MisterBryans

Toronto Independent Music Awards

photo by Sophie

Amanda Martinez and Evaristo Machado were nominated for the Toronto Independent Music Awards in the World Music category. Cache  was nominated in Best Instrumental category, which I'm sure will be news to singer Juan Carlos Cardenas.

Interview with Vitaly

About a year ago, a mysterious timba recording by one Vitaly y su Timba Habanera was making the rounds via MP3's  without anyone quite figuring out who exactly this guy Vitaly was. Finally, the man himself (Vitaly Osmachko) sent us some info on the release of the album - and now Michelle from Timba.com has posted a long interview with Vitaly by Artem Ivantsov of the Music In Latin magazine.

He had a most excellent transcultural adventure in Havana, playing gypsy music in the day, composing timba themes at night. It's a great story.

For Sale

The ultimate image of the U.S. music industry is now the ultimate image of the decline of the U.S. music industry.

Digital Music Weblog has some cool links and Wikipedia has some history

Editorials

Who reads them? 

Except at election time when political candidates tally how many editorial endorsements they've received, I'm not sure who even notices them.

I like this bit from Jeff Jarvis

The irony is that the editorialists have long been guilty of the sins most often attributed to bloggers: They rarely report and mostly just leach off the work of other journalists. And they work anonymously. Worse, they attempt to speak as the voices of institutions, issuing opinions as if from the mountaintop. But today, we do not trust institutions. We are impatient with lectures. We demand to speak eye-to-eye as humans. We require conversation. The form of the editorial is as outmoded as its medium. News organizations should no longer define themselves by the ink on their paper. And publishers may no longer assume the prerogative of telling us what to think just because they buy that ink by the barrel. Now we all have our barrels of bits.

Cuban Film Week at the ROM October 15-20

As part of their Cuba Today series, the ROM is presenting a week of Cuban film.

Sunday, Oct. 15: Memories of Underdevelopment (1968), directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea
Monday, Oct. 16: Strawberry and Chocolate (1994), directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabio
Tuesday, Oct. 17: Guantanamera (1995), directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabio
Wednesday, Oct. 18: Vampires in Havana (1985), directed by Juan Padron
Thursday, Oct. 19: Toronto premiere of Suite Habana (2003), directed by Fernanado Pérez
Friday, Oct. 20: Toronto premiere of Three Times Two (2004), directed by Esteban García Insausti, Pavel Giroud and Lesler Hamlet

Free admission. Begins at 7 pm in the ROM’s Signy and Cléophée Eaton Theatre, Level 1. All films are in Spanish with English subtitles.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

(Paul Sancya/AP)

Globe and Mail Sept 28/06

The United States Coast Guard have started to patrol the Great Lakes with machine guns mounted on their vessels and are conducting live-ammunition training drills on the U.S. side to prepare officers to combat terrorists flooding across the border from Canada by boat.

The Latin Grammys

It looks like a busy year for the U.S. State Department as they have at least three Cuban music groups to deny visas to for the Seventh Annual Latin Grammys taking place on Nov 2 at Madison Square Garden in NYC.

Yoruba Andado were nominated for their Rumba en La Habana album in the Best Folk Album Category.
Juan de Marcos - AfroCuban AllStars and the Grupo Compay Segundo were both nominated in the best Traditional Tropical Album Category.

And in the salsa category it's Pupy Pedroso, La Charanga Habanera, Salsa Major and Issac Delgado I mean  it's Tito, Victor, Gilberto and Gran Combo.

mmmm

UPDATE. Sure enough I missed some artists including the mighty Pablo Milanés, whose album with Andy Montañez was nominated in the Traditional Tropical Album category. Encuentros lists all the Cuban artists nominated for the Latin Grammy, many of whom don't live on the island so who presumably are free to attend the ceremonies.

Quote of the Day

Via The Digital Music Weblog

This case is but one part of a much larger modern conspiracy to destroy all innovation that content owners cannot control and that disrupts their historical business models. In recent years copyright owners have tried to prevent the exploitation of new technology by suing makers of software, makers of devices that play music ("RIAA vs. Diamond Multimedia Systems), ISPs, Internet search engines, venture capitalists that invest in internet companies(Hummer Winblad) [...] Their goal is quite simple: to prevent the development of any technology -- even the internet -- that is not designed and organized to control piracy

Limewire (a p2p service) has filed a counter-suit against the RIAA (the association that represents the US Major record companies). The above quote is  part of their claim .

Liuba Maria Hevia in Toronto

With my limited Spanish comprehension skills, it's doubtful that I'd be much of a Nueva Trova aficionado, but I sure learned one thing when I saw Carlos Varela a couple of months ago. Namely, that the audience for this type of music is as ardent and passionate as the audience for any salsa band. It's just that they are sitting down.

I'm won't attempt to describe Liuba Maria Hevia's music but you can check outsome sound samples on her website.

Here is a bio I found

Widely considered one of the most important and exquisite singer/songwriters in Cuba, Liuba Maria Hevia's work can be described as a stunning combination of poetry, elaborate arrangements and, above all, a unique, wonderfully warm voice.
Lyrics filled with poetry and the use of the guitar as a foundation of all her songs make her an important member of the new generation of Cuban Nueva Trova (new song) genre, and many critics acknowledge that she is the true heir of the legacy of such mythic artists as Silvio Rodriguez and Pablo Milanes who have joined Liuba Maria Hevia on some of her recordings.

In 1990 she formed her group with a classic and richly acoustic scheme, mixing instruments like violin and cello with lute, guitars, tres (three-string guitar) and minor percussion instruments. These instruments were played by talented young musicians who studied and taught in some of Cuba's excellent music schools. Her extensive knowledge in many Latin American musical styles made her incorporate famous tangos, vallenatos, milongas and waltzes to her repertory.

She's at Lula Lounge on Sunday October 1 as part of the Small World Festival. Doors @ 7:00pm, Show @ 8:00pm, Admission is $15 at the door, Dinner reservations guarantee seating.    

She will also be perfoming on the 6th of October with Carlos Varela, Cafe Cubano and others up at Six Degrees in a show that I will discuss later.

Culture Schmulture

Tories slash spending by $1B

One of the departments significantly hit was Canadian Heritage.

Status of Women Canada, with a yearly budget of $23 million, is losing $5 million through reorganization. Some pro-Conservative groups, such as REAL Women Canada, mounted a campaign over the summer to cut the Trudeau-era agency altogether.

The department also loses half of its museum assistance program that funds projects at smaller museums across the country, such as the Glenbow in Calgary or the McCord in Montreal.

John McAvity, executive director of the Canadian Museums Association, said he felt like he had been “stood up at the altar.” He said the Conservatives promised during the election that they would increase funding for museums. And a Commons Heritage committee, chaired by a Tory, just last week tabled a report calling for just that.

“We’ve asked for $75 million per year, and instead of getting our increase we’re getting a decrease,” McAvity said. “It doesn’t bode well for Canadian Heritage or pride. Museums are places where our achievements are showcased and broadcasted to the world.”

In another area related to Canadian culture, the Department of Foreign Affairs is losing $12 million over two years for “public diplomacy,” a program which promotes Canada abroad through different cultural groups and academics.

Ahh yes, 'conservative' logic. Earn a surplus and starve the museums.