Interviews
Malika Zarra sings and composes her own highly personal music, an inspired and natural blend of jazz, gnawa, châabi and Berber traditions. She has been touring Europe, America and the Arab world for over twenty years now.
On 8 November, she will be on stage in the Cinquième salle at Place des Arts in Montreal, for an eagerly awaited concert under the auspices of the Festival du Monde Arabe 2024. Here’s an interview.
In 2022, Zach Zoya negotiated a more pop-oriented turn with the No Love Is Ever WastedEP , and he’s staying the course with the new It’s Always Sunny in Glendale EP on the 7ième Ciel label, a title that ironizes the sunny Californian climate, but may also be a decoy for the artistic jungle that thrives there. For several months now, the Quebec singer and rapper has been residing in California, essentially to develop his career, while maintaining strong links with his core group of Montreal beatmakers and producers. He’s back in MTL with his band on November 1st, at Ausgang Plaza, to defend the 7 tracks on his new EP and more. Alain Brunet met him virtually for the occasion and, of course, to ask about his Californian life.
ZACH ZOYA AND HIS GROUP WILL PERFORM ON FRIDAY NOVEMBER 1 AT AUSGANG PLAZA. TICKETS AND INFOS HERE
As has been reported in all the mainstream media over the past few days, the progressive destruction of the nerve endings in her index finger – the main finger on her right hand that holds the bow – is incurable, following a battery of tests that have led Angèle Dubeau to officially stop playing. After 58 years of daily practice and almost 50 albums, which have taken her all over the planet, with awards to show for it (21 Félix at ADISQ at the time of writing), one can imagine the grief of the musician who has also put an end to the activities of her string ensemble La Pietà. Alain Brunet, who interviewed her many times during her career, also asked about her condition.
Since 2016, Greg Beaudin (Snailkid with Dead Obies) and his brother Jam (K6A, Jam P and Dox) have been reunited with their father Robin Kerr, an authentic Rasta crooner transplanted to Quebec to start a family with his native mom. The sons have taken to hip-hop and R&B, while the father has remained faithful to dancehall and roots reggae, but the two generations share a common ground in the Brown Family. With the release of their 3rd album on Disques7ième Ciel, father and sons merge the legacies of their respective generations better than ever on the 10 tracks of this fresh opus. Greg Beaudin talks to Alain Brunet about Durags et cœurs brisés, a title that recalls his half-Jamaican origins by evoking durag, the fabric used as headgear by rastas and Afrodescendants wishing to confine their dreads when necessary.
On the occasion of the Montreal Arab World Festival 2024, the Chants Libres company and the Oktoecho ensemble present the creation of a new opera inspired by Sainte-Marine la Déguisée. Sainte-Marine lived in the 5th century AD and remained disguised as a man all her life in order to live the life of a Maronite monk in what is now Lebanon.
Why this subject for an opera now? What type of music has composer Katia Makdissi-Warren imagined to illustrate the life of this extraordinary character? Why is it called an ‘immersive opera’? What kind of experience can we expect at the SAT (Society for Arts and Technology), where the opera will be performed? We spoke to Marie-Annick Béliveau, artistic director of Chants Libres, to find out.
After releasing a solo EP at the end of the previous decade, Lia Kurihara aka Lia Kuri was about to create her first complete album of songs inspired by the dark destiny of our natural environment, and then… she had to take care of her mother with cancer and her father with dementia. It was rough but formative times for her, and this cycle of care nourished her creative songwriting project: Motherland evoques her thoughts about Mother Earth, her mother (and father), and the mother she became taking care of her parents. An album is out since October and Lia Kuri is going to perform its alt-pop songs and its singular electronic beatmaking without a band, through a one-woman show and immersive audiovisual format, somewhere between a real music show and a conference. Laurie Anderson may love that ! But let’s have the comments from the artist: Lia Kuri had a chat with Alain Brunet for PAN M 360.
“When it rains, only open gourds have water”. This Wolof saying is perfectly embodied by Noubi’s art and music. Indeed, this artist from St-Louis, Senegal, surrounds himself with artists from all over the world to accompany him on his musical adventure. For his participation in the 2024 edition of Malasartes, he will be accompanied by a flamenco guitarist, a musician from Venezuela and will invite his long-time friend and mentor Damián Nisenson, an Argentinean saxophonist, guitarist and singer, on stage. Sandra Gasana spoke to him for PAN M 360 just days before his show at the Sala Rosa.
In Yiddish, Kleyn Kabaret means “little cabaret”. Before the Holocaust, Yiddish was the language of Europe’s Jewish communities, some 6 million of whose speakers were exterminated by Nazi forces. Inevitably, Yiddish also bore the brunt of the Shoah, and the language declined precipitously after 1945. Today, Hasidic communities still speak the language… But other young, progressive Jews, who have nothing to do with religious fundamentalism, are working to revive and even update it. Some are doing so through song and music, as is the case with singer Antonia Hayward and her colleagues, including multi-instrumentalist and singer Damian Nisenson. Launched in 2019, Kleyn Cabaret has just recorded De mémoire, a second album on the Malasartes label, whose new material will be performed at a show at the Sala Rossa on Thursday, November 7. That’s why Alain Brunet spoke to Antonia Hayward.
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Active since two decades now, the double bassist, composer and leader of the Cordâme ensemble has been releasing a new album: Déesses mystiques. Once again, Jean-Félix Mailloux assumes his inclination for modern classical music, contemporary jazz and non-Western music. Alongside violinist Marie Neige Lavigne, cellist Sheila Hannigan, pianist Guillaume Martineau, harpist Éveline Grégoire-Rousseau and percussionist Mark Nelson, he dedicates his new compositions to the goddesses of Greek mythology, which have been on his mind since a trip to Greece as a teenager. Returning to strictly instrumental music, Cordâme is currently on tour, stopping off at the Sala Rossa this Friday, November 1. Alain Brunet interviewed him to find out more about the project, and to give PAN M 360’s audience the benefit of his answers.
Cordâme on tour
November1 – Déesses mystiques, Sala Rossa, Montreal
November 3 –Fabula Femina, Maison de la culture Francis Brisson, Shawinigan
November 17 – Fabula Femina, Église St-Joseph-de-Mont-Royal
January 21 –I am vertical with ensemble Sixtrum, Espace Orange de l’Édifice Wilder, Montreal
january 26 – Fabula Femina, Paroisse Saint-Édouard, Montreal
january 30 – Fabula Femina, Maison de la culture Janine-Sutto, Montreal
february 4 –Fabula Femina, Centre culturel et communautaire Henri-Lemieux, Lasalle
February 8 – Fabula Femina , Salle de diffusion de Parc-Extension, Montreal
March 5 –Fabula Femina, Théâtre Spadina, Alliance Française de Toronto
March 6 – Fabula Femina, National Arts Centre, Ottawa
April 6 –Fabula Femina, Salle Georges-Codling, Sorel
April 24 – Fabula Femina, Église Jean XXIII, Trois-Rivières
May 7 –Fabula Femina, Auditorium Harold Greenspon, Côte Saint-Luc
May 8 – Fabula Femina, Maison Brignon-Dit-Lapierre, Montreal-North
Proud of its long and rich history, the OSM Competition, which this year is devoting its edition to woodwinds and brass, will conclude on November 9th with the performance of 4 finalists, whose names will be known after the semi-final rounds, which will begin on November 5th and 6th to separate the twelve semi-finalists of this 85th edition. This intensive week offers an excellent opportunity to learn more about the competition, its history and the various activities that surround it. Our contributor Alexandre Villemaire discussed these topics with Annie Saumier, Director, Education and Community at the OSM, which oversees the competition.
To find out more about the events surrounding the competition and the various semi-finalists, click HERE.
The Orchestre symphonique de Laval (OSL) kicks off its season this Wednesday, October 30, with the Violin Concerto by German composer Felix Mendelssohn, one of the most sought-after works in the classical repertoire. OSL concertmaster and Molinari Quartet violinist Antoine Bareil will perform under guest conductor Adam Johnson. Also on the program, the OSL will perform one of the rare orchestral works by Felix’s elder sister, Fanny Mendelssohn. In addition, music lovers in Laval will be treated to Russian composer Modest Moussorgsky’s seminal work Pictures at an Exhibition, imagined following a visit to a retrospective of the works of painter and architect Viktor Hartmann, a close friend of the composer. Alexandre Villemaire interviewed Antoine Bareil, whose comments on this program should make your mouth water.
Program
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel
Overture in C major (10 min)
Felix Mendelssohn
Violin Concerto, in E minor, Op. 64 (30 min.)
1. Allegro molto appassionato
2. Andante
3. Allegretto non troppo
Intermission (20 min)
Modest Moussorgski
Pictures from an exhibition
(orchestration Maurice Ravel) (35 min)
1. Promenade
2. Gnomus
3. Promenade
4. Il vecchio castello
5. Promenade
6. Tuileries. Dispute d’enfants après jeux
7. Bydlo
8. Promenade
9. Ballet des poussins dans leurs coques
10. Samuel Goldenberg et Schmuyle
11. Promenade
12. Limoges. Le marché. La grande nouvelle
13. Catacombae, cum mortuis in lingua mortua
14. Baba Yaga, la cabane sur des pattes de poule
15. La Grande Porte de Kiev
As part of their Canadian tour, the award-winning Swedish ensemble Stenhammar Quartet will perform two concerts in the metropolis. Featured on October 27 as part of Le Vivier’s programming, they will present Tales of Strength, a program featuring works from the 20th and 21st centuries on the theme of resilience and the human will to overcome life’s trials. On November1, in the live@CIRMMT series, they also collaborate with Canadian-Swedish composer Örjan Sandred to reinvent live electronic music, notably through the use of artificial intelligence. The result arouses curiosity and respect. Our journalist Alexandre Villemaire spoke to them for PAN M 360.