05 So Long SevenKala Kalo
So Long Seven
Independent SLS02 (solongseven.com)

Formed a few years ago, So Long Seven is a Toronto music collective comprised of Neil Hendry (guitars), Tim Posgate (banjo, bass guitar), William Lamoureux (violin, other strings) and Ravi Naimpally (tabla, other percussion). Individually they’re among Canada’s leading instrumentalists on their respective instruments and chosen music genres. As a group they share a common mission. “We all love music. We often play and compose for each other with great mutual respect, trying to challenge, push and inspire each other,” reflects Posgate. He also makes a point of pointing to the diverse influences on group members spanning not only cultures, “but generation too – they cover four decades in age, with a member in each (20s, 30s, 40s and 50s).”

Their sophomore album Kala Kalo reflects that democratic spirit of sharing. Each musician has contributed two or more compositions – plus they leave each other plenty of room to stretch out in fluent, expressive solos. The album’s 11 tracks feature numerous influences from many worlds of music. There is an overlying feeling, however, of collective music-making throughout the album, underscored by loose a cappella choruses on several tracks.

By the way, the invented phrase Kala Kalo translates as “black” in both Hindi and Romani respectively; the album is dedicated to those black sheep who have been marginalized and ostracized personally or politically. Whether you self-identify as a black sheep or not, my bet is that you will feel a warm welcome in the imaginative musical world presented on this disc.

06 Mi MundoMi Mundo
Brenda Navarrete
Alma Records ACD92972 (almarecords.com)

The auspicious opening salvo from classically trained, Cuban-born vocalist, composer and percussionist Brenda Navarrete is a scintillating, sweeping journey into Afro-Cuban music and mysticism (inseparable in Afro-Cuban culture). The fine CD was produced by first-call bassist Peter Cardinali (founder of Toronto’s Alma Records) and expertly recorded in Havana, Cuba by noted, multiple award-winning engineer, John “Beetle” Bailey. Navarrete’s stellar lineup includes Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez, Rodney Barreto and Jose Carlos on drums; Roberto Carcasses, Rolando Luna and Leonardo Ledesman on piano; Alain Pérez on bass; Adonis Panter on quinto and Eduardo Sandoval on trombone.

Navarrete first garnered international attention as a vocalist in the red-hot, global Cuban sensation Interactivo. As well as creating and performing the CD’s complex vocals, Navarrete also composed the majority of the material, and performs masterfully on bata and congas (for which she describes her training as more of a “street classroom”). Every track is a gem, but of particular luminescence is Baba Elegguá, on which ancient vocal call and response and intricate percussion invoke the world’s first music – enhanced by multi-layered, perfect vocals, this song generates a trancelike state, which is also imbued with generational reverence.

Also wonderful are Rumbero Como Yo, a fantastic, elemental web of Rhumba rhythms, targeting a place of awareness that is both deeply sensual and spiritual, and the enchanting Drume Negrita, which features exquisite harmonica work from Josué Borges Maresma. Navarette (who listened and absorbed everything from Ella to Billie) also gives us her take on Cachita by Rafael Hernández Marin, a joyous celebration of classic Cuban musical form, in the tradition of the immortal Celia Cruz.

01 Lenka LichtenbergMasaryk – Národni Pisnē: Czech, Moravian and Slovak Folk Songs Reimagined
Lenka Lichtenberg
ARC Music EUCD2751 (lenkalichtenberg.com)

Is there a new wave of interest in Czech folk music among Canadian-based musicians? Two recent albums suggest so. In the last issue of The WholeNote I reviewed The Book of Transfigurations, an album of Moravian songs originally transcribed by Julia Ulehla’s Czech musicologist great-grandfather, reimaged by the group Dálava. Casting the folk music net geographically wider, in Masaryk: Národní Písně, Czech-born Toronto-based singer-songwriter Lenka Lichtenberg presents an album of Slovak, Czech and Moravian songs. She enriches them with her 21st-century world music aesthetic.

Drawing on the important songbook Národní Písně (Songs of the Nation) by Czech musician and diplomat Jan Masaryk (1886-1948), Lichtenberg and Czech musician Tomas Reindl have fashioned imaginative arrangements of 14 songs. European folk instruments such as the cimbalom, kantele and bagpipes join standard orchestral instruments in their elaborate charts, firmly placing these songs in a European context. Interestingly, Reindl’s gentle tabla playing on several songs and the didgeridoo on another serve to shift those songs’ focus slightly from the Czech lands, rendering them more universal. The album was recorded in studios in the Czech Republic and in Toronto, further underscoring its internationality.

The award-winning Lichtenberg’s unaffected vocals soar over the acoustic instrumentals, often overdubbing herself with characteristic regional harmonies. Like Ulehla, Lichtenberg has a family relationship to these songs: she grew up singing some of them.

The entire album, obviously a product of great care and love, rewards multiple listens.

Listen to 'Masaryk – Národni Pisnē: Czech, Moravian and Slovak Folk Songs Reimagined' Now in the Listening Room

02 Buffy Sainte MarieMedicine Songs
Buffy Sainte-Marie
True North Records TN0681 (truenorthrecords.com)

Buffy Sainte-Marie is an iconic, award-winning, Indigenous Canadian composer, vocalist and national treasure as well as a lifelong social activist. For the past 50 years she has written and performed her unique songs of forward motion, insight and healing as “medicine” to the people – all people. Sainte-Marie describes this new recording, as “a collection of frontline songs about unity and resistance – some brand new and some classics – and I want to put them to work.” This is the fifth collaboration between talented musician Chris Birkett and Sainte-Marie. They act as co-producers here, and Birkett has deftly recorded and mixed the 13 dynamic tracks.

The stirring opener, You Got to Run is co-written by Sainte-Marie and Tanya Tagaq and features fine vocals and a relentless arrangement defined by a perfect balance between acoustic and digital instruments, propelled by skilled keyboard, bass and drum programming by Jon Levine, Max Kennedy Roach on drums and Justin Abedin on guitar – and The War Racket is an infectious/rap-tious and rhythmic contemporary protest song that sadly is still as pertinent now as it was 30 years ago.

Standouts include the energizing Carry it On, and the charming, guitar-centric folk song Little Wheel Spin and Spin. Of special note is the final track on the CD, Alabama 3’s Power in the Blood – a wall of sound, embracing rock modalities and driving home the futility and horror of war. Sainte-Marie’s vocal instrument is as dynamic and powerful as ever, but now resounds with an even warmer tone of life experience, bringing a new musical palette to her perpetually relevant work. 

04 PayadoraVolando
Payadora Tango Ensemble
Independent (payadora.com)

Payadora Tango Ensemble has made a memorable mark on the Canadian music scene with their accomplished ensemble playing and toe tapping energetic versions of the Argentinian tango, the form the world loves to listen, play and dance to. The group – Rebekah Wolkstein (violin, vox), Branko Dzinovic (accordion), Robert Horvath (piano) and Joe Phillips (double bass) – now expands its tango horizons with a wider compositional cross section.

The traditional tango is represented by the perfect performance of Adios Muchachos/I Get Ideas. The Adios portion is a more traditional performance with guest vocals by Elbio Fernandez. Then a walk on the jazzier side happens as Wolkstein sings the English words to great bass meandering explorations and piano tinklings. There are two original arrangements of Argentinian folk songs, but most fun is hearing Brahms step across the dance floor in the unique Horvath arrangement of Hungarian Dance No.1.

There are three original tunes. The slow reflective opening of Drew Jurecka’s Niebla Oscura features high accordion tones against a violin melody, and lower accordion tones against piano chords. Longer phrases and mood shifts lead into a sneaky final tango piano section. Horvath’s Tavasz goes from reflective opening piano to tango. Wolkstein’s Volando is more contemporary with accordion shots, metrical piano groove and a soaring build to the final violin glissando.

Each musician is a star soloist in their own right. Playing together has allowed them to develop and mature turning Payadora into a superstar group.

Listen to 'Volando' Now in the Listening Room

06 Amici CanadaInspired by Canada - Notre Pays
Mireille Asselin; Amici Chamber Ensemble
Marquis Classics MAR 81485 (amiciensemble.com)

Whenever popular or folk songs are recorded in a classical arrangement and for classically trained voices, the dreaded word “crossover” raises its ugly head. But let us remember that Cantaloube orchestrated the folk songs of the Auvergne and Carmina Burana was nothing but an elaborate fake (Orff initially claimed inspiration from medieval music scores): today, both are great examples of much-beloved music from the concert stage. So it really boils down to how the song selections and arrangements are realized.

Here, Serouj Kradjian’s arrangements and the playing by his colleagues in the Amici Ensemble (clarinetist Joaquin Valdepeñas and cellist David Hetherington) are first rate. So is the voice of and interpretation by Mireille Asselin – she truly gets the spirit of French-Canadian music, which dominates on this disc. The song selection, however, may trigger some arguments. There are many other songs in the oeuvre of Leonard Cohen beyond the vastly overexposed and horribly abused Hallelujah, that would have been a better fit. Similarly, I cannot help but wonder, if River would not have been a better choice from the vast Joni Mitchell catalogue than A Case of You. The true standouts musically are La Vieux Piano by Claude Léveillée, a Canadian composer of some of Edith Piaf’s songs, and the Huron Carol (another controversial appropriation). These two pieces truly assert the rights of folk and popular songs to be given the “full treatment” and to safely dispense with the crossover label.

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