The National Music Centre (NMC) is pleased to launch a new permanent exhibition at Studio Bell, showcasing Indigenous artists making social and political impacts in Canada.
Indigenous voices are deeply connected to the landscape we live within, they have long made significant contributions within the world of music. With the support from TD, Speak Up! will showcase Indigenous artists who have who have, or are, making a social impact on a local, regional or national level —motivating a new generation to take action while offering a better understanding of where they come from.
The exhibition features storytelling and audio with artifacts and video being added throughout the year. Visitors will gain an understanding of each artists’ personal inspiration and drive for social change, as well as their feelings on the medium of music as a tool for speaking up.
Featured artists include: Singer-songwriter and First Nations activist Willie Dunn, operatic vocalist and composer Jeremy Dutcher, trip-hop singer-songwriter iskwē, eight-time Grammy-nominees Northern Cree, legendary filmmaker and genre-defying musician Alanis Obomsawin, Aboriginal poet, painter, broadcaster and filmmaker Dr. Duke Redbird, Anishinaabe singer-songwriter and emcee Leonard Sumner, Ottawa-based rock band Seventh Fire, Inuit throat singer and experimental artist Tanya Tagaq, and groundbreaking Cree hip-hop group War Party.
“This is a vital first step to nationally recognize the important and often unrecognized contributions of Indigenous artists,” says David McLeod (member of the Pine Creek First Nation), Curator of Speak Up! Their deep connection to their music, their stories, and their community speaks volumes to the Indigenous experience. The first 10 artists are from across the country and represent multiple genres, but their creative output to bring about understanding in the world is what truly connects them all. The timeline of the artists is from the late ‘60s to present day. They all have and continue to radically shift the Canadian paradigm of who First Nation, Metis and Inuit people truly are. We’re certainly not done yet, there is still a wealth of Indigenous music and history needing long overdue recognition.”
“If I don’t use my voice, someone else will try to speak for me,” says iskwē. “Music is the language I use to break my silence, and to connect with others who feel that fight bursting in their hearts.”
Speak Up! precedes Indigenous Music Week at Studio Bell, from June 19 to 22, featuring a week-long celebration of music and activities in partnership with APTN, Canada’s Music Incubator, Indigenous Resilience in Music, and Sled Island. More info on all Indigenous Music Week activities can be found at studiobell.ca/whats-on.
“This exhibition is one of many ways that the National Music Centre is honouring Indigenous artists and shining a light on their legacies as artists and activists,” said Andrew Mosker, President and CEO, NMC. “Guided by the knowledge and experiences of Indigenous voices, NMC is committed to bringing about a collective process of reconciliation through our exhibitions and programs.”
Speak Up! is accessible with paid admission to Studio Bell and open to the public on June 14, 2019.
True North Records announces a September 20 world-wide release date for Crowing Ignites, the new all-instrumental CD from legendary Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn. Cockburn also announced his North American tour (dates below) with more shows to be confirmed.
Crowing Ignites was produced, recorded and mixed by Colin Linden, and recorded at the Firehouse in San Francisco. It showcases 11 all-original compositions by Cockburn, who plays acoustic guitar throughout, backed by a stellar cast of sympathetic musicians. Cockburn will support the new disc’s release with a summer/fall tour schedule throughout the United States and Canada.
In 2005, Bruce Cockburn released Speechless, a collection of instrumental tracks that shone the spotlight on the singer-songwriter’s exceptional acoustic guitar playing. The album earned Cockburn a Canadian Folk Music Award for Best Instrumentalist and underscored his stature as one of the world’s premier pickers.
Already, The New York Times had credited Cockburn with having “the hardest-working right thumb in show business,” adding that he “materializes chords and modal filigrees while his thumb provides the music’s pulse and its foundation—at once a deep Celtic drone and the throb of a vigilant conscience.” Acoustic Guitar magazine was similarly laudatory in citing Cockburn’s guitar prowess, placing him in the prestigious company of legends like Andrés Segovia, Bill Frisell, Django Reinhardt and Mississippi John Hurt.
Now, with the intriguingly titled Crowing Ignites, Cockburn has released another dazzling instrumental album that will further cement his reputation as both an exceptional composer and a picker with few peers. Unlike Speechless, which included mostly previously recorded tracks, the latest album—Cockburn’s 34th—features 11 brand new compositions. Although there’s not a single word spoken or sung, it’s as eloquent and expressive as any of the Canadian Hall of Famer’s lyric-laden albums. As his long-time producer, Colin Linden, puts it, “It’s amazing how much Bruce can say without saying anything.”
The album’s title is a literal translation of the Latin motto, “Accendit Cantu,” featured on the Cockburn family crest. Although a little puzzling, Cockburn liked the feeling it conveyed: “Energetic, blunt, Scottish as can be.” The album’s other nod to Cockburn’s Scottish heritage is heard on “Pibroch: The Wind in the Valley,” in which his guitar’s droning bass strings and melodic grace notes sound eerily like a Highland bagpipe. “I’ve always loved pibroch, or classic bagpipe music,” says Cockburn. “It seems to be in my blood. Makes me want to sip whiskey out of a sea shell on some rocky headland!”
While Cockburn reconnecting with his Gaelic roots is one of Crowing Ignites’ more surprising elements, there’s plenty else that will delight followers of his adventurous pursuits. Says Linden, who’s been a fan of Cockburn’s for 49 years, has produced 10 of his albums and played on the two before that: “Bruce is always trying new things, and I continue to be fascinated by where he goes musically.”
The album is rich in styles from folk and blues to jazz, all genres Cockburn has previously explored. But there are also deepening excursions into what might be called free-form world music. The hypnotic, kalimba-laden “Seven Daggers” and the trance-inducing “Bells of Gethsemane,” full of Tibetan cymbals, chimes and singing bowls, are highly atmospheric dreamscapes that showcase Cockburn’s world of wonders—and his improvisational gifts on both 12-string and baritone guitars. Each track was wholly created in the makeshift studio he and Linden put together in a converted fire station in Cockburn’s San Francisco neighborhood.
Singing bowls, Cockburn explains, are an endless source of fascination to him, dating back to a trip he took to Kathmandu, as seen in the documentary Return to Nepal. There, Cockburn stumbled on a man selling the small inverted bells sometimes used in Buddhist religious practices and became instantly captivated by their vibrational power. “I had no particular attraction to them as meditation tools or anything,” says Cockburn. “I just thought they had a beautiful sound. After buying half a dozen in Kathmandu and more since, he now has a sizeable collection.
Two tracks on Crowing Ignites had their origins elsewhere. “The Groan,” a bluesy piece with guitar, mandolin and some collective handclapping from a group that includes Cockburn’s seven-year-old daughter, Iona, was something Cockburn composed for a Les Stroud documentary about the aftermath of a school shooting and the healing power of nature. And Cockburn wrote the jazz-tinged “Mt. Lefroy Waltz” for the Group of Seven Guitar Project on an instrument inspired by artist Lauren Harris and custom-made by luthier Linda Manzer. It was originally recorded, with cornet player Ron Miles, bassist Roberto Occhipinti and drummer Gary Craig, for Cockburn’s 2017 album Bone on Bone, but not released until now.
Cockburn doesn’t set out with any particular agenda when composing an instrumental. “It’s more about coming up with an interesting piece,” he says. “Who knows what triggers it—the mood of the day or a dream from the night before. Often the pieces are the result of sitting practicing or fooling around on the guitar. When I find something I like, I work it into a full piece.”
“Bardo Rush,” with its urgent, driving rhythm, came after one such dream, while the contemplative “Easter” and the mournful “April in Memphis” were composed on Easter Sunday and Martin Luther Day respectively. “Blind Willie,” named for one of Cockburn’s blues heroes, Blind Willie Johnson, features a fiery guitar and dobro exchange with Linden (Cockburn has previously recorded Johnson’s “Soul of a Man” on Nothing But a Burning Light). And the idea for the sprightly “Sweetness and Light,” featuring some of Cockburn’s best fingerpicking, developed quickly and its title, he says, became immediately obvious.
Meanwhile, “Angels in the Half Light” is steeped in dark and light colors and conveys ominous shades as well as feelings of hopefulness, seemingly touching on both spiritual and political concerns—hallmarks of Cockburn from day one. “It’s hard for me to imagine what people’s response is going to be to these pieces,” he says. “It’s different from songs with lyrics, where you hope listeners will understand, intellectually and emotionally, what you’re trying to convey. With instrumental stuff, that specificity isn’t there and the meaning is up for grabs. But I’m glad if people find a message in the music.”
More than 40 years since he embarked on his singer-songwriter career, Cockburn continues pushing himself to create—and winning accolades in the process. Most recently, the Order of Canada recipient earned a 2018 Juno Award for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year, for
Bone on Bone, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from SOCAN, the Peoples’ Voice Award from Folk Alliance International and was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2017. Cockburn, who released his memoir, Rumours of Glory, and its similarly titled companion box set the same year, shows no sign of stopping. As his producer-friend Linden says: “Like the great blues players he admires, Bruce just gets better with age.”
BRUCE COCKBURN NORTH AMERICAN TOUR
June 8, 2019 Old Market Square Winnipeg MB
July 11, 2019 Algonquin Theatre Huntsville ON
July 12, 2019 Capitol Centre North Bay ON
July 13, 2019 Jackson-Triggs Niagara Estate Amphitheatre ON
July 14, 2019 Hillside Festival Guelph ON
August 7, 2019 Charles Bailey Theatre Trail BC
August 8, 2019 Key City Theatre Cranbrook BC
August 10, 2019 Edmonton Folk Festival Edmonton AB
September 7, 2019 Sisters Folk Festival Sisters OR
September 20, 2019 City Winery Nashville TN
September 21, 2019 Ferdinand Folk Festival Ferdinand IN
September 23, 2019 Stuart’s Opera House Nelsonville OH
September 24, 2019 John S. Umble Center Goshen IN
September 25, 2019 Covenant Fine Arts Center Grand Rapids MI
September 27, 2019 Old Town School of Folk Music Chicago IL
September 28, 2019 Old Town School of Folk Music Chicago IL
September 29, 2019 Cedar Cultural Center Minneapolis MN
September 30, 2019 Fargo Theater Fargo ND
October 19, 2019 Koerner Hall Toronto ON
October 20, 2019 Centennial Hall London ON
October 21, 2019 FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre St. Catharines ON
October 24, 2019 Murmrr Theater Brooklyn NY
October 25, 2019 The Egg Albany NY
October 26, 2019 Scottish Rite Auditorium Collingswood NJ
October 27, 2019 The Birchmere Alexandria VA
November 8, 2019 Royal Theatre Victoria BC
November 10, 2019 Neptune Theater Seattle WA
November 11, 2019 Wilma Theater Missoula MT
November 14, 2019 State Room Salt Lake City UT
November 15, 2019 Avalon Theater Grand Junction CO
November 16, 2019 Henry Strater Theater Durango CO
November 17, 2019 Boulder Theater Boulder CO
November 19, 2019 Musical Instrument Museum Phoenix AZ
November 20, 2019 McCabe’s Guitar Shop Santa Monica CA
November 21, 2019 Freight and Salvage Coffeehouse Berkeley CA
November 22, 2019 Freight and Salvage Coffeehouse Berkeley CA
Background music plays a significant (and often underrated) role in all video production out there. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about a full-length movie, a short animation, YouTube how-to tutorials, or any other video content, the music changes the way we perceive that video.
Having chosen the right music, you can rest assured that your viewers will feel the right emotions around the message you are trying to send. Yes, choosing the right music is important, but this task might get pretty tricky. Here are some tips that may help you choose the perfect track for your video project.
Think of the specific emotion your video should evoke
The first simple question you should ask yourself is how you want your audience to feel when they watch your video. Maybe you want them to be excited about your new product and have to consider a teaser with a 30-second music piece to get them excited? That’s part of the whole thing. Whether you are hoping to achieve warm and fuzzy sensations or you want your viewers to be on the verge of laughing, all these feelings can be evoked better with the right piece of music. It is the music, after all, that helps people deal with emotions, and why not evoke them?
If you are not sure where you can find music, our platform is the perfect place where you can start. You can browse our library by genre and emotion. Browsing for music by emotion is the most helpful feature you can expect from a royalty free music for videos platforms.
A pro tip
When browsing for songs, highlight a few, split your screen in two, play your video in one part and pause and then play the songs one by one. Play around with this, see which songs fit best and if these songs are suitable for the entire video or just small segments of it.
Song form vs. video form
Say you’ve heard this pop song on the radio, you remembered the refrain and a bit of the introduction/first verse. It grows on you, and you are starting to think that this might be the perfect song for your video.
Well, we hate to break this to you, but there is a pretty good chance that this song probably won’t exactly jive with your video’s narrative structure. To explain this, let’s talk about form for a second.
Most of the songs we hear on the radio (pop, rock, hip-hop, etc) have a pretty standard structure that consists of the same parts repeated in the same order — verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus. Sometimes the 1st verse is doubled, sometimes there’s a pre-chorus after the 1st verse, sometimes the last chorus is doubled, and sometimes nobody even bothered to compose a suitable bridge but you get the idea…
What we are trying to say is that your video transitions simply won’t feel natural with the song’s transitions as it is. This is why you shouldn’t be afraid to loop selected sections of the song to make it fit better in the flow of your video. When it comes to background music, you are allowed to loop and repeat music more than you think. Feel free to cut wherever feels natural.
Actually, this is not just good practice. You should know that when it comes to music and filmmaking, there is a lot more required than simply hitting that download button and using the song as a background.
Now, let’s talk about copyright. If you like a certain song, contacting the artist might just not be enough. Contacting that musician’s label is what you should aim for, and the easiest way to check out musical labels is to use sites like Amazon. However, keep in mind that reaching out to artists and their label is not enough, either. There is no guarantee that they will agree to your terms. Some of them may be willing to do it for free, some will not and some will not be interested in any amount of money…
To save yourself such a headache, it is time for you to start thinking in perspective. What is the point of spending hours of trying to reach out to musicians you hear every day and then spending hours of cutting that piece of music to fit your video content? Why waste valuable resources when there is a place where you can find tons of royalty free music for videos that will save you both time and money?
That’s right, we at Soundstripe, definitely have what you are not even looking for yet. And we’ll have it in the future. Every month, you get 200+ new tracks from a variety of composers writing music in different genres, moods, rhythm, etc… Browse our platform today and produce the emotional videos you work so hard to create!
In response to last week’s leak of 18 minidisc files, Radiohead has decided to make the sessions available in their entirety on Bandcamp.
Guitarist Jonny Greenwood says, “We got hacked last week – someone stole Thom’s minidisc archive from around the time of OK Computer, and reportedly demanded $150,000 on threat of releasing it. So instead of complaining – much – or ignoring it, we’re releasing all 18 hours on bandcamp in aid of Extinction Rebellion. Just for the next 18 days. So for £18 you can find out if we should have paid that ransom. Never intended for public consumption (though some clips did reach the cassette in the OK Computer reissue) it’s only tangentially interesting. And very, very long. Not a phone download. Rainy out, isn’t it though?”
The 18 minidiscs will be available for £18. All proceeds will go to Extinction Rebellion, a socio-political movement which uses nonviolent resistance to protest against climate breakdown, biodiversity loss, and the risk of human extinction and ecological collapse.
It’s been over eight years since the FBI’s classification of Insane Clown Posse’s fanbase called Juggalos as a gang, and is one of the stranger moments in recent music history. Since then, there have been numerous legal challenges and even a march on Washington, DC in an attempt to protest the FBI gang designation of those who engaged in “sporadic, disorganized, individualistic” crimes including “simple assault, personal drug use and possession, petty theft and vandalism.”
The FBI report in question has now been declassified and available to view below. The report opens with background information on ICP and includes such lines as “Insane Clown Posse can’t get its music on the radio, but claims to have 1 million devoted fans who call themselves ‘Juggalos’ or ‘Juggalettes,’ and sometimes paint their faces to look like wicked clowns.”
Walk Off the Earth is a Juno Award winning, multi-platinum musical phenomenon currently taking the world by storm. Based just outside Toronto in Burlington, Ontario, their brilliant 5-people-playing-one-guitar interpretation of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” exploded on YouTube, garnering over 180 million views. Since then, the band has released a string of successful original songs including, “Red Hands” (#1 at AAA), “Fire In My Soul” & “Rule The World” (multi-platinum in Canada); sold out venues across the globe, from Red Rocks to Wembley, and collaborated with some of the biggest artists in the world (Keith Urban, Snoop Dogg, Nicky Romero, & Steve Aoki).
In 2018, the band won a Streamy Award for Best Cover Song with their interpretation of Maroon Five’s “Girls Like You.” They also released a holiday EP, “Subscribe to the Holidays,” that charted as the #1 independent release in Canada for the last week of November. Both works are natural fits in the band’s wide-ranging and ever-growing repertoire and tease their big plans for 2019.
In late 2018, the band faced a major and unexpected loss with the sudden death of band member Mike “Beard Guy” Taylor. Mike’s incredible ability behind the keys gave the band a sturdy foundation to soar and create. In the wake of Mike’s passing, and with much difficult consideration, the band decided to move forward and use the opportunity to honor and share the extraordinary legacy Mike left behind.
The continued chemistry between band members Gianni, Sarah, Joel, and Marshall is undeniable. With Joel’s driving and prolific percussion work and Gianni, Sarah, and Marshall’s captivating vocal styling and melodic arrangements, 2019 will be a year full of new and original music from the band. Their independent spirit, unstoppable work ethic, and awe-inspiring creativity has catapulted Walk Off the Earth into new and uncharted waters with only bigger and better things on the horizon.
Walk Off The Earth Canadian Tour
08/03 Vancouver, BC – Orpheum Theatre
08/17 Saint-jean-sur-richelieu, QC – Aéroport de Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu
08/22 Lethbridge, AB – Exhibition Park StagEX
08/24 Drumheller, AB – The Badlands Amphitheatre
10/27 Edmonton, AB – North Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
10/28 Calgary, AB – Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
10/30 Winnipeg, MB – Centennial Concert Hall
11/18 Kitchener, ON – Centre in the Square
Musician Rob Scallon visited with John Sherer, the organist and musical director of Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago to take a tour of one of the biggest instruments I’ve ever seen. With over 8,000 pipes and a height of 32 feet, it’s the size of an apartment!
In the first episode of ‘Digging Deep’, Robert Plant discusses, ‘Calling To You’, the opening track on his 1993 album ‘Fate of Nations’. The song didn’t get the reaction some would have hoped:
Robert says, “I did a track on Shaken ‘n’ Stirred called ‘Too Loud,’ and I got some of Bette Midler’s girls to help me with some choruses and stuff. I basically was seriously affected by David Byrne. It’s very funny, it’s a funny song, it’s supposed to be funny…So the record label said, ‘What are we supposed to do with this?’” Plant said. “I said, “Play it and let’s get some reaction.’ Calls [to radio stations] were very important, that’s a very important aspect of floating a new collection of songs. Sadly though, the calls that came into WXRT in Chicago were, ‘Get that shit off the [air], who is that, what the hell is that? Who is he trying to be?’
“That was a real great moment for me because they would send me all the responses typed out,” he says. “I was very proud, I thought that was another great moment, for the man who wouldn’t be king.”
Subscribe now on iTunes, Spotify, Acast, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts to get the next episode here.
