Music: Then and Now

New album Save Our Hearts by Indigenous artist Madisyn Whajne has been released!  Save Our Hearts recorded live to tape in Montreal at Hotel2Tango with engineers Howard Bilerman (Arcade Fire) and Shae Brossard (Bahamas, The Dears) who she met singing backups for Canadian indie-folk star Basia Bulat. The album is imbued with a visceral sense of loneliness and longing, a burning desire for connection and companionship that propels it endlessly forward in pursuit of something perpetually out of reach. https://www.madisynwhajne.com/ Photographer Jen Squires Cover Art Design by Tania Willems

Tafari Anthony is a Toronto based artist blending Pop, R&B and Soul. Exploring his own personal soundscape, Tafari returned with pop anthems, “Centerfold” and “Live in a Dream.” Now he unveils the emotional “No Good,” produced by Alexander Flockhart. Tafari has been featured in PAPER Magazine, Gay Times, MTV, was nominated for a Toronto Independent Music Award, and receives regular airplay on CBC Radio, his single being named one of CBC’s Most Influential Songs of 2016. Tafari performed alongside Shangela (RuPauls Drag Race) as well as at Dundas Square and Massey Hall. Cover Art Design by Tania Willems Tafari is now releasing his new EP The Way You See Me. https://tafarianthony.com/

This live interview was recorded as part of Indie Week 2020 with host of Music: Then and Now Jordan B. Wright interviewing Shawnee Kish. Award Winning Two Spirit artist, proud Mohawk from the Six Nations of the Grand River on her mother’s side, Shawnee is the first Indigenous winner in CBC Searchlight’s 12 year history. Shawnee performed alongside powerful women on TedWomen, is a role model featured on Kids Help Phone, is featured on a new television series on APTN, as well as the Edmonton Regional Finalist for the Canadian Music Week Talent Search. Special Thanks to Darryl Hurs who asked Jordan B. Wright to interview a celebrity for Indie Week to highlight someone within the community. Grave Digger written by Shawnee and Jordan B. Wright, recorded at Metal Works while in the band She King which consisted of Shawnee vocals, Jordan bass, Azur guitar, and Cathy Marchese on drums. Cover Art Design by Tania Willems Warrior Heart by Shawnee

Award Winning Two Spirit artist, proud Mohawk from the Six Nations of the Grand River on her mother’s side, Shawnee is the first Indigenous winner in CBC Searchlight’s 12 year history. Shawnee performed alongside powerful women on TedWomen, is a role model featured on Kids Help Phone, is featured on a new television series on APTN, as well as the Edmonton Regional Finalist for the Canadian Music Week Talent Search. This live interview was held on Friday November 13th as part of Indie Week thanks to Darryl Hurs who invited Jordan to interview a celebrity. Jordan reached out to Shawnee as they played and wrote together in a band called She King back in the day. Shawnee discusses her journey coming out, coming into herself as Two Spirit, personal struggles with family, growing up, and overcoming suicidal thoughts as a young person. Jordan shares his personal experiences coming into himself as a trans guy after being in the closet for so long. Shawnee talks about the process of being the winner of CBC Searchlight 2020 with her song submitted Building A Wall. Shawnee discusses her experience writing Wild Woman for the voting rights album produced by Gengger Shankar and William Stanbro And She Could Be Next encouraging cultural women’s voices in America to stand up and be heard while we now have Kamala Harris being voted in as the first woman of color VP; a time to celebrate! Part 2 coming soon! Stay tuned Cover Art Design by Tania Willems Music: Building A Wall clips - Shawnee Warrior Heart clips - Shawnee https://www.shawneekish.com/

Darryl Hurs runs one of Canada’s largest emerging artist showcase festivals and conference, Indie Week Canada. Indie Week is an online international conference this year focused on education from Tuesday November 10th until Saturday November 14th. Music: Then and Now host Jordan B. Wright will be interviewing talented Two Spirit artist Shawnee on Friday November 13th 5:00 PM EST as part of Indie Week. Cover Art Design by Tania Willems Tickets and info: https://www.indieweek.com/

Indigenous artist Madisyn Whajne has spent most of her life searching: for her purpose, her family, and herself. She was taken from her family, like tens of thousands of other native children, before the age of two by the Canadian government in the Sixties Scoop. Save Our Hearts recorded live to tape in Montreal at Hotel2Tango with engineers Howard Bilerman (Arcade Fire) and Shae Brossard (Bahamas, The Dears) who she met singing backups for Canadian indie-folk star Basia Bulat. The album is imbued with a visceral sense of loneliness and longing, a burning desire for connection and companionship that propels it endlessly forward in pursuit of something perpetually out of reach. Madisyn is releasing her first album Save Our Hearts this December 11th which you can preorder on her website. https://www.madisynwhajne.com/ Photographer Jen Squires Cover Art Design by Tania Willems

Darryl Hurs recently hired by CD Baby for market development in Canada has a 25+ year history in the music business including launching and running one of Canada’s largest emerging artist showcase festivals and conference, Indie Week Canada. Past positions include graphic design/branding for Live Nation as a freelancer (corporate branding, event marketing assets, including work for known artists such as U2, Nickelback, Madonna, Beyonce, Jay-Z and Dave Matthews and the launching of VIPNATION.com website), retail buyer at HMV, booker for one of Toronto’s top live music venues (The Rivoli), and performing in various musical acts. Indie Week is an online conference this year focused on education from Tuesday November 10th until Saturday November 14th. Banda Trampa - Você clip Cover Art Design by Tania Willems https://www.indieweek.com/

Morgan Doctor is a Juno and Dora nominated performer and creator. She currently plays with Andy Kim, Jill Barber, Amanda Rheaume, and Fefe Dobson. She performed on Letterman, sold out theatres and arenas, music videos, and countless full length albums. Morgan performed and won at MTV LOGO’s “Artist on the Brink” Award for 2008 with The Cliks. Morgan’s session drumming can be heard on CBC Metro Morning, The L Word, and Grey’s Anatomy. She received a Dora nomination for her sound design for Between Us Goddess in 2005 and earned a Juno and Dora nomination with her work with The Toronto Tabla Ensemble in 2001. Morgan is a big advocate of music education and teaches at Girls Rock Camp Toronto as a drum instructor and band coach. In 2006 Morgan signed with Aporia Records and has released . Her most recent release, Strangers explores the actions of connecting and disconnecting, and the fragile boundary between intimacy and estrangement. “… it is a rare musician who can make an instrumental album that seems confessional” – Toronto Star Cover art design by Tania Willems

Emm Gryner is a successful Filipino-Irish pop singer-songwriter based in Canada who started her own label Dead Daisy Records. Emm was signed to Mercury Records for two years, and then continued to release albums on Dead Daisy, signed In Flight Safety & Royal Wood, toured extensively in David Bowies backup band as well as Swedish band The Cardigans. Emm played in Hot One with Nathan Larson of Guided By Voices, collaborated with astronaut Chris Hadfield, was in the documentary Lennon or McCartney and is now releasing a jazz album Just For You. Emm Gryner Photo by Cynthia Moore Cover Art Design by Tania Willems https://www.emmgryner.com/

Emm Gryner is a successful Filipino-Irish pop singer-songwriter based in Canada who started her own label Dead Daisy Records. Emm played in Hot One with Nathan Larson of Shudder to Think, collaborated with astronaut Chris Hadfield, toured extensively in David Bowies backup band as well as Swedish band The Cardigans. Emm was in the documentary Lennon or McCartney and is now releasing a jazz album Just For You. Photo of Emm Gryner by Cynthia Moore Cover Art Design by Tania Willems https://www.emmgryner.com/

Tarun “Tspoon” Nayar toured the world  with his award winning band Delhi 2 Dublin and is now Executive Director of Turtle Islands largest South Asian Youth event 5XFest. Tarun collaborated on a fan engagement app originally used by the Manchester City Soccer Team and now runs music festival 5XFest in Vancouver with concerts, fashion shows, art events, 40 stages, 60+ creators, and over 25,000 people are on the 5XFest app.  Tarun is on the board of Vancouver’s New Forms Festival, the Canadian Live Music Association, a member of BC’s Ministry of Education Advisory Committee, Vancouver’s Music City Task Force, and Vancouver’s 2018 Juno Host City Committee. Tarun manages emerging Pakistani-Canadian electronic artist Khanvict, and is the co-founder and owner of digital label  which focuses on the new wave of hybrid South Asian artists. Cover art Design - Tania Willems Music: Tarun Nayar - Kezang La GWS, Cartel Madras - Stay Up All Night Skinny Local - Bass Baje Falling - Chin Injeti featuring Esthero & Tarun Nayar Khanvict - Before Summer Ends courtesy of SnakesXLadders

Tarun “Tspoon” Nayar toured the world  with his award winning band Delhi 2 Dublin and is now Executive Director of Turtle Islands largest South Asian Youth event 5XFest. Tarun collaborated on a fan engagement app originally used by the Manchester City Soccer Team and now runs music festival 5XFest in Vancouver with concerts, fashion shows, art events, 40 stages,60+ creators, and over 25,000 people are on the 5XFest app.  Tarun is on the board of Vancouver’s New Forms Festival, the Canadian Live Music Association, a member of BC’s Ministry of Education Advisory Committee, Vancouver’s Music City Task Force, and Vancouver’s 2018 Juno Host City Committee. Tarun manages emerging Pakistani-Canadian electronic artist Khanvict, and is the co-founder and owner of digital label  which focuses on the new wave of hybrid South Asian artists. Cover art Design - Tania Willems Music: Tarun Nayar - Kezang La GWS, Cartel Madras - Stay Up All Night Skinny Local - Bass Baje Falling - Chin Injeti featuring Esthero & Tarun Nayar Khanvict - Before Summer Ends courtesy of SnakesXLadders

Leroy Moore & Keith Jones discuss disability politics, music, history, the incredibly talented artists with Krip-Hop Nation, the making of the music track for Rising Phoenix trailer, and the need for more content by people with disabilities on Netflix, Sony, and HBO.  Rising Phoenix about the Paralympics is now out on Netflix. Cover Art Design by Tania Willems http://kriphopnation.com/

Leroy & Keith discuss history, music with black disability politics, highlighting black disabled artists within Krip-Hop Nation, and the making of the song/trailer for new documentary on Netflix Rising Phoenix about the Paralympics. Krip-Hop Nation’s Mission is to educate the music, media industries and general public about the talents, history, rights and marketability of Hip-Hop artists and other musicians with disabilities. Krip-Hop founded by Leroy F. Moore Jr. an African American writer and activist with cerebral palsy who wanted  to use rap culture as a way to reclaim negative language associated with disability. From Harvard to The Whitney Museum to media engagement for disability in Johannesburg South Africa, Leroy Moore has more than twenty years of activism, journalism, writing; lecturing on race and disability. Moore is one of the founding members of National Black Disability Coalition and activist around police brutality against people with disabilities. Rising Phoenix with Keith Jones:  Krip-Hop Logo by Cool V Leroy Moore Photograph by Pamela Juhl Keith & Leroy photo by Alice Wong Cover Art Design by Tania Willems http://kriphopnation.com/

Zaynab is a Canadian-Trinidadian globe-trotting multi-instrumentalist, who openly embraces her creative and personal expansion through her dynamic style and passionate expression.  She transmutes the raw material of her experiences and voice into songs that “quietens your spirit”.  With a diverse musical input ranging from Bob Marley to Norah Jones, Esperanza Spalding and Billie Holiday, Zaynab’s output flows with elements of improvisation influenced by Jazz, Soul, R&B and Afro-Caribbean. Born into a steelpan playing family band based in Montréal, music and sound flowed with diversity throughout the family home giving Zaynab rich cultural and musical roots to explore. In 2014, she earned a Bachelor of Music on drums from Humber College then continued with her musical dynamism through debuting her own project, MoZayic, and in supportive percussive roles with Jason Wilson, Alysha Brilla and other local and international projects. In 2018, Zaynab welcomed a new level of deepening with music when she released as a singer-songwriter and has since performed her original project across Canada, in the USA and Australia, receiving radio airplay on Canada’s CBC and Australia’s ABC.  Zaynab is planning to start her own podcast, The Music Cabinet, which will explore music/art/storytelling as a therapy, medicine and healing tool. Cover Art Design by Tania Willems https://www.zaynabwilsonmusic.com/

"Let's walk with empathy. We're all born with something; we all have to face some struggle...understanding that. We have to journey down something and it's not always going to be peachy. I am very grateful for my upbringing...instead of getting caught up with labels and identifications, just keep with who you are." - Zaynab Wilson   Zaynab Wilson is a Canadian-Trinidadian globe-trotting multi-instrumentalist, who openly embraces her creative and personal expansion through her dynamic style and passionate expression. She transmutes the raw material of her experiences and voice into songs that “quietens your spirit”.  With a diverse musical input ranging from Bob Marley to Norah Jones, Esperanza Spalding and Billie Holiday, Zaynab’s output flows with elements of improvisation influenced by Jazz, Soul, R&B and Afro-Caribbean. Born into a steel pan playing family band based in Montréal, music and sound flowed with diversity throughout the family home giving Zaynab rich cultural and musical roots to explore. In 2014, she earned a Bachelor of Music on drums from Humber College then continued with her musical dynamism through debuting her own project, MoZayic, and in supportive percussive roles with Jason Wilson, Alysha Brilla and other local and international projects. In 2018, Zaynab welcomed a new level of deepening with music when she released as a singer-songwriter and has since performed her original project across Canada, in the USA and Australia, receiving radio airplay on Canada’s CBC and Australia’s ABC.  Zaynab discusses plans of starting her own podcast, The Music Cabinet, which will explore music, art, & storytelling as a therapy, medicine and a healing tool. Cover Art Design By Tania Willems https://www.zaynabwilsonmusic.com/

"Rae Spoon is one of the most important musicians working in Canada today" - NOW Magazine Rae Spoon is an award winning non-binary performer, composer, music producer, visual content producer/director and author based on the territory of the Lekwungen speaking peoples in Victoria, BC. They published First Spring Grass Fire, a book of short stories about growing up in Alberta and Spoon was awarded an Honour of Distinction for LGBT writers in 2014. Spoon began the music label Coax Records "out of a love for indie music and as an answer to under representation for many groups in the music industry". Photo by Dave Todon Cover Art Design by Tania Willems https://www.coaxrecords.com/

"Rae Spoon is one of the most important musicians working in Canada today" - NOW Magazine Rae Spoon is an award winning non-binary performer, composer, music producer, visual content producer/director and author based on the territory of the Lekwungen speaking peoples in Victoria, BC. They published First Spring Grass Fire, a book of short stories about growing up in Alberta and Spoon was awarded an Honour of Distinction for LGBT writers in 2014. Spoon began the music label Coax Records "out of a love for indie music and as an answer to under representation for many groups in the music industry". Song: I'll Be A Ghost For You - Rae Spoon Song: You Can Dance - Rae Spoon Cover art design photos by Tania Willems

Land Back Camp is a peaceful Indigenous occupation which sidelines as a ceremonial meeting space. The toxic effects of colonization with residential schools forcing assimilation are still evident with drug abuse, poverty, suicides, missing and murdered Indigenous women, disproportionate representation in the criminal justice system and lifelong scarring from trauma and abuse. With our government breaking treaty promises to putting in pipelines through First Nations land, Truth and Reconciliation is not being followed and the only small change we have seen is land acknowledgements in schools and at the beginning of meetings. In Kitchener, Waterloo, in Victoria Park Indigenous activists such as Amy Smoke, Terre Chartrand, and Shawn Johnston have been taking a stand to exercise their treaty rights and retake a small piece of traditional meeting grounds. Shawn Johnston, Amy Smoke, & Terre Chartrand all being two-spirit; Amy discusses the incredible youth who showed up to help and participate who mostly identify as two spirit, queer, non-binary, & trans looking for safe spaces to reclaim their culture. Photo Erik O'Neill Cover Art Tania Willems https://www.landbackcamp.com/

Interview with Venus Fest founder Aerin Fogel (Queen of Swords) who talks about the online festival hosted by Sook-Yin Lee, the Mentorship Program applications available Monday September 21st (program begins week of October 5th), the conference and reveals much more about this exciting new festival in it's fourth year available internationally. Lineup includes Lido Pimienta, Ansley Simpson, Wild Black, and Ceréna Sierra as well as videos, artist interviews, panels, a town hall, and mentorship sessions. Visual videos are curated by Dainesha Nugent-Palache, Caroline Monnet, Jamiyla Lowe, Lido Pimienta, Mohammad Rezaei, Monica Berger, queer anishinaabe artist Natalie King, Vanessa Rieger, video editing by Brittany Farhat, and graphic design and visual concept by Misbah Ahmed. Venus Fest is sponsored by Factor, Ontario Creates, SOCAN, Music Ontario, and The Ontario Arts Council as well as partnered with POP Montreal. Song - Joy Will Be, Queen of Spades Song - Run It To Ya, Black Belt Eagle Scout [Merlin] Saddle Creek (on behalf of Saddle Creek) Song - Moon Star Lover, Wild Black Song - A Mixture of Fralities, Ansley Simpson Song - Quiero Que Te Vaya Bien, Lido Pimienta Song - Book On How To Change, Hand Habits Sook-Yin Lee Photo in background self portrait Aerin Fogel photo in background @threecrownsbranding Progress Flag Photo in background by John Tlumacki (Boston Globe) Cover Art Design Tania Willems