Live Music Is A Once In A Lifetime Experience
“Well, pirate ships, dey rob I . . .”
Johnathon May brings me my Cafe Mocha and raisin bran muffin while I set up the recording device for our interview in the National Music Centre coffeeshop. Not only does it seem like an appropriate place for such interviews (having been used to talk to Rielle most recently, amongst others …
Jori Kinjo and I, eatin’ Timbits and coffee. It doesn’t Sound that poetic, but so much really good music is about the joys present in day-to-day life . . . I mean, Timbits! And Ska! And a bass guitar played from within the rhythm. …
Drew Gonsalves is, amongst other things, a history teacher. When I inquire what a “cuatro” is, after he describes it as one of the instruments he’s bringing to calgary’s Festival Hall. …
Don Dixon is an idealist, and Ms. Paige is a pragmatist. There we go: personalities of the 2017 Reggae Fest captured in two separate adjectives. Oh Wait: whaddya mean, people don’t work that way? …
Yup. Not exactly the standard fare for the ‘Greatest Outdoor Show On Earth,’ but you have to admit if there’s a music that belongs outside in the popular psyche, it’s Reggae. Does anyone even listen to reggae inside?
Except in Canada, of course. Otherwise there’d be an 8-month hiatus every year from the rasta riddim.
…
Janaya’s children keep surfacing in the room behind her while we speak. So the phone conversation ranges between the ebullient creative professional, in her 10th year of performance in the band she founded, and the teacher/mom who tells me I’m lucky my daughter has turned 16: “If she did okay through 14, you’re okay.” Unexpected emotional support before we dig into the history of Soujah Fyah.
“Our first show would have been in 2002; I started the band in 2001, so we passed our 10th anniversary in April! We’re very …
