MisterBryans

Press Release About CKLN

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

VOLUNTEERS LOCKED OUT OF CKLN WITHOUT EXPLANATION

Dismissed Staff Members Disregarding Democratic Process

TORONTO, ON, May 8, 2008 --- At least a dozen CKLN volunteer programmers received letters from Mike Phillips this week, discharging them from the station.

"Please be advised that your volunteer services at CKLN Radio Inc are no longer required [sic] effective immediately," read the form letter. Phillips gave no explanation in the letter.

When longtime CKLN volunteer Verilia Stephens went to the studio Tuesday morning (this was in fact Wednesday bb), she was escorted out by Ryerson security.

Stephens hosts Limin' in De African Diaspora every Tuesday (wed) from 11 AM to 2 PM. Stephens says  Tony Barnes responded, "It is complicated," when asked why security was booting her out and how the appeal process works.  "The security guards were really uncomfortable because they knew I had every right to ask," says Stephens.

Barnes, the former interim program director, along with former interim station manager Phillips, and former board members Josie Miner, Doug Barrett and Heather Morgan were dismissed by a membership vote on February 23, 2008. Over 140 community, volunteer and student members attended the emergency meeting in February. More than 90 per cent voted to dismiss the interim station manager and interim program director and impeach the non-student members of the board.

More recently, Morgan tendered her resignation. The other members in question, will not, however, recognize the vote. They refuse to step down from their positions. Phillips and Barnes continue to control CKLN radio station and its funds illegally.

Other volunteers who have received letters include: Omme Rahemtullah (Saturday Morning Live), David Barnard (Lowdown to Uptown), Sharron Mcleod (Dat Dere), Chloe Onari (Dat Dere), Dale Whitmore (Word of Mouth), Don Weitz (Anti-Psychiatry Radio), Susy Alvarez (Word of Mouth), Usheak Koroma (Word of Mouth and Sounds of Africa), Heather Douglas (Frameline), Farid Omar (Saturday Morning Live), Barbara Goslawski (Frameline) and Carmelle Wolfson (Radio Cliteracy).

More volunteers are expecting letters in their inbox later this week. Phillips has also told members that if they did not sign the new volunteer contract within the one-week period given them, their access cards to the station would be de-activated. Many of those who received letters have signed this contract.

Phillips called a volunteer meeting last Tuesday to hold annual elections. Volunteer Usheak Koroma took over chairing duties after Phillips would not recognize the flood of comments from the floor. Elections were held. Heather Douglas and Ron Nelson (Reggaemania) were elected the new volunteer representatives and former station manager Conrad Collaco was elected to the former core staff post.

A committee of volunteers organized elections last Saturday, May 3 to vote in new community representatives. Community members voted unanimously to elect Arnold Minors and Geoffery MacDonald to the two posts. Phillips and Barnes say they will not recognize the newly elected board members.

Contacts:

Susy Alvarez
Phone: 416-996-5540
Email: susy.pocasangre@gmail.com

Somebody or something had better ride to the rescue of this before Ryerson University decides that it no longer needs this ridiculousness and pulls the plug on the whole station.

Update: Verlia posted this on her FB Status Update about 8pm Friday night

.......cannot believe what is happening at CKLN right now! Cops are there......Dead air.......The madness needs to STOP!!

Update: Commenter Michel Zender wrote this at FB at 9pm friday

I was listening to Ventana al Barrio tonight on CKLN and Maria Elena Escobar started a phone interview with Susy Alvarez. Maria Elena made a comment saying something like maybe she too was putting herself at risk by doing the interview. Anyway, there were some technical problems from the start of the interview, and shortly after it started, there was silence for a long, long time (at least half an hour - I lost track). I left the radio on and eventually music started playing (mostly from one CD for the rest of the show), with no commentary for the remainder of the show. Crazy!!! What country are we living in??

 

Meanwhile In Other Parts Of The World

From Daniel Levy discussing Israel's 60th Anniversary

Israel maintains an elaborate network of obstacles to Palestinian freedom of movement in the West Bank--for the most reliable data visit the website of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs--Occupied Palestinian Territories (OCHA). That closure system includes manned checkpoints, fixed-barriers, earth-mounds and fences--in total they number over 600. These are not, repeat not, checkpoints or obstacles that prevent Palestinians from entering Israel proper--that function is fulfilled by the wall/separation barrier and by crossing terminals. These are physical obstacles to movement whose function is to prevent Palestinians from moving freely within the West Bank--from getting to one village or town to another within the Palestinian areas.

To get a sense of the dimensions involved, the West Bank--home to 2.6 million Palestinians and 600 such obstacles--is smaller than the size of the state of Delaware, the 49th largest state in the Union.

The Israeli army (IDF) maintains this network of restrictions for two ostensible reasons:(1) it helps keep control, keeps tabs on what is going on in the West Bank, provides useful intel, which makes the lives of militants more difficult...etc.; and thus is part of an overall preventive security deployment (2) to protect the freedom of movement of Israelis in the West Bank--mainly the settlers and also the IDF itself. The approximately 260,000 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank of course face no such restrictions on movement. The IDF is doing its job--as long as there are Israeli citizens in the Occupied Palestinian Territories--settlers--the IDF is duty bound to protect them. They should not be there--but while they are--the IDF provides their defense. Unless and until the occupation ends, this will be the lot of the IDF--a terrible drain in itself on the military--but that is also another story.

The effects--on Palestinian daily life, society, family life, and economic opportunity--are devastating. Oh, and people are very angry--more easily recruited to violence...etc. So all this aggravation, yet the net result is that it actually makes Israel's security worse in the long-term.

Yoani Sanchez Denied Exit Permit

To their everlasting discredit, the Cuban government couldn't get their shit together enough to let Yoani go accept the award she won in Spain for best digital journalism.

Having Cuba's best blogger standing on a podium accepting the award (and then returning to Havana) would have been a better advertisement for the real changes in Cuba than anything else that has happened since Raul came to power.

But I guess it's too much to ask 75 year old men who grew up in the Soviet Union style bureaucracy of the Cuba government to understand a citizen blogger with something to say.

Meanwhile, here is a new article from NPR Radio.

Live Music Report Photo Of The Week: Papiosco

Irrelevant Cultural Observation #237

Brazilian music groups are sometimes led by couples whereas Cuban musicians are more prone to playing in families.

(From what I can tell. Anecdotally. Living in Toronto.)

At CKLN Today

So I went to do my interview with Verlia today at CKLN. Except she wasn't there. She was in the building, downstairs in the lobby on the phone, but prevented by security from entry to the control room to do her show. Instead, there was a programmer named Jean at the board, playing calypso and fielding a ton of phone calls from listeners who were wondering why Verlia wasn't there. (Before I had gotten there, Jean told me that he had done a phoner with Verlia that station management had asked him to stop)

It was not an easy time for Jean. He clearly didn't agree with station management, he was trying to explain to the callers what was happening (not easy at the best of times), while trying to maintain a coherent radio show. He also had no idea who I was and what music I was there to promote.

But no matter, he did a great job winging our interview. I got to play Maracatu, and Pupy Pedroso, and talk about the Lula World festival which starts tomorrow night. I did the best I could to describe how we love Verlia because she is a 110% Trini soca/calypso woman she knows her Reggae, her Soul, her African and her Latin music.

And the logic of depriving listeners of her impeccable music taste as a means of resolving the crisis over who runs CKLN, this logic is totally escaping me.

Obama!!

Maybe May 6th wasn't quite so wierd after all.

May 6th

This is a strange day.

CKLN Shite

Got a note this morning via FB from Verlia Stephens, saying she had "just got a letter from Mike and Tony stating that my volunteer services at CKLN  are no longer needed effective immediately". (Mike and Tony are Mike Phillips and Tony Barnes Station Manager and Program Director respectively)       

For those who don't live in Toronto, Verlia is the highly respected programmer/DJ whose 'Limin' in de African Diaspora' show on CKLN (Wednesdays at 11am) has run for many years now. (She is also a friend, as are - full disclosure - Claudia McCoy, Paul Corby and Victor Bains Marshall, three other programmers at the station)

This letter that Verlia received is the latest episode in the long running and bitter controversy at CKLN that I blogged about earlier in the year. Since apparently other CKLN volunteer programmers have received similar letters in the last day or so, it looks like CKLN management have now decided to make huge changes over there, changes which would affect CKLN's audience in a major way.

Whether the programmers who received the termination notices are the same ones who have attended meetings to oppose current management is unclear to me. And will this turmoil affect CKLN's flagship shows such as Ron Nelson's Reggaemania' and Denise Benson's 'Mental Chatter' is also a matter of speculation.

Meanwhile, Verlia says she will show up tomorrow at the station as per normal. Since I had already intended to drop by with some Pupy music and giveaways for Lulaworld, I'll be there as well.

Stay tuned

Pupy: The Early Years

Pretty good bio of Pupy up til when he left Van Van. Taken from his website. It would be nice to have this translated into English.
 

Su nombre es César de las Mercedes Pedroso Fernández, pero todo el mundo lo llaman “Pupy”, compositor, escritor, arreglista, pianista y director, nació el 24 de septiembre 1946 en la barriada del Vedado (La Timba), Ciudad de la Habana. Signo zodiacal Libra, de 56 años de edad; Hijo de Olga Fernández y César Pedroso “Nené”.

Sus primeros estudios los realizó en una escuelita privada con la profesora Margot Rodríguez, posteriormente se traslado a Marianao y allí continuo estudios primarios en otra escuelita privada, el 4to grado lo curso en la escuela del barrio No 9 hasta el 6to grado, además de estudiar en la Parroquia de Marianao en las tardes. La secundaria básica en Juan Manuel Marques No1 hasta el 10mo grado, tuvo sus primeros aciertos musicales a los 5 ó 6 años tocando con un dedo "Inolvidable Primavera". A la edad de 12 años, comenzó a estudiar piano en el Conservatorio Amadeo Roldan (1956) con diferentes profesores entre los que recuerda con afecto muy especial a Jesús López, del seminario de Música Popular, pianista de la orquesta de Arcaño un músico que se adelanto a su tiempo. Ya en la secundaria, en el recreo tocaba algunos tumbaitos en el piano que había en su aula; en esa etapa paso su primera prueba como pianista para una orquesta. Al concluir noveno grado, decidió continuar estudiando en el Conservatorio.

Proviene de una familia de músicos su padre César “Nene” Pedroso, pianista que toco con Chapottín y otros conjuntos, Julio su abuelo, fue director de la orquesta Cuba; su tío conocido como Pío Escaparate, fue güirero de Arcaño y sus Maravillas; Víctor Herrera es el director de La Sensación y Julio Saldivar, su otro hermano, toca con la orquesta de Osmundo Calzado.

Una gran influencia fue las descargas de Cheo Marquetti, Abelardo Barroso, Rafael Ortiz, Félix Reina... Incluso la orquesta de Arcaño los cuales ensayaban en el piano de su casa. Con el tiempo y los avances sobre las teclas su padre lo enviaba a hacer suplencias en diversos grupos, donde en varias oportunidades no dio la talla, eso lo obligo a estudiar más.

Mas tarde (1957) ingreso en el Conjunto "Cuba Nueva", bajo la dirección de Fernando Álvarez. Para entonces ya sustituía a su papá, en la orquesta "Sensación" y "Chapottín". En junio de 1964, con 22 años quedo fijo en la orquesta "Fascinación". Dos años mas tarde 1966 a solicitud de Elio Revé, paso a integrar como pianista del Charangon, para este entonces era el Director Musical de dicha agrupación, conoció a Juan Formell por medio de Elio Revé, el cual lo trajo y ya venia con sus inquietudes musicales, así fue como un día de diciembre de 1968, ambos emprendieron el camino del Songo y formaron “Los Van Van”.

Cesar "Pupy" Pedroso, ya había asegurado su trascendencia en la historia musical cubana como pianista, arreglista y compositor de los Van Van, durante 32 años, periodo en el que devinieron mas de 150 composiciones entre las que se encuentran “Seis Semanas”/ “El Buenagente”/”Azúcar”/“Será que se acabo”/”Eso está bueno”/”El negro está cocinando”/ “Temba, Tumba y Timba”/”La bomba soy yo”/”Ni Bombones ni Caramelos”/”La Voluminosa”/”Mamita pórtate bien”/”Que cosas tiene la vida”/”El Pregonero”, etc. temas de éxitos determinantes en la trayectoria de dicha orquesta, fue como una escuela dentro de la enseñanza total que representa la vida, haber trabajado junto a Elio Revé y Juan Formell, le valieron para su formación. Premio GRAMMY 1999, obtenido por su participación en el CD "Permiso Llegó Van Van", en el cual incluían tres temas : "Temba, tumba y Timba", "El negro está cocinando", y "La bomba soy yo".compuestos y arreglados por Pupy como le llaman sus amigos y colegas, paralelamente a este trabajo ha participado en importantes grabaciones discográficas, especialm--ente en los últimos años, las cuales lo han hecho trascender fuera de nuestras fronteras, este es el caso de “Fruta Prohibida” Caribe Productions (1995) interpretados por Omara Portuondo, Caridad Cuervo, Xiomara Laugart, Raúl Planas, Rolo Martínez, Issac Delgado, Ángel Bonne, Mario Rivera, Pedrito Calvo y Rojitas, con temas de la autoría de “Pupy” que fueron éxitos en “Los Van Van”, mas tarde el sello discográfico QBADISC Inc USA compró la licencia por mediación del señor Ned Sulette, El segundo disco fue con la Termidor, pues conocían ya el trabajo del primero y quisieron hacer una segunda edición. En este intervinieron Eduardo "Tiburón" Morales, Ángel Bonne, Pío Leiva, Raúl Planas y Jorge Leliebre, primer disco que esta firma discográfica realiza como homenaje a un compositor vivo. Luego titulado "Lo mejor de Cesar Pedroso" 1997, “De la Timba a Pogolotti” y Los que Son, Son (1999) de la firma discográfica Timba Productions. Pupy y Los Que Son Son - "Timba: The Nzew Generation of Latin Music" (2001) Este disco fue grabado como un proyecto de estudio antes de que Pupy dejara Los Van Van y cuenta con un reparto estelar de músicos y estrellas del escenario de las otras bandas timberas. Entre los artistas invitados de renombre están Sixto «El Indio» Llorente, Donaldo Flores, Maraca, Changuito, de Tomás “El Panga” Ramos, los respetadísimos trompetas Julio Padrón y Basilio Márquez, Candelita Ávila, baterista Jorge Baglan, y los miembros vanvaneros Hugo Morejón, Boris Luna, Gerardo Miró, Pedro Fajardo y Jorge Leliebre. Tremenda nómina. Pero para quien es un incansable buscador de nuevas ideas y un constante compositor por condición natural, todo ello no era suficiente, hasta que finalmente asumió el reto de tener su propia agrupación para reafirmar también su nombre como director de orquesta de música popular.

Así surgen "Los que Son, Son", quienes hacen su debut el 4 de octubre de 2001 en el municipio Güines, de la provincia habanera.

Given the success of Pupy y Los Que Son Son, the above bio makes the point that's easy to forget. Namely that Pupy's reputaion in Cuban music would have been secured soley by his work with Los Van Van, where he wrote many of their important songs.

It's like his own band is a bonus.

Thinking Ahead

I was putting together a Pupy Pedroso Compilation CD for local broadcasters and it's occurred to me that HE REALLY IS COMING on the 24th and that The Opera House will be completely insane (good insane) that night.

Gabriel Takes In A Charanga Habanera Matinee

Yesterday afternoon at Casa de La Musica Galliano

It might not have been a full house but it was probably as full as it can be without shutting the doors. The place was heaving. The house music was blaring. The Bucanero was spilling. There was piles of beer cans and stacks of plates with chicken bones and cold chips. Puddles of beer on the floor. People slipping. I wondered what I was doing there. Especially when the house ended and the reggaeton started. Then, about 7.15, some salsa. Yay! Almost got me in the mood! Then Con la conciencia tranquila was cut off by the Casa’s theme song, and llegó la orquesta in a flurry of badly mixed pre-recorded music.

After some posing by the band, the singers finally appeared - all five of them (Dantes is still in the line-up). They had some homoerotic cowboy thing going on with checked shirts and faded jeans (a big improvement in all that shiny shit they used to wear). All buff of course. Dantes maybe one of the oldest, but he is also by far the prettiest. He thought so too: whenever he despeloted, he looked down to admire his nether regions. And how pretty they were.

Here's a Pupy review

Tango Groupies

It just shows how inexperienced I am with 'tango lifestyle/culture' that I was shocked to learn there was such a thing.

It was Bong Gonsalez who had to point out the women in the front row of the Otros Aires show who knew all the words to the songs. (Bong is vastly more experienced in dance culture than me)

Not that i have anything against groupies per se, I just associate the phenomenon with less sophisticated genres.

Invite To Jose Ortega's Cinco Mayo Opening

Otros Aires In Toronto

photo by Roger Humbert at Live Music Report

My 'Brilliant' Career

On Saturday June 14th I am drumming with the Parachute Club in the day at Gay Pride in Hamilton, and at night I am DJ'ing Om Laila's  Funkablley Party with none-other-than Roula Said at the Dovercourt House (A gig that medecineman normally does). Eclectic. Transcultural. Gynocentric.

Added bonus, I'll finally get a chance to whip out some tracks from DAM, the Palestinian hip-hop crew.

Our Woman In Havana

Gabriel is back in Havana for the month blogging on a daily basis. She is a journalist in her 'real life', so her posts are always fact-filled and educational, even when she is writing about what didn't happen. So frinstance, on a night when she misses Pupy due to bad planning, we still find out where the tango milongas are in Havana.

If you know Gabriel like I do (and I've personally never met the woman), part of the fun is speculating on what info and opinions she leaves out of each post.

La Timba Soy Yo

I just received in the mail the new Soneros All Stars CD, 'La Timba Soy Yo'. (Yah, more new music!)

This CD has Pupy written all over it, as he is the exec producer, Mandy and Pepito do a lot of the lead vocals and 'BonBon' (Roelvis Reyes- Pupy's drummer), is the arranger/producer.

The Soneros All Stars is the brainchild of Janne Bodgan from Sweden, who released the immensely popular changui CD 'Dime Nague' that many of us played the hell out of a couple of years ago.

Since I've only had the CD for a couple of days now, I cant quite comment on the whole record yet. But the first song on the album 'El Maraquero', was pre-released a few months ago and is an excellent timba, and the last song 'El Congo Francisco' whooo boy, is a real burner that sounds like it will destroy the dance floor big time.

You can listen here.

Cambio?

Since all of us who've been to Cuba more than twice have become amateur Cubanoligists, I thought I would link to a real expert in the field, Phil Peters over at The Cuban Triangle, for some insight as to what is really happening on the island.

Phil has a post saying that although the changes that have been decreed by the government (legal use of cell-phones, computers, etc) are positive, the real structural changes in Cuba are occurring in the agricultural sector. He discusses how the  bureaucracy is being re-organised, how idle land is being being distributed to private farmers, and how the government is proposing to streamline the food distribution system,

If the result of all (these changes) is elimination of the huge state distribution system in agriculture (the acopio) and a new policy where the state abandons mass rationing and instead targets food aid to those in need, that would mark a very large “structural” change, one that could point to later policy moves in other economic sectors.

Cuban friend Yoser Rodriguez confirms that some of these changes have affected his family.

Photo of farmer near Santa Clara from Ian Cowe.

More Sports Blogging

This comes from Nicholas Jennings, who is supposed to be working hard on some TV project.

Women's Diary

Saw him in the evening and he was acting really strangely. I had been shopping in the afternoon with the girls and I did turn up a bit late so thought it might be that. The bar was really crowded and loud so I  suggested we go somewhere quieter to talk. He was still very subdued  and distracted so I suggested we go somewhere nice to eat.

All through dinner he just didn't seem himself; he hardly laughed and didn't seem to be paying any attention to me or to what I was saying. I just knew that something was wrong. He dropped me back home and I wondered if he was going to come in; he hesitated but followed.

I asked him again if there was something the matter but he just half shook his head and turned the television on.

After about 10 minutes of silence, I said I was going upstairs to bed.

I put my arms around him and told him that I loved him deeply. He just gave a sigh and a sad sort of smile. He didn't follow me up but later he did, and I was surprised when we made love. He still seemed distant and a bit cold, and I started to think that he was going to leave me and that he had found someone else. I cried myself to sleep.

Man's Diary

England lost to Russia. Absolutely gutted. Got a shag though.

Hockey Blogging Take 3

(hey, this is fun!!)

i learned.....

That the Serbian National Ice Hockey team are currently ranked 30th in the IIHF World Rankings.

IN Calgary, along the infamous 'Red Mile', there are more women than men. (Am assuming the colour red refers to Calgary Flames colours and is not some hooker reference)

My friend Diego insists that 3 out of every 10 hockey fans are women. (And Diego knows a lot of women.)

A female friend from Montreal who I'm sure wishes to remain anonymous, wanted to know if having a crush on Roggie Vachon qualified her to be considered a hockey fan for which the answer if of course, 'No!'.

It was also made clear to me that Quebecers, being more sophisticated than we Anglos, have no idea who Don Cherry is.

Full disclosure. I am hoping to see Pittsburg and Montreal win their current series. I'm also hoping to see Man U and Chelsea win their Champions League games this week.

The Question Of Black Radio

Ashante Infantry has  a good overview of Toronto's first Black radio station FLOW, and it's new format changes. FLOW has obviously moved far away from it's initial premise to reflect the Black community of Toronto, and seems to be now (I haven't listened in years) just another commercial radio station fighting for ratings points and advertising dollars.

I would probably be more critical of Flow if I thought there was a potential for a commercial radio station to be a cultural voice. But I don't. Urban music (hip-hop and r 'n b) has lost any kind of cultural power it once had. And much as I am a Jully Black fan from way back, I don't see her success in the Canadian marketplace as being representative of any cultural breakthrough.

She is just going good business. Which is about the best you can say about music on commercial radio these days.

UPDATE, after a conversation with my friend Diego Fuentes. The mainstream music industry (radio, the record companies) don't release or programme the best music that exists these days. The music that changes peoples lives, that promotes cultural awareness. Which is why it doesn't really matter what FLOW does. If they play by the rules of the industry, they are never going to represent the creativity and diversity of the African-Canadian population of T.O.

Hockey Blogging Take 2

I know we are going waaaay off topic here but, predictably, I am in a bit of hot water for my Montreal Canadians logo post that explicitly excluded women.

I should have explicitly excluded only 98.3 % of women. I should have specified that i was referring to the legendary Montreal teams of the 50's and 60' when the National Hockey league was comprised of the original six teams. You remember Dickie Moore, Bernie 'Boom-Boom' Geffrion and the 'Pocket-Rocket' don't you?

No, ok, well let me ask this.

What percentage of women support any of the six professional hockey franchises in Canada in 2008? I mean, who buy season tickets, regularly watch the games on TV, read the sports pages, join the hockey pools at work, or wear the team uniforms, etc etc...Is it 15%? 25%? (I cant imagine it's that high) 5%?

And of this percentage, how many were born outside of Canada in the hockey 'hotbeds' of say Guatemala, Pakistan, Serbia,  Somalia or the other places where Canada's immigration population comes from?

So what I'm saying is that the culture of professional hockey, then and now is principally a 'guy' thing, which probably explains why the national embarrasment known as Don Cherry has kept his job for so long.

No More Live Salsa Music On Fridays in T.O?

I know for a fact that salsa on Fridays is ending soon at Lula, and there are many rumours about the immanent demise of the Friday night party with Son Ache at Cervejaria.

I don't think anything or anyone is to blame, it's just the cyclical nature of music.

Adding: Sophie makes a good point that the frequency of international Latin artists appearing in Toronto causes people to spend less on local music.

Nice Guys Do (Sometimes) Finish First

Hilario Duran accepts SOCAN Composer of the Year honours at the 2008 edition of the National Jazz Awards.
(Photo: Kris King)

Timba.com Revisited

So it appears I am dropped from the Timba.com blogroll. For a technical reason it seems.

Newsy Bits and Pieces

John Terauds wrote a nice article on Otros Aires in todays Star. Andy Kamienski tells me their show on Saturday at The Dovercourt House is almost sold out. Sunday at Lula lounge sounds like your best bet for tickets.

I'm getting word that the legendary DJ Melao (my pick for Timba Evangelist of 07) is coming to Toronto for the Pupy show (May 24th) to share the DJ'ing responsibilities with none other than me. Wicked! I hear other people are coming from Miami too. Hah!

Friday night is Free Party at Lula Night. Go to the Facebook Page, print off the blurb and bring it along. No cover. Cache are playing.

Saturday is the annual fundraiser for the Muhtadi Drum Fest Benefit Concert & Party at the Fieldhouse 311 Berkley. Njacko Backo, Moses Revolution, DJ  Verlia, Maracatu.

Speaking of Maracatu, i did my first full-length rehearsal with them last night. I'm sure I will get 'used to it', but the initial sensation was a bit like what you would imagine if you were in the center of a volcano. Especially with the lights off.

Blech

Well, that was pretty futile.

I feel like the sports fan whose team loses every time he goes to the game. So I've decided to ignore Obama and Hillary and hope for the best.

The best thing to come out of following this 'shite' is my discovery of the MSNBC pundit Rachel Maddow. She is funny, she is smart, she has great politics and she has media skills to burn. The absolutlely best 'left-wing' pundit U.S. television has to offer.

Meanwhile, Man U play Barca today, now that's something I can waste time with. And no, I don't care who wins.

Obama Blogging in April

It's been a while, but since there is a new primary to watch tonight, I though I'd pass along this Eric Margolis piece on how the French feel about Barcak Obama

The president of the United States has at least as much if not more influence over many nations than their own governments. So, I’ve always favored a one-tenth vote for all non-Americans.

If this were the case, then Barak Obama would win in a landslide. Like North Americans, most Europeans really don’t know much about the experience-light senator, but what they see, they like `beaucoup.’ You can feel a passion here for Obama that is quite remarkable, and an earnest hope that America may soon return to being its old, pre-Bush, pre-9/11 self.

Obama is wildly popular because he is, of course, the non-Bush. But so is Hillary Clinton, yet she inspires surprisingly little support even though husband Bill, for reasons that elude me, was widely admired abroad. Hillary is regarded simply as an avatar of the Clinton political machine which, however formidable, is seen as empty of substance, and dedicated only to the relentless pursuit of power and money.

The three Americans public figures most respected internationally are Barak Obama, Jimmy Carter, and Al Gore. They are widely seen as representing many of America’s best qualities. They are also a potent antidote to the Southern yahoos, holy rollers and totalitarian neoconservative ideologues who hijacked the Republican Party – my life-long party – and blackened America’s name around the globe.

Obama is seen abroad as the candidate who can end the shameful Bush era and return America to a moderate, productive role in world affairs. He is expected to end the Iraq War and Bush’s militarized foreign policy, and re-integrate the United States into the company of law-respecting, environmentally conscious nations, of whom the European Union is now the leader.

Obama comes across to Europeans as dignified, decent, eloquent, and truthful, qualities notably lacking in either Bush and Dick Cheney who too often seem to symbolize America’s cruder instincts and its wallowing in synthetic patriotism. Just a few days ago, for example, Republicans accused Obama of not being patriotic because he does not wear an American flag on his lapel.

Much of the world would hail and admire America for electing a man of color, but even more so, one who appears to capture so much of what is great and admirable about the United States.

There are fears here the bitter Hillary-Obama contest may ruin both candidates, leading to four more years of Bush under John McCain. But it may also benefit Obama. He needs to toughen up before facing the ferocious Republican attack machine that sunk war veteran John Kerry’s campaign under a torrent of `Swiftboat’ lies about his military service in Vietnam. John McCain is a gentleman, but not so Republican strategist Carl Rove’s waiting character assassins.

Obama could sharply alter America’s highly negative image created by Bush & Co. as a determined enemy of the Muslim world. Not because his father was Muslim, but because of his image of fairness and sensible foreign policy proposals calling for open dialogue with the Muslim World, including Iran, instead of confrontation. If Americans want to repair relations with the Muslim world, electing Obama is a good way to start.

I would say that many Canadians tend to feel the same way about Obama. It has gone way beyond our curiosity about an African-American running for president. Barack Obama represents the best opportunity for the U.S. to redeem itself.

I Don't Care....

....what the Cuban dancers, the reggaetoneros, or the charangueros say. The world is a better place with a new Klimax album (which includes a vocal from Omara).

Infrequent Sports Blogging

If you grew up male in this country, the above red, white and blue CH was more recognizable than the Canadian flag.

Most of my friends are too young, are female, or didn't grow up in Canada, so the above is just a design. But for some of us it is about as primal an identification symbol as you can get.

There was a time when not everything was a logo.

Timba.com

Several people asked me why I had been dropped off the blogroll at Timba.com and the answer is......I hadn't. It's just that the hyperlink got disconnected from the text when Mike when in to do an update.

Simple.

El Tosco Speaks: The English Translation

Published here in Juventud Rebelde

Q Formell said in this paper that he does not see a serious replacement in popular music that assures its future. What are the problems that need to be solved in popular music to guarantee its continuity?

A If we do not think this over well, we won’t be able to go beyond timba. There are many difficulties to forming a group: you don’t have a company; you need to have a certain number of people on the staff; there is a certain law; you have to wait a year to go out of the country... millions of things that have been established by musical and cultural establishments.

“During the ‘Special period,’ some left the country or didn’t want to work. And popular music —which was so much criticized— entertained people and brought them pleasure. There are some people complaining now because reggaeton isn’t the future of the Cuban music. I have nothing against that music genre; it must have something that makes it a music phenomenon, but I think that people here have studied a great deal and have too high a level artistic development to fall for a quality of aesthetic work that is so low.

“I think that we need to review the laws regulating the creation of new groups, find the way to opening instead of closing, because this is a country where people walk and talk dancing and signing. A people without music has no soul. This comes from Martí’s epoch, and no one can change it.”

Here's the original article in Spanish

Pedrito Calvo - Pere Cochero

Jose Ortega dug this up. Dont know many details about this video from Cuban teevee, except that it's Papiosco on the congas.

Poster by Jose Ortega

The Professional DJ at Work

Concentrating on 'the mix'

I Have a Date With Lupe

May 23. Lu-pay.

Bamboleo

I had another DJ'ing job right last night so it is only now, Sunday, that I can summon up the hand-eye-mental co-ordination necessary to type these little words.

Without a doubt Bamboleo win, hands down, the award for most 'Low Maintenance-Hi Performance' Timba group that I have dealt with. After the usual day and a half of papeleo drama in Havana, (word is there are all kinds of new issues with Canadian immigration) the group arrived in Toronto at around 8:30 Friday night, and were on stage in full flight by 11pm.

And what a well-oiled máquina El Señor Lazaro Valdez maintains. Bamboleo played a two hour non-stop-til-you-drop show that reminded more than a few of us just how awesomely tight and and rehearsed a timba band can be. And Tanya, well, she was magnificent. She seemed to thrive on all the front row crowd energy even more than when I had seen her in Havana...just fabulous.

One of the hi-lites included Glenda DelMonte sitting in at the piano looking so cool and collected, as if playing Lazaro Valdez piano parts was fun, but not that big a deal technically (which for Glenda it probably wasn't).

As always, I had a great time DJ'ing through the Six Degrees sound system.(Separate from the sound system they use for the bands). One thing I noticed - that I had seen in Havana, but until Friday, not here - were the reggaetonero performers. Guys who break out in choreographed, lip sync performances of Clan 537, Gente de Zona, Elvis Manuel songs as if they were actually shooting the video. Real cute.

I'll dig up some photos.

Learning Spanish From Yoani

Last week it was the word 'papelazo'.

This weeks word is 'papeleo', which roughly speaking, means the art of arranging the papers necessary to get an exit permit (tarjeta blanca) in Cuba.

los trámites y papeles para viajar fuera de Cuba y, las asignaturas, llevan una buena dosis de paciencia, mansedumbre e incógnita. (patience, meekness and mystery?)

Although today, both Phil Peters and Cubaencuntro are both reporting that the Cuban government will drop the requirement for an exit permit.

Which has a bunch of implications, if you start to think it through. One of Phil Peters commenters speculates

What is going to be most interesting, however, is our (the U.S.) reaction to all this. After years of begging the regime to let Cubans free to travel and/or exit are we going to be the ones trying to keep them out? Are we going to adjust wet foot/dry foot in light of the fact that we could be inundated with Cuban "tourists?" How is it going to look when Cuba has a more liberal travel policy than we do?

There are implications for Canada too, even with our more intelligent attitude to travel to Cuba.

Uh Oh

Toronto, oil up your bicycles.

Early Morning Madness

from El Machetero

If you didn't see my current crackbook status, then let me inform you right now that El Machetero is gonna be rockin some tight crazy sets alongside my pana and good homie Sergio Elmir (AKA El Man) of Dos Mundos Radio fame, this Saturday morning from 6AM to 9AM on CIUT 89.5 FM.

It's gonna be a total open format type of vibe, and we have three hours to kill it and play whatever we want, and we intend to do exactly that. So whatever type of craziness y'all think you can typically expect from me and/or Sergio when we throw down on the wheels of steel, we will not disappoint for even a second. 

I'll be sleeping off a night w Bamboleo is my excuse.

More Details On The Elvis Manuel Story

As the reality sinks in that Elvis Manuel has lost his life trying to get to Miami, attention is turning to who financed the ill-fated trip. According to a report in the Miami Herald,...

The U.S. Coast Guard repatriated Nodarse (Manuel's mother) and 11 others who were passengers on the suspected smuggling vessel, a 25-foot, twin-engine catamaran. On Saturday, the agency turned over the two Cuban men suspected of smuggling to U.S. Border Patrol in Marathon. The pair had been paroled into the United States within the past year but are not legal residents, Colón said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is investigating the suspected smuggling operation, but declined to comment on whether criminal charges would be filed with the U.S. attorney's office.

Who paid these smugglers is the big question. The Sun Sentital reports

Alejandro "DJ Jerry" Rodriguez Lopez,(Manuel's DJ) a 19-year-old performer who was among the 14 people who survived the journey, said that he, Elvis Manuel and another friend were assured millions of dollars if they left Cuba immediately.

Rodriguez, and Elvis Manuel's mother, Irioska Maria Nodarse, identified the producers as Eric Reyes, 32, and Lester Delgado, 23, of Millenium Records Entertainment Corp. in Miami.

Rodriguez said he and his friends were intrigued by fame and fortune.

"We were told we would be millionaires in two months," Rodriguez said. "They said we would be signed for about $25,000 each on arrival. I thought I would send my father $20,000 so he could build a palace in Cuba. That kind of money lasts forever here."

The two U.S. based producers who signed Elvis Manuel's to some kind of contract denied financing the smuggling operation, and claim they did unsuccessfully try to charter a plane to search for the singer after he was reported missing.

I wish that some reporting could be done by someone familiar with the music business in Miami, who could shed some light on Millenium Records Entertainment Corp (there is no web site). Who are these guys? what other records have they released? The fact that the music biz is full of shady characters doesn't mean that these two wern't entirely legit. Who can tell?

But it's a real shame that a young man had to lose his life this way.

Brasileiro on May 30th

Here's a weblink full of info

Hmmm. I wonder. If i practise hard enough.......

Gonzalo Grau Y La Clave Secreta

Daniel Stone had turned me on to this group a while back. Their new album 'Frutero Moderno' has been released and got a great review from Descarga.com

Gonzalo Grau () has changed the name of his band from La Timba Loca to La Clave Secreta, and has put out a pretty much amazing timba dance record that suggests that timba is going to be the lengua franca of modern Caribbean dance music. It’s timba made international, by which I mean that it takes away the insularity of Cuban timba (think crappy keyboard sounds) and brings it into a more experimental place....This is for fans of Guaco, timba, Goza Pepillo, Descemer, Robertico Carcasses, Azucar Negra, etc.: all the new and old bands that aren’t worried about taking on timba and bringing to it the modern world of experience.

You can check the music for yourself on La Clave Secreta MySpace. It's pretty good.

The Forgotten Woman

(This is my good deed for the day)

Via Jose at Lula comes news of new documentary entitled ‘The Forgotten Woman’ which is premiering at Hot Doc’s on the 24th - and is sold out! However, it is going to theaters the next day (the 25th) for all those interested in quality documentaries about human rights issues. (I didn't get the info as to which theater)

‘The Forgotten Woman’ is directed by Dilip Mehta and written by Deepa Mehta  and “aims to bring about an understanding of the destitution and marginalization of many of the millions of widows in India today, who are forced by age-old traditions to live out their remaining years isolated from and shunned by the society at large.”

For more info on the movie check out the blurb from the HotDocs Festival. (Which was written by old pal Lynn Fernie. Hi Lynn!)

International Colloquium: 'Canada and the Americas: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Transculturality'

My friend Afef Benessaieh, who is a prof at Glendon College, is organizing a conference there on April 24 and 25 that sounds interesting for those of us who have been working in the world music field.

Here is the blurb

The Western hemisphere shares core social and cultural features such as the dynamic pluriethnic composition of its societies and the resulting ambivalence of defining fixed or definitive senses of 'national cultures'. This conference primary objective  is to discuss from a variety of disciplinary lenses current conceptualizations and practices of 'transculturality' in the hemisphere, transculturality relating to identities' polysemic definitions in rapidly changing multicultural, globalizing, contexts. It will receive leading scholars from Quebec, Ontario and Latin America, and provide an intellectual opportunity for scholars and practitioners to discuss transculturality as a pertinent term in a comparative, multidisciplinary framework; and as a result, create a Ontario-Quebec-Latin American working group. The event and resulting activities will be held at Glendon College, York  University, taking advantage of this campus long held multicultural tradition and more specifically its distinctive identity as the sole bilingual campus of the university. Please mark your calendars for April 24 and 25 2008 and consult for more information including registration

Here is the weblink for more information  http://www.transcultureproject.com

Afef introduced me to the word 'transculturality'.

The Sun Milk Mural

Someone Remind Me Please

Why are we in Afghanistan?

Follow The Money

John Terauds wrote in The Star about the protest held last week about the declassicalmusicification of CBC Radio 2

It looked like roughly half the crowd was made up of musicians and arts workers. There were faces from the Toronto Symphony, the Canadian Opera Company, Tafelmusik, the Elmer Iseler Singers and a large contingent of artists active on the new music scene.

I wonder why? Maybe, just maybe, it's because

'the Toronto Symphony, the Canadian Opera Company, Tafelmusik, the Elmer Iseler Singers and a large contingent of artists active on the new music scene'

are the most heavily subsidized musicians in Canada.

And maybe they are protesting the changes at the CBC to protect their interests, their grants, and their jobs which up to now they had taken for granted. And which until recently, only classical musicians qualified for.

El Tosco Speaks Out

From Cubaencuentro

El músico José Luis Cortés, más conocido por El Tosco, director de NG La Banda, opina que existen muchas dificultades para crear nuevos grupos musicales en la Isla, por lo que se deben revisar las leyes que regulan su creación, informó EFE.

En entrevista con el diario oficialista Juventud Rebelde, Cortés dijo: "Hay muchas dificultades para hacer un grupo: que si no tienes empresa, que si la plantilla, que si la ley número x, que si tienes que esperar un año para salir de Cuba".

"Pienso que hay que revisar las leyes de la creación de nuevos grupos, ver cómo abrimos en vez de cerrar. Porque este es un pueblo en que la gente camina y habla bailando y cantando. Un pueblo sin música no tiene alma. Eso viene de la época martiana y no lo va a cambiar nadie", agregó el flautista, que en sus más de 20 años de carrera artística ha pasado por los grupos Aliamén, Irakere y la orquesta Los Van Van.

Cortés es partidario de un trabajo renovador en la música popular. "Si no nos ponemos a pensar bien, nos vamos a quedar en la timba", señaló El Tosco, que actualmente impulsa los proyectos de una escuela de canto dedicada a buscar nuevas voces y en una orquesta de flautistas.

Hopefully, there's a translation from the original Juventud Rebelde interview out there somewhere. El Tosco sounds like a man who doesn't mince words.