All Over the Map: A Feast of Global Sounds
My ladies and I were at Harbourfront Centre this past weekend to enjoy one of their summer festivals that run from July to the end of August. This weekend's was All Over the Map -- described as "a closer look at how geography, language and tradition influence current world music and culture." We sampled some of the international cuisine at the World Café: mu daughters did something Indian and my wife and I went African. I wish I knew what it was I was having -- it consisted of some rice with peanut sauce, bbq chicken, fried plantains, and some other stuff. It was good.
The acts we saw were also pretty good. We caught Yakudo, a group of Japanese Taiko drummers, as well as Daara J, a Senegalese rap group, and Tinariwen, a Mali band blended traditional Persian sounds with rock music. They were different, good -- but by far, Daara J was the best of them all. The group was very energetic, dancing across the stage and whipping the audience up into a dance frenzy -- not an easy task for anyone with the usual Harbourfront crowd. And not something you necessarily want to see either. Some people just shouldn't be allowed to dance -- but that's another story. Daara J blended rap, hip hop, reggae and sang in Wolof, English and French. I went to get their CD after the performance, but all they had at Harbourfront was already sold out. They were that good -- and good enough to also make the cover of this week's NOW magazine.
The acts we saw were also pretty good. We caught Yakudo, a group of Japanese Taiko drummers, as well as Daara J, a Senegalese rap group, and Tinariwen, a Mali band blended traditional Persian sounds with rock music. They were different, good -- but by far, Daara J was the best of them all. The group was very energetic, dancing across the stage and whipping the audience up into a dance frenzy -- not an easy task for anyone with the usual Harbourfront crowd. And not something you necessarily want to see either. Some people just shouldn't be allowed to dance -- but that's another story. Daara J blended rap, hip hop, reggae and sang in Wolof, English and French. I went to get their CD after the performance, but all they had at Harbourfront was already sold out. They were that good -- and good enough to also make the cover of this week's NOW magazine.
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