Afrobeat and also the voice of the oppressed in Nigeria – a series that would have him recruit Steve Chandra Savale, London-based activist, desi guitarist extraordinaire, and lifeblood of the politically entrenched Asian Dub Foundation as interviewer and presenter – a series that would let him tell the stories of different musicians that matter, not only in the sounds they produce but in their messages and actions and direct effects on their respective communities…I was 1) Insanely jealous; 2) Knew he would pull it off.

Steve Chandra Savale

Music of Resistance follows the chronicles of musicians who use their craft to realize radical political change. Steve Chandra Savale travels to Nigeria, Mozambique, Brazil, East London, Cape Verde and the desert of the Southern Sahara in order to introduce us to the lives of these iconoclastic musicians. In this Montreal Serai issue on Canada and Militarism – there is much to be learned from movements in other countries to reverse the trend towards arms. For example – one of the broadcasts in the series focuses on musical group Tinariwen, formerly a group of rebel soldiers, exiled from Mali and training alongside Colonel Gadaffi in Libya. After years of violence and conflict in a civil war in Northern Mali as they tried to preserve Touareg cultural identity, they eventually decided to trade in their guns for musical instruments and effect change in a different way than the cycle of killing that had prevailed. These electric guitar wielding revolutionaries have been instrumental in promoting peace through community action, for example by participating in the recent (January 2009) congress for peace that took place in Ersane in Norhtern Mali with 1500 Touareg  representatives as well as government representatives both from Libya and Mali.

You can check out the an introduction to Music of Resistance:

Steve Chandra Savale: Presenter

Produced, Directed and Written by Jason Breckenridge for Al Jazeera

For more info:

http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/

http://www.musicofresistance.com/

‘A Modest Proposal’ is from Norman Nawrocki’s anti-war, anti-Empire solo CD, ‘Duck Work’ released in 2004 on the Les Pages Noires label. 

Moe Clark: Back-Vocals Sage Reynolds: Upright Bass
Mark Nelson: Drums Matt Lipscombe: Vocals and Guitar

It was recorded by David Sturton at DNA Productions. It is already playing on CIBL in Montreal and CKRL in Quebec. I hope it can help my city in bringing about a positive change. Living by the Gun audio (mp3) It’s high time something gets done

The youth and the police are living by the gun
Late one night in Montreal

Freddy and his brother were having a ball

Playing dice in a public park

It was getting late

It was getting dark

Along come two officers of the law

They were intrigued by what they saw

They said to Freddy’s brother we want to talk to you

He resisted, so they drew

Four shots were fired from same gun

There was only one at the scene

The policeman said it was self defense

But what can that possibly mean?

It’s high time something gets done

The youth and the police are living by the gun

His mother set a white dove free

So there would be no more misery

No more tears on a sister’s cheek

No more tears gas canisters on the street

The people watched the evening news

Hoping justice would come of this abuse

But the cops involved in this altercation

Had a week to come up with some fabulation

Four shots were fired from same gun

There was only one at the scene

The policeman said it was self defense

But what can that possibly mean?

It’s high time something gets done

The youth and the police are living by the gun

I’m not saying it’s anybody’s fault

That the violence here is like some kind of cult

And I know that the cops were afraid for their lives

When they took that innocent boy’s life

When they took that innocent boy’s life

It’s high time something gets done

The youth and the police are living by the gun

Words and Music : Matthew Lipscombe Credits: Guitar/voice: Matt Lipscombe

Back Vocals: Moe Clark

Upright Bass: Sage Reynolds

Drums: Mark Nelson

Recorded at studio DNA, Montreal by David Sturton

©Matthew Lipscombe 2008. All rights reserved
For more information please contact:
Matt Lipscombe: (514) 678-4222

Email: matt.lipscombe@gmail.comwww.myspace.com/mattlipscombe

“James Finnerty started the night with his calm, quiet wit and heart-hurting hopeful lyrics and masterful guitar.” – Risa Dickens, Indyish

Click on here to listen the mp3 of “Vermont Song”. Interview below.

Interview:

Q. What are your musical roots?
A. I was 12 years old when I bought my first guitar and taught myself how to play.  I did have a few lessons with a guitar teacher, Stuart Cameron, who was the son of a famous folk musician, John Allan Cameron.  That was my first exposure to acoustic music and folk music.  I was more interested in playing rock and roll, so I immediately said, show me some Led Zeppelin songs, show me Guns and Roses.  I went off on my own for about seven years, got myself a book on chords, started listening to music and learning by ear.

On my mom’s side of the family, my grandfather, back when they lived in the south of Italy on a farm, he used to get together with a couple of guys, an Italian instrumental trio. He played the mandolin with a guitarist and an accordionist.  I’ve seen a picture of them wearing their Sunday best, sitting up on the top of a hill, nothing but countryside surrounding them, with their instruments.  I guess there is some kind of link back, but there is no one in my immediate family who is into music.  I had this instinct that I wanted to play and taught myself, but seven or eight years later, I realized that I had a wall and I couldn’t really advance with my music because I wasn’t studying theory, I wasn’t practicing technique of any kind, I was just learning songs. A friend of mine, with whom I had done a musical (I used to do theatre), was a guitarist and played in pit orchestra for a show called Assassins, a Stephen Sondheim play.  His name was Aaron Brock. I studied theory and technique with him for about a year.  He re-introduced me to the guitar from a whole other different angle.  I started taking more interest and taking it more seriously, practicing several hours a day to improve my technical skills.

Q. When did you start performing?
A. I was working as an actor, doing theatre, singing in musicals. I played guitar in musicals. I had done a few amateur productions where I played in the orchestra.  When I was fourteen, I started playing at regular open mike on Sundays at the local bar in my hometown, which is Markham (Ontario).  I got exposure playing out there and one summer we went around and did shows in bars in Toronto.  That didn’t last very long, the guy was an older and he wanted to make real money.  We were making money but not enough for him, he wanted to buy a car, regular income.  I kept playing, doing shows and here and there, there would be an opportunity to bring my guitar, a coffee house, play at a house party, a show.  I kept writing with other musicians, jam sessions in my house, trying to figure out how to play different styles of music.  I played with a jazz guy for a little while and he showed me some interesting jazz music.

Q. What would you call your music?
A. It’s acoustic.  I’ve grown to the point where I can say that I really enjoy playing acoustic music.  There is something about the resonance of sound creating sound, experiencing how those frequencies resonate with people, how they come back at you, how you are creating a sonic experience.  Overtones, something that I have been recently getting more interested in listening to avant garde music, Jim O’rourke, John Fahey, acoustic players playing for a sonic experience.  They are melodious, creating harmonies, and these overtones pop up, because they are paying close attention to what is happening to the sound.

Q. Do you want to play with other musicians?
A. Yes. The idea of playing with a band is always tempting, to get a whole big thing going on, but you lose the dynamic, the sensitivity and the intimacy and I am about creating an intimate experience and wanting to share something sensitive or sensory with my audience.  I love it when I can look out in the audience and see people with their eyes closed.  I have had people come up to me after the show and say they had a good experience, relaxing, meditative experience.  And that’s what I try to get in my music, I want it to be healing, I want it to be something that makes people happy, that opens up people’s senses.  These are the things that I look for in music. I am on a path to continue learning about music and learning about myself and about my instrument, the body is part of my instrument because I am a singer but the guitar is an extension of my body.  The more I can learn about that and watch players who are also involved in that same kind of thing.  That’s inspiring to me.

Q. What is your relationship and history with environmental issues?
A. I grew up in Markham, Ontario, just northeast of Toronto. York Region, a major region of the surrounding area, Markham is right on the border with Scarborough, the north part of Toronto.  Twenty years ago there was a population of 15,000 thousand people.  It was all farms.  When I was a little kid there was nothing but fields and fields, white picket fences, farmhouses way out in the distance, giant farms surrounding us.  Within 20 years, the population had increased to about half a million.  It was hit with mass suburban sprawl.  We lived in a house that was bordering a huge cornfield.  I remember there were signs that started going up for this development. These contractors were plugging away, getting the farmers to break and sell their land. The local farmers resisted for years.  It was a good ten years, the story was going around, the developers are trying to get the land but the farmers are staying strong.  A hospital went up, in that same area.  Someone sold the land and said, that’s worthwhile, they are going to build a hospital.  That was the beginning of the end. The farmers starting selling out to the big developers and they built this god-awful suburban sprawl overtop this beautiful natural environment.  The next phase of that was the highway, a toll highway, the ETR, Express Toll Route, which started in the heart of Markham and had designs to expand this as far east and west as possible. The problem with that was the road went through precious, sensitive environments.  The population increased rapidly and houses popped up out of nowhere.  The air pollution became noticeable, something that we never noticed. We are in a small town and there’s air pollution from carbon monoxide, from the cars.  Traffic.  My mom works a five minute drive from where we live and now it takes here half an hour to get to work because she has to sit in traffic.  At eighteen, I started noticing and questioning these things.  At the time, I started building a relationship with nature, going out camping, three day hikes with a friend, a wilderness guide, who showed me about preserving nature, being able to incorporate yourself with nature, to be a part of nature without destroying it.  He led the “Leave no Trace” philosophy when we went camping and we would, we would do everything barebones, just our backpacks and take all our garbage with us.  It didn’t make any sense to me that these natural environments are being destroyed.

Q. What else did you do about the environmental issue?
A. Started writing letters to the government. Wrote a letter to Jean Chrétien, my M.P, became a member of Green Peace.  Starting doing letter campaigns to corporations.  I got involved in the push against GMO.  This was back in 1999 and it was Vandana Shiva,  who was one of the scientists, the advisor on this group of anti-GMO crusaders and they would send out daily newsletters and reports, just writings on the subject.  But Vandana caught my attention because she was bringing all this scientific information, about how the mineral content in food was being lost. How there had been studies in the last ten years when they discovered that GMO’s were introduced into the food stream without our knowledge.  Scientists were checking it out, what is this going to do to people?  They started seeing an increase in allergies.  In 1990 when I started reading these newsletters, it was until a major news article came out in the papers about Loblaws, when they tried for mandatory labeling and Loblaws was one of the first company to blatantly reject it and started to put stickers over top of the labels and lobbied the government and said this is going to kill business and the government conceded and decided not to make it a mandatory law. 

Q. Do you think your music with your lyrics can affect attitudes to social issues?
A. I think so.  I don’t do it intentionally.  I don’t have an agenda to try to change people’s mind or force them to think a certain way.  I believe that if you live a certain lifestyle, believe in something and write truthfully about it, it is going to resonate with people.  The things I believe in are part of who I am, part of my politics, part of my development as a young adult.  If I speak openly and honestly and write about things that mean something to me, that’s what I am looking for when I am writing. I am going to incorporate something that will bring out a type of emotion, and if that resonates with the listener, yeah, I think there is a possibility that someone will think about it and look into it.

Whatever we put out there, people are going to listen to it, or hear it or read it and it is going to affect them in some way.  I understand that’s a part of the process.

As to the issue of environment, everyone is talking about it, there are so many musicians who are involved in ecological issues. I don’t want to pigeon hole myself, but I live my lifestyle a certain way.  I guess the response to someone who says, everyone else is talking about environment, so you’re just another one of those people is that  I am not just talking about it.  I don’t own a car.  I drive my bike around the city. I eat organic foods.  I support local farmers.  I cause ruckuses often as possible when I see people idling their cars.  Talking about environment can come across as a cliché, but I do notice there is a lot of change that is happening in people’s attitudes.  I think letter writing is important.  At times I think is, anyone even reading these letters, but I still have to do it.  There is something that drives me to sit down and write a letter to a corporation or to a politician that I have a gripe because of something that is so blatantly obvious.

There is a big shift in the financial arena, a push for ecological products and businesses.  Socially responsible mutual funds. Individuals investing in big corporations who are known polluters or irresponsible corporations because they know if they put their money into it, as a shareholder they have a say as to what that corporation does.  That’s really promising.  North America is becoming more prosperous and money talks.  A movement of people who are concerned, a grass-roots movement, the most recent, the G8 summit that happened, there was mass mobilization in Germany.  The politicians ignored them because they don’t have status.

Q.  What made you choose “Vermont Song” as the MP3 to include on this site?
A. I was sitting outside the hotel room on a beautiful morning and there is backdrop of green, lush trees.  It’s juxtaposed with a giant highway.  I am watching the mountains, it’s peaceful and as the morning progresses, the traffic increased on the road and all these cars are driving by and got me thinking about where I came from, a beautiful quiet farm town and within ten years, the population, the traffic, the development increased to a point where it became an overpopulated, gross, awful place.  I left Markham because of that.  I didn’t want to be part of that environment.  If I am going to live in this kind of environment, I am going to go into the city and I moved into the west end of Toronto, the craziest kind of environment.

It made me realize that it is everywhere.  It’s not just in my little farm town,  It’s in all these little farm towns where this development is happening.  I say in the song,  the mountains are moving away from the people on the road.  That’s how I feel, nature is becoming more and more distant from the mass of people who are constantly running, chasing after whatever it is they are chasing.  They are forgetting about nature.  Nature is less and less a presence in people’s life.  That’s the end of it.  The end for human survival.  If we detach ourselves from nature, we are finished.  It is impossible to survive as a species without a direct link back to nature.  Everything comes from the earth.

People are paving over farmland, precious good soil that could be used to feed people and then they import food.  That’s a clear omen for me.

Q. How has living in Montreal influenced your music or your approach to social issues?
A. Incredibly.  Montreal is amazing for that.  The music scene is so vibrant and accepting with many types of musicians.  Most inspiring for me is seeing the independent music scene developing and seeing where it is going and where it’s coming from.  For instance, the guys who started Godspeed You! Black Emperor.  Started up the Hotel de Tango recording space up on Waverly near Van Horne.  Which was just a law space they moved into and started doing shows.  They were making such great music that it became world renown and did a lot of touring, did very well for themselves.  They split up and went their own ways, but one of the guys now runs a couple of venues, Sala Rosa and Casa del Popolo.  Every year they do the Sony festival which highlights independent music, independent labels, people who are consciously going in the other direction, trying to do something new. 

Living here has given me more of a creative perspective in approaching social issues.  For the longest time I was just reading about what was going on, observing, writing the odd letter.  But I realized that a big part of making change, addressing social issues, was being active.  Being in Montreal made me realize that the most effective thing for me to do was being active, independently doing my own thing.  I started making my own recordings and started learning about recording, getting a better ear for what I wanted to hear.  There is a big push in the financial sector where money is making the change.  I’m like everyone else, I need to make a living.  This is my work and if I can be successful in my work, people will see, this is someone who is doing their own thing.  This goes back to Godspeed. They did it all by themselves.  They are fiercely anti-corporate.  None of the albums they made are linked up to any corporate label or distribution system.  There is a label here in Montreal called Constellation Records, they are responsible for the distribution.  There is an audience for that, people want to see a change, they want to be part of that independent spirit.

Q.  If you could choose any musician to jam with, who would you choose?
A.  Radioheads, Tom York who is the lead singer and guitarist and he writes all the lyrics as well.  He is British.  The research that I did in the late 1990’s about genetically modified organisms, what was going on with the World Trade Organization.  There were links from the Radiohead website. York put up this page with a bunch of dots, and each dot would take you to a different page.  One page would be on Holistic medicine, another on anti-GMO, another page about globalization, another on World Trade Organization,  organizations that are trying to deconstruct these big terrorist groups.

The band is a rock and roll band.  Not really in the same vibe as I am doing but I was influenced by what they did and how they did it.  They are a bit of a contraction because they are working in the mainstream music industry, they are assigned to EMI.  But they don’t do advertising as much as other bands.  In the beginning stages they went off the radar and went underground and used the internet to promote their gigs.

Joni Mitchell, she would be cool to jam with.

Q. If Harper wanted to jam with you, would you let him?
A. Sure.  Does he play?  It would be interesting to see what kind of instrument he would play.  I am assuming it would be a kazoo.  I would play with him if we could do it outdoors, in the middle of a field, with bare feet.  I would give him shit though.

Q. Has your theatre experience had any bearing on your music experience?
A. I learned a lot about performance and I had amazing experiences with other performers.  I started doing community theatre, doing musicals, Jesus Christ Superstar, Assassins, Sweeny Todd.  Not too fluffy.  I got an offer to do the Sound of Music, which I turned down.  I decided not to do musicals as a career, my heart wasn’t in it and I wanted to do something more down to earth, more narrative. I started to do straight theatre, one act plays.  I did a production of Troilus and Cressida, Shakespeare. Stuff I could be myself in,  that I didn’t have to worry about being a character.  In Troilus and Cressida, (as him) he is cursing his opponents and the director said to me, okay, just choose something you hate.  And I remembered the Coca-Cola incident that happened in Massachusetts.  Around 1998, the state of Massachusetts banned Coca-Cola machines in all their public facilities, fire stations, recreation centers, because Coca-Cola was doing business with the Burmese government, selling their products in Burma and getting rich with this dictatorship.  Massachusetts wanted to make a statement, let’s ban the use of coke machines.  Coke went and sued the state of Massachusetts.  The state of Massachusetts lost and the Supreme court told them they had to put the machines back.  That angered me because it’s such a denial of free expression.  It’s saying, no you have to conform, it’s a threat, instead of saying you should think twice about dealing with a dictatorship government who are persecuting people. 

The theatre is similar to what I am doing now, telling stories, communicating with an audience, allowing them into an intimate experience that they can share, so that they can leave the performance space slightly different than when they went in.

Q. What is your creative process and where do you want to go with it?
A. I am doing everything on my own. I’m writing my music, I’m recording, performing, promoting it. A solo guy.  Ultimately I realized that I need to reach out and collaborate with other people, whether it’s on a musical level or helping put shows together for me.  The creative process has always been a natural thing for me.  When I write a song, I sit down and put my mind to it, I try not to censor myself.  Sometimes the words come first and sometimes the melody. I try a chord progression and I’ll start humming over top of it and creating words as I am playing.  I don’t have one method.  When I hear about a different process that is interesting to me, I try to incorporate it.  Like the jazz musicians, there’s a guy named Kenny Werner, who wrote a book called Effortless Mastery, and it’s all about being free as possible, not only your creative process but when you are practicing.  His philosophy is out of that practice will come creativity if you allow it, if you don’t pigeon hole yourself to think, oh, this is a routine to play my scales and I have to do this and that’s the practice and now I am going to be creative and I have my process for being creative.  No, it’s all one thing.  I try to tap into that.

Q. Do you want to add anything?
A. These ecological issues are becoming more prominent in the media, people are talking a lot about it.  But there is not a lot going on as far as what people are doing.  It would be  great to walk out my front door and see less traffic and see more people riding bikes.  It would be great seeing more people supporting local farms and eating organic food and boycotting the mainstream agriculture business, the automotive business, the oil business.  We can live without these things, we can find a better way.  To see people actually doing that, and the transition from the discussion to the action.  That’s the next step.