All photos by Mini’s Memories. You can contact her through Instagram or Twitter
Sultans of String Win 2 Canadian Folk Music Awards: Global Roots Album Of The Year and Producer of the Year
Toronto-based Sultans Of String continues to lead the global music world with two wins at the Canadian Folk Music Awards: Global Roots Album Of The Year for their “Sanctuary” and Producer of the Year (John “Beetle” Bailey and Chris McKhool) for the same album.
Keeping within the band’s dedication to the global music scene, this multi-award-winning, 3x Juno-nominated and Billboard charting band creates “energetic and exciting music from a band with talent to burn!” (Maverick, UK). For more than a decade, Sultans of String have thrilled audiences with their genre-hopping passport of Celtic reels, Flamenco, Django-jazz, Arabic, Cuban and South Asian rhythms. The group celebrates musical fusion and human creativity with warmth and virtuosity, with world rhythms that excite audiences to their feet!
NY Times and Billboard-charting world music supergroup Sultans of String released their highly anticipated eighth album Sanctuary on November 5, 2021. It spotlighted a brand-new focus track Ariengue Arianga featuring the four core Sultans, as well as incredibly talented and inspiring special guests Donné Roberts & Yukiko Tsutsui.
Sanctuary is the second instalment in their Refuge Project. The first, simply entitled Refuge, was heralded as “a fantastic, moving, dreamlike, epic, timely album.” (Ken Micallef–Jazz Times, Stereophile, Downbeat) and won many awards including Producer of the Year at the 2021 Canadian Folk Music Awards for bandleader and violinist Chris McKhool.
“We thought Ariengue Arianga would be the perfect focus track for the album,” says McKhool, “because it is a song that brings this incredible community of musicians together with one voice. Ariengue is an expression in Malagasy, the language of Madagascar, which means, ‘I am wishing you happiness,’ and being able to be together, creating this sound together in the same space again, certainly filled our hearts with joy!”
Donné Roberts wrote the song and plays electric guitar on the track, with lyrics that span decades. He started writing the first verse in 1984 and then finalized it in his new home of Toronto years later.
“I moved to Moscow when I was a small boy, seven years old. My father worked at the Madagascar embassy there. They opened a relationship back then, the Soviet Union and Madagascar. I was inspired by the music all around me and the experience of being displaced at a very young age. I returned to Moscow again later in life at a time when there were no computers around us. There was no internet at that time so it was a time when you could be inspired by different sounds and never hear them again. I returned to Madagascar when I was nineteen years old.”
By the time Donné returned to Madagascar at the age of nineteen, a lot of things had changed. “Things were completely different! The image I had of my home country was pretty different from reality. So, I kept writing this song about wishing someone happiness. It is about separation, for someone has to go somewhere else, wishing them the best of luck on a long way, and a feeling of hope. Who knows, maybe we will meet again.”
Donné finally found his way to Canada’s largest city. “Toronto has a lot of talent, and variety of music – completely different kinds of music, from Japanese to South Asian to Middle Eastern to Russian, Greek, jazz, blues, Brazilian, Cuban, and the thing that fascinated and amazes me is that it is done very well! I go to see bands play, and wow, what great musicians! There is some kind of magical language with music – it doesn’t have any borders or barriers. It is at the level of feeling.”
Joining Donné on this track is Yukiko Tsutsui, who found her way from Japan to Canada, studying and working in BC before moving to Toronto. “Singing Ariengue with Donné is so much fun. Every time we play that song live people get so excited, singing and clapping along.” Says Tsutsui. “The fact that it is in Malagasy is not a barrier, the music is so uplifting and makes people so happy. It is amazing to sing that song with Donné. I feel really blessed.”
“We need this uplifting music, especially this year, and this version is such a gift for people from all over the world to get to sing together and play together. It is so moving. The music has no borders. Everything, the instruments, drums, we can feel the rhythm and the melodies. We feel good, and we feel love, that is the amazing thing about getting together to play music, feeling the strong emotional bond between players and audiences and we are sharing a beautiful moment and that is a very big part of the meaning for me, that people from all over the world can get together and share the music and the moment and love together.”
UPCOMING SULTANS OF STRING TOUR DATES:
APR 14 – First Presbyterian Church (Young Audience), Lincoln, NE
APR 15 – First Presbyterian Church, Lincoln, NE
MAY 12 – Marble Arts Centre, Tweed ON
MAY 13 – Bancroft Village Playhouse, Bancroft ON
MAY 14 – Bryan Jones Theatre, Lakefield College, Lakefield, ON
MAY 26 – Brockville Arts Centre, Brockville, ON
JUN 24 – Mississauga World Music Festival
JUN 24 – Old Church Theatre, Trenton ON
JUN 27 – Wasaga Beach Gazebo, Wasaga Beach ON
ALL TIX LINKS AT: https://sultansofstring.com/calendar/
Tonia Cianciulli Returns With Emotional “Thousand Cries”
Everything can look fine on the outside, however, it’s what’s truly happening on the inside that matters most. The talented classical artist, Tonia Cianciulli, shares her own experiences of internal struggle on her newly released single, “Thousand Cries.”
The Newfoundland-born, Toronto-based singer and songwriter paints a beautiful, yet realistic picture of what her life was and is currently like as she moves through life the best she can, while dealing with painful and emotional struggles.
The lyrics of the song are deeply moving, exploring the pain and suffering when dealing with anxiety and depression. Cianciulli’s vocal delivery is raw and vibrant, capturing the heart-wrenching pain of grief and the longing to find closure on her every-day struggle. The opening lines, “She could feel the storm coming, she could feel the rage running,” shows she is aware of the approaching turmoil and is feeling overwhelmed by it all.
The multifaceted and versatile musician describes her motivation behind making this deeply moving song by saying, “I originally wrote ‘Thousand Cries’ in 2013 as a song to my inner child, and present self. It was written to address waves of anxiety and depression I’ve experienced over the course of my life.”
This new single appearing on her forthcoming album, Love Me Till I’m Me Again, showcases Cianciulli’s incredible vocal range and emotional power. The song’s melody that allows for her voice to take centre stage. You can hear the message she is conveying which is evident in the chorus:
“Her heart’s lost despite a thousand friends.
Oh what will it take this time?
She’s hearing a pounding sigh.
Oh what will it take this time?
She’s hearing a pounding sigh.”
Not only is Cianciulli a singer/songwriter, but also an award-winning author, and always available to offer words of encouragement to the listeners by saying, “Don’t be afraid to reach out to family and friends to ask for help, or to simply let them know you need a listening ear while you unload some of the chaos in your mind. These conversations are so critical to have because we are not alone.”
The final lines of the song, “Her soul will still show the way, it’s leading her she will stay,” depicts the difficulties and challenges she faces, yet her determination to keep moving forward. She is relying on her inner strength and resilience to guide her through the storm and is determined to find a way to heal and overcome her pain.
Cianciulli adds one last message remarking, “This song now takes on an even deeper meaning for me as I journey with my teenage daughter over familiar waves, and into new territory.”
Berlin-Based Afropop Songwriter and Producer Mister Wawa Releases “Amina, Amina”
With the current state of the world, it’s no wonder that everyone yearns for a bit of peace in their everyday lives. Berlin-based Afropop songwriter and producer Mister Wawa channels this desire into an upbeat new single “Amina, Amina.”
Soft whispers of “Amina Amina peace” open the song like a prayer before lead vocals by Ggrande makes a gentle plea for “Amina” to come to him and cure his restlessness. The song likens “Amina” to a female lover as Mister Wawa sings of his desire for connection and wisdom.
“Can you hear me
Can you hear me
We need to be connected
Tell me something baby, oh my boo
Oh my
Help me baby with all your wisdom
Eehl
To understand most of the necessary things
All that joy you can bring”
A steady Afrobeat rhythm from Dedrey featuring a light undercurrent of drums and dashes of pop, electronica, and jazz elements compliments the song’s prayer-like mood. This creates an atmosphere that is sensual, relaxing, and reverent to the listener.
Of the song’s inspiration, Mister Wawa states, “After a strenuous day, which was overshadowed by a personal tragedy and the war in Ukraine coupled with concerns about world peace, I came home and felt only the need for a bit of rest and security. My smartphone beeped: A friend from Kenya wanted to thank me for my recovery wishes and wrote: AMINA (Swahili for Amen).”
In fact, the song’s multi-layered production and meaning are its strengths. Although Amina may seemingly appear to be a female lover to the casual listener, knowing that Amina means “Amen” in Swahili allows a greater appreciation for the song.
Mister Wawa explains the song’s intricate meaning, stating, “In order to give the name or term AMINA with its different meanings a lot of space and to direct the listener to the essentials, the verses were deliberately kept short and concise. This also gave more room for different levels of singing, the interpretations of AMINA.”
German music artist Mister Wawa aka Jens Bosecker is a songwriter, music and film producer and DJ. His main influences are the pop culture of the 80s and 90s as well as jazz music and African rhythms.
In the years prior to the pandemic, he organized countless concerts and directed two renowned jazz festivals featuring renowned artists such as Steve Coleman, Bill Evens, David Murray and Dave Holland.
During the pandemic, Mister Wawa began to work in the studio on his own original music. In 2022, his album Immortal was released.
Toronto Rocker Nice Vice Releases “Regrets And Cigarettes” Pick-Me-Up For Your Week
Need a pick-me-up? “Regrets and Cigarettes” is what you need. The debut single by Toronto artist Nice Vice (a.k.a Seth Horst), out now, is a fiery radio-friendly rocker dedicated to everyone who’s “still in debt and making bets and trying to live that dream.”
Nice Vice is making their dream happen. His debut gig in January 2023 was sold out with the full-length coming out in May. And their riff-heavy take on honest rock’n’roll comes through loud and clear on “Regrets and Cigarettes.”
It wasn’t Nice Vice’s obvious choice for a first single. It was the last song written for the album. “Out of nowhere came this riff that I couldn’t shake,” says Horst. “After the guitar part was established, the lyrics flowed effortlessly into this abstract compilation of moments I hadn’t thought about in a long time. It quickly became one of our favourite songs to jam.” The rest of the album contains several different flavours, so choosing a single wasn’t easy, “but the desire to start with something fun and funky won out,” says Horst. The song also displays the strong influence of ’90s rock on Nice Vice, particularly Pearl Jam and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Horst is also stoked for people to see the video, made by friends in L.A. “It’s nothing you would expect — which is kind of what we were going for,” He says. “I can say with confidence that is one of the weirder music videos you will see, but it was an absolute blast to shoot and turned out being quite funny in the end. Oh, and if you’re into extra-terrestrials — you’re gonna love it.”
2023 is gearing up to be a big year for Nice Vice and, more important: for rock’n’roll.
5 Seconds Of Summer Announces World Tour And Live Album
Multi-platinum-selling pop-rock band, 5 Seconds of Summer, will release their live album The Feeling of Falling Upwards – Live from The Royal Albert Hall digitally on April 14. Physical formats of the album are up for pre-order NOW and will be available on July 14.
The band is also excited to announce their 2023 World Tour – The 5 Seconds of Summer Show – which includes dates in South America, UK, Europe and North America with an appearance at the When We Were Young festival in Las Vegas. Full routing can be found below. For more information, on sale dates and times, visit https://5sos.com/live.
The tracks are taken from the band’s 2022 one-of-a-kind performance “The Feeling of Falling Upwards” at the world-famous Royal Albert Hall in London, a venue the band busked outside of when they moved to the UK to write for their very first album 10 years ago. The performance included reimagined versions of songs from their 11-year catalog including brand-new songs from their critically acclaimed fifth studio album 5SOS5, accompanied by a 12-piece string orchestra and a 12-member gospel choir.
“’The Feeling of Falling Upwards’ is simply supposed to describe to you the feeling that we have experienced together, the feeling of taking a leap of faith on such a fickle thing like music,” expressed vocalist and drummer Ashton Irwin on stage at Royal Albert Hall, “And sharing this experience together year after year, season after season of our lives.”
THE FEELING OF FALLING UPWARDS – LIVE FROM THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL
1. OVERTURE (Live from The Royal Albert Hall)
2. COMPLETE MESS (Live from The Royal Albert Hall)
3. CAROUSEL (Live from The Royal Albert Hall)
4. Me, Myself & I (Live from The Royal Albert Hall)
5. She Looks So Perfect (Live from The Royal Albert Hall)
6. Amnesia (Live from The Royal Albert Hall)
7. Lie To Me (Live from The Royal Albert Hall)
8. Caramel (Live from The Royal Albert Hall)
9. Outer Space (Live from The Royal Albert Hall)
10. Youngblood (Live from The Royal Albert Hall)
11. Red Desert (Live from The Royal Albert Hall)
12. Jet Black Heart (Live from The Royal Albert Hall)
13. Older (feat. Sierra Deaton) (Live from The Royal Albert Hall)
14. Take My Hand (Live from The Royal Albert Hall)
15. Teeth (Live from The Royal Albert Hall)
16. Ghost of You (Live from The Royal Albert Hall)
17. Bad Omens (Live from The Royal Albert Hall)
5 SECONDS OF SUMMER WORLD TOUR
South America
July Argentina TBA
Brazil TBA
Chile TBA
Colombia TBA
Aug Perú TBA
North America
8/10 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
8/12 Boston, MA MGM Music Hall at Fenway
8/15 Toronto, ON Budweiser Stage
8/16 Detroit, MI Pine Knob Music Theatre
8/18 Bristow, VA Jiffy Lube Live
8/19 Philadelphia, PA TD Pavilion at The Mann
8/21 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
8/23 Chicago, IL Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
8/25 Cuyahoga Falls, OH Blossom Music Center
8/26 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
8/28 Minneapolis, MN The Armory
8/30 Indianapolis, IN TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park
9/1 Franklin, TN FirstBank Amphitheater
9/2 Alpharetta, GA Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
9/3 Raleigh, NC Red Hat Amphitheater
9/6 Hollywood, FL Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino – Hard Rock Live
9/9 The Woodlands, TX The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
9/10 Irving, TX The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
9/13 Phoenix, AZ Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
9/14 Inglewood, CA The Kia Forum
Europe/UK
9/23 Lisbon, PT Campo Pequeno
9/24 Madrid, ES Palacio Vistalegre
9/26 Milan, IT Mediolanum Forum
9/27 Stuttgart, DE Porsche Arena
9/28 Dusseldorf, DE Mitsubishi Electric Hall
9/30 Brussels, BE Palais 12
10/1 Amsterdam, NL Ziggo Dome
10/3 Glasgow, UK OVO Hydro
10/4 Manchester, UK AO Arena
10/5 London, UK O2 Arena
10/7 Luxembourg, LE Rockhal
10/8 Paris, FR La Seine Musicale
10/10 Budapest, HU Papp Laszlo Budapest SportArena
10/11 Gliwice, PL Arena Gliwice
10/12 Prague, CZ Fortuna Arena
North America
10/21 Las Vegas, NV When We Were Young Festival
10/22 Las Vegas, NV When We Were Young Festival
My Next Read: “Share My Life A Journey of Love, Faith and Redemption” By Kem
Grammy Award–nominated artist Kem shares his life in this revealing and remarkable memoir tracing his transformative journey from homelessness to gold-selling artist.
Known for his smooth affecting crooning and dapper style, Kem’s journey to the stage is nothing short of inspiring. In Share My Life, Kem goes back to the very beginning before his time to introduce his grandmother who worked as a sharecropper in the South and had thirteen children. As Kem’s family rises from the sharecropping and ultimately lands in Detroit, there is an unspoken mantra of “hard things are better left unsaid,” which has devastating consequences down the line. And so, Kem grows up in the midst of an impenetrable silence. His mother is never without a beer in her hand, and his relationship with his father is oddly tense. Emotionally starved, Kem internalizes harmful feelings, eventually spiraling to drug use in his search for relief.
At nineteen, Kem is homeless, roaming the cold Detroit streets. In the overly bright AA halls, Kem comes across men like himself verbalizing their feelings. The meetings helped him discover his own voice, using music as an outlet that has since touched millions.
In Share My Life, Kem chronicles his incredible journey of self-discovery. The young boy who struggled with feelings of worthlessness becomes a man willing to put everything on the line for his dream.
Photo Gallery: Nothing More with Crown The Empire and Thousand Below at Toronto’s Danforth Music Hall
All photos taken by Mini’s Memories. You can contact her through Instagram or Twitter
David Bowie & Marianne Faithfull Sing “I Got You Babe” In Ziggy Stardust’s Final Appearance. Yes, Really.
David Bowie performs live with Marianne Faithfull on November 16, 1973 on The Midnight Special.
Norah Jones Announces Expanded Deluxe Edition Of Acclaimed 2012 Album ‘Little Broken Hearts’
A decade ago, Norah Jones defied expectations with her 5th studio album Little Broken Hearts, a striking collaboration with the producer Danger Mouse that arrived 10 years after her debut Come Away With Me prompting SPIN to call it “the second essential record of Norah Jones’ career.” On June 2, Blue Note Records will release the expanded 31-track Little Broken Hearts (Deluxe Edition) curated by Jones and Eli Wolf which includes rare bonus tracks, alternate versions, and remixes, as well as a previously unreleased live version of the album that was recorded for Austin City Limits in 2012. The Deluxe Edition is available for pre-order now as a 3-LP set, 2-CD set, and digital download. Listen to “Killing Time,” a bonus track that is available digitally for the first time today.
On April 22, Jones will also be releasing the separate Record Store Day exclusive Little Broken Hearts: Live At Allaire Studios. This limited edition 1-LP white vinyl release features a new live version of the album recorded in 2022 at one of her favorite studios with Jones joined by pedal steel guitarist Dan Iead, bassist Gus Seyffert, and drummer Brian Blade.
“10 years later, these are still some of my favorite songs in my catalogue to play live, no matter the instrumentation or arrangement, they just feel special,” says Jones. “And the way this album sounds makes my ears so happy. I’m incredibly thankful to Danger Mouse for letting me explore with him and opening up my world to a new way of doing things that continues to inspire and influence me.”
Norah Jones and Danger Mouse (aka Brian Burton) first worked together when the producer called upon her to contribute vocals to his acclaimed 2011 album ROME. It was Jones’ singular voice that caught Burton’s attention as he began to conceptualize his homage to classic Italian film score music. He already had Jack White in mind for the male role, and he and his collaborator Daniele Luppi realized that Jones’ voice would give the project the perfect balance it needed. Jones contributed three standout songs to ROME including “Black” (a live version of which is included on this set) and their connection proved deep enough that they decided to collaborate again on Jones’ next studio album.
In a first for her, Jones arrived to the studio empty-handed – no tunes, no arrangements, just a few ideas in a notebook. The songs were all built from the ground up with Jones and Burton sharing all the songwriting credits and performing the majority of the instrumental parts; Jones on piano, keyboards, bass, and guitar, and Burton contributing drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, and string arrangements. The process was a complete change for Jones, but once they started it didn’t take long for her to warm to the challenges of creating on the fly using whatever resources she and Burton had between them. (Later, they brought in a band—including drummer Joey Waronker, bassist Gus Seyffert, and guitarist Blake Mills—to bolster many of the tracks.)
Released in 2012, Little Broken Hearts was a fascinating and unexpected step in Jones’ artistic evolution. Together she and Burton married their highly personal styles to create an entirely new sound. Created in the aftermath of a breakup, the album was a tour of stunningly nuanced environments. Twelve darkly luminous songs. Twelve little broken hearts. Each an exploration of wounded emotions from various perspectives that invariably led to a place of beauty and uplift.
While some tracks sounded like classic Norah Jones—such as the contemplative opener “Good Morning”—most explored rhythms, textures, and themes far from her comfort zone from the high-energy groove of “Say Goodbye” and the buoyant hooks of “Happy Pills” to the impressionistic dream-sequence reflections of “After The Fall” and the chilling murder ballad “Miriam.”
“I didn’t expect all the lyris to tie in so well, especially since we wrote in such a spontaneous way,” Jones said at the time. “It turns out to be kind of a story. It has these different dimensions, things sneak up on you. And even though the record has all these cool sounds and interesting grooves that are Brian’s signature, mostly I’m proud of our writing together. The songs themselves.”
“Norah and I got very close as friends,” Burton said. “When you know somebody really well and you start writing together, we’re able to talk to each other in conversation through lyrics in a way.” Jones also recalled “We’d have these great conversations about love and relationships and the endless attempts to understand that stuff, and somehow they just seeped into what we were doing. That’s one of the great things about music, you can take the anxiety and anguish that you’re living and turn it into something that might really lift up somebody else.”
Norah Jones first emerged on the world stage with the February 2002 release of Come Away With Me, her self-described “moody little record” that introduced a singular new voice and grew into a global phenomenon, sweeping the 2003 GRAMMY Awards. Since then, Jones has become a nine-time GRAMMY-winner, sold more than 50 million albums, and her songs have been streamed six billion times worldwide. She has released a series of critically acclaimed and commercially successful solo albums—Feels Like Home (2004), Not Too Late (2007), The Fall (2009), Little Broken Hearts (2012), Day Breaks (2016), Pick Me Up Off The Floor (2020), the live album ‘Til We Meet Again (2021), and her holiday album I Dream Of Christmas (2021)—as well as albums with her collective bands The Little Willies, El Madmo, and Puss N Boots featuring Sasha Dobson and Catherine Popper. The 2010 copilation …Featuring Norah Jones showcased her incredible versatility by collecting her collaborations with artists as diverse as Willie Nelson, Foo Fighters, Outkast, and Herbi Hancock. In 2018, Jones began releasing a series of singles including collaborations with artists and friends such as Mavis Staples, Jeff Tweedy, Thomas Bartlett, Tarriona Tank Bll, Rodrigo Amarante, and Brian Blade, some of which were compiled on the 2019 singles collection Begin Again. In 2022, Jones launched her podcast Norah Jones Is Playing Along which features candid conversations and impromptu musical collaborations with some her favourite musicians.
The track listing for Little Broken Hearts (Deluxe Edition) is as follows:
LP1 ORIGINAL ALBUM
A1 Good Morning
A2 Say Goodbye
A3 Little Broken Hearts
A4 She’s 22
A5 Take It Back
A6 After The Fall
B1 4 Broken Hearts
B2 Travelin’ On
B3 Out On The Road
B4 Happy Pills
B5 Miriam
B6 All A Dream
LP2 BONUS TRACKS & REMIXES
C1 Killing Time *^
C2 I Don’t Wanna Hear Another Sound *^
C3 Out On The Road (Mondo Version) *^
C4 Miriam (Peter Bjorn and John Remix) ^
D1 Good Morning (David Andrew Sitek Remix)
D2 She’s 22 (David Andrew Sitek Remix)
D3 Take It Back (David Andrew Sitek Remix)
D4 After The Fall (David Andrew Sitek Remix)
LP3 LIVE AT AUSTIN CITY LIMITS
E1 Good Morning **^
E2 Say Goodbye **^
E3 Little Broken Hearts **^
E4 She’s 22 **^
E5 Take It Back **^
E6 After The Fall **^
F1 Out On The Road **^
F2 Happy Pills **^
F3 Miriam **^
F4 All A Dream **^
F5 Black **^
** previously unreleased
* previously unreleased digitally
^ previously unreleased on vinyl