artists category
Beny Esguerra
“New Tradition was responsible for the highest-energy showcase of Mundial Montreal. The band was furiously polyrhythmic and super tight. You’ve got to experience Beny’s gaita (flute) riding overtop of Planet Rock beats to believe it. This band won’t fail to make you dance your ass off while immersing you in the richness of Afro-Colombian heritage” David […]
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Beyond the Pale
Inspired by Klezmer and Balkan styles but influenced by everything from jazz and classical music to bluegrass, newgrass and reggae, Beyond the Pale’s music traverses a vast and exotic musical landscape, bound by no particular idiom and shaped by many. Their stellar musicianship, meticulous dynamics, adventurous compositions, and inventive arrangements of traditional material make them one of Canada’s most innovative acoustic ensembles. Though individual virtuosity abounds within the group, the collective sound always takes precedence, conveying the deep and generous bonds of creativity that unite these longtime collaborators.
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Dobranotch
For over twenty years, Dobranotch has been bringing the world the boundless energy of roots music: Jewish, Russian, Balkan, and Roma. At the philharmonic, they sound like refined artists; in a club or at a festival, they send the audience into a dancing trance; and when they descend from the stage, they’re the orchestra for a magic carnival!
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Eliana Cuevas with Jeremy Ledbetter
Eliana Cuevas A major international talent thats on its way.” The Toronto Star, Canada “Canada’s emerging Latin music queen” 680 NEWS “Musical class on an international Jazz level meets driving Caribbean rhythms and first- class Latin.” Hamburg Morning Daily, Germany “I am very impressed! Eliana Cuevas is a knockout on every level.” Gapplegate Music Review, New York, USA Eliana […]
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Eliana Cuevas with Orchestra
A major international talent thats on its way.” The Toronto Star, Canada “Canada’s emerging Latin music queen” 680 NEWS “Musical class on an international Jazz level meets driving Caribbean rhythms and first- class Latin.” Hamburg Morning Daily, Germany “I am very impressed! Eliana Cuevas is a knockout on every level.” Gapplegate Music Review, New York, USA Originally from Venezuela […]
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Gephilte
Gephilte, a jam-band experiment in Yiddish funk, is the latest boundary-busting project from renowned Canadian Yiddish hip hop provocateur Josh “Socalled” Dolgin. Branching off from his internationally famous hip hop project and taking cues from his funk/klezmer supergroup Abraham Inc, Dolgin has brought together an ensemble of virtuosos to explore Yiddish repertoire.
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JER
Fusing psychedelic rock, dub and afrobeat grooves with northeast Brazilian rhythms and Tropicalia influences from the classic 70s era, Brazilian Canadian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jerusa Leão, aka JER, creates an eclectic sound that challenges preconceived notions of what constitutes traditional Brazilian music.
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John Orpheus
Born and raised in South-Central Trinidad, John Orpheus is a multi-cultural artist and published author. In 2021, he had his memoir SAGA BOY published by Penguin Random House in Canada and Milkweed Editions in the US. With the book launched, John decided to return to music and release a companion album entitled SAGA KING. Both the book and the album are based on the same themes: searching for home, family, love and a fly coat to wear when you get there!
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Lengaïa Salsa Brava
Lengaïa Salsa Brava is an award-winning Montreal-based eleven-piece orchestra created in 2012 by Latin and Guyanese trombone player Giany-Frantz Huyghues-Despointes. Its format of three trombones and a baritone saxophone gives it a uniquely and powerful sonic colour.
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MOJO & The Bayou Gypsies
“My hands hurt from clapping, my feet hurt from dancing, my sides ache from laughing, my face hurts from smiling, and I can’t wait to do it again!” – Alan Rose “This Bayou Man, Mister MOJO, and his troupe of near-mad musical provocateurs, have poured Louisiana Fire on audiences across the planet since 1985… Few performers can lift an audience like Mojo, star of the […]
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Nastasia Y
“Slavic soul rooted in ancestral sounds of Ukraine and guided by the boundary-busting Toronto scene” Jonathan Campbell, Small World Music “World fusion at its best” WholeNote Magazine “Nastasia Y really is the face and voice of musicians defending Ukraine here in Toronto” Paul Corby (Corby’s Orbit) Nastasia Y [nas-TA-s’yah] is a Ukrainian-born global fusion artist based […]
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OKAN
Blending tradition Cuban music, jazz, and contemporary Afro-Cuban sounds, OKAN embraces every culture and welcomes it as its own. In the religion of santería, “okan” means “soul.” This is embodied in the great sophistication of their music – a look to the history of Cuban music with a modern and fresh touch; the evolution of Cuban music outside of Cuba.
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Okavango African Orchestra
Okavango African Orchestra brings together the traditional music and instruments of several major African cultures that historically have had little or no interaction. The musicians of Okavango have created a common meeting place for these disparate cultures, and a new musical language that harmonizes their different tuning systems, rhythms, and timbres. The musicians and instruments of Okavango represent a continuum of traditions and cultures from time immemorial to the present day.
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Oktopus
“A beautifully performed program, strong group cohesion, verve, a deep understanding of gypsy, Balkan and Ashkenazi Jewish music, with classical flair and an almost jazz attitude to play.” Alain Brunet, La Presse 15 juillet 2015 “I’ve had a lot a really great acts this summer, but they definitely are among the top 5 (top 3?) shows.” J. […]
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Queen Kong
“Seriously, how can you not pay attention to a futuristic klezmer band that has it’s grooves informed by Hasidic new wave? … Wildly world beat, it’s a sure fire gasser for anyone that likes grooves from elsewhere that march to their own beat.” Chris Spector, Midwest Record To be thrown “into the fray” is to enter […]
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Rivka Golani
Rivka Golani is recognized as one of the outstanding violists of modern times. Her contributions to the advancement of viola technique have given her a place in the history of the instrument and have been a source of inspiration not only to other players but also to the many composers who have been inspired by her mastery. More than 350 works have so far been composed for Rivka, including over 80 concertos: a record matched by no other violist in history.
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Romano Drom
“Certainly unusual for a Hungarian album, and none the worse for that, there’s a complete absence of brass and violin, giving an intimacy to the music that’s often enchanting. But its heart and soul is in the singing. If you need an analogy, try the Gipsy Kings, but with much more rooted soul, and far […]
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Shura Lipovsky
Shura Lipovsky is one of the world’s most renowned singers of Yiddish and Jewish songs. Her work focuses on the artistic expression of Yiddish culture, using a blend of her various studies to foster intercultural dialogue.
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Socalled (Josh Dolgin)
Josh “Socalled” Dolgin is a pianist, accordionist, producer, journalist, photographer, filmmaker, magician, cartoonist and puppet maker based in Montreal, Quebec. With six solo albums to his name, he has performed all over the world for more than 10 years, and his list of collaborators knows no generational, social, cultural nor religious boundaries. Aside from countless festivals and venues around the world, Socalled has performed at Carnegie Hall (twice!), the Olympia in Paris, the Apollo theatre in Harlem and the Arsht centre in Miami.
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Songs from Testimonies
In 2018, the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, along with musician-in-residence D. Zisl Slepovitch and former Hartman fellow Sarah Garibova, began production of an album of songs recalled in some of the more than 4,400 testimonies from survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust in the Archive, held at Yale University. The 12,000+ hours of recorded material — […]
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Svigals & Sosin
Alicia Svigals and Donald Sosin have been bringing audiences to their feet throughout the US and Europe with their unique and stirring violin and piano scores for Jewish-themed silent films. Sosin is one of the world’s top silent film musicians, and Svigals is the world’s leading klezmer violinist and a founder of the Grammy-winning Klezmatics. After meeting at a silent film festival in Italy in 2017, the two recorded their first original score for the 1923 German film The Ancient Law, soon followed by The City Without Jews, both released on DVD/Blu-ray by Flicker Alley. Their third opus, for the 1992 satire The Man Without a World by San Diego-based performance artist Eleanor Antin, will be released by Milestone Films.
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The Socalled Band
Josh “Socalled” Dolgin is a pianist, accordionist, producer, journalist, photographer, filmmaker, magician, cartoonist and puppet maker based in Montreal, Quebec. He has lectured and has led master classes in music festivals around the world, from Moscow to Paris, from London to LA, and from Krakow to San Francisco, and has performed on every continent. With […]
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Tio Chorinho with Flavia Nascimento
Flávia Nascimento joins Tio Chorinho, Canada’s first ensemble dedicated to performing Brazilian choro music. Flávia is a favourite at street parties, popular events, major festivals and in concert halls. Whenever there is a need to make a show burst with excitement, it is time to call Flávia. Best known for her expertise in Northeastern Brazilian styles such as forró and maracatù, this collaboration with Canada’s leading choro ensembles allows listeners to discover Flávia in a completely different repertoire.
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Tio Chorinho
Toronto’s Tio Chorinho is the first ensemble in Canada dedicated to performing Brazilian Choro music. Choro is the original Brazilian soul music, combining popular and classical European styles with Afro-Brazilian influences. It is the foundation of many modern Brazilian music styles, and is often described as “the New Orleans jazz of Brazil.” Exciting, energetic, soulful, intimate, nostalgic and virtuosic, choro is an infectious popular style whose universal appeal belies its musical complexity.
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