Short Takes, January 2018

….. Improvisation as Locality: In a new posting from the Canadian Music Centre, composer/percussionist Debashis Sinha discusses improvisation from a uniquely Canadian – and Asian Canadian – subject position, including his own experiments as a young tabla student: “I knew that North Indian music was based almost exclusively on improvisation and yet I didn’t understand that this improvisation stems from the same family that Benny Goodman was activating (with different rules and results of course, but at heart…).”

…… A celebration of the life of pianist, collagist, writer, and all-around improviser Al Neil (1924-2017) will be held Sunday, January 21 at Western Front, 303 E. 8th Avenue, Vancouver. Neil’s many friends will join together “to honour and celebrate his contributions to the world of music, art and literature.”

….. In partnership with IICSI and the KidsAbility Centre for Child Development, percussionist Richard Burrows directed the final 2017 performance of the Guelph and Cambridge Drum Clubs on Tuesday, December 5, in the University of Guelph’s George Luscombe Theatre. Watch the video of the performance here.

…..Applications for the 2018 edition of the Waterloo Region Contemporary Music Sessions (WRCMS) are open until Feb 15, at 10pm EST. WRCMS is a 9-day series of workshops, concerts, panels, reading sessions, and activities designed to promote and provide opportunities for emerging and early career Canadian and international performers, improvisers, and composers of contemporary music. This year’s WRCMS will take place from July 29 to August 8. For all the details and to apply, visit the WRCMS website.

…… On January 10, the Art Gallery at York University launched a year-long study of and by “artists from either ends of the Americas whose work engages real borders, thresholds, and (aesthetic) frontiers that consecrate and liberate our positions and perspectives in relation to each other and to the world.” The initial discussion by York University academic and activist Evelyn Encalada Grez featured Postcommodity members Cristóbal Martínez and Kade L. Twist, IICSI’s 2017 Improviser-in-Residence.

….. Toronto’s long-standing performance and recording space The Music Gallery has now moved to 918 Bathurst St. Upcoming performances include “Mother Tongue” with Joanne Shenandoah, Salia Joseph, Kwiigay, and Nelson Tagoona (Feb 10); “Yoko Ono – The Riverbed: Voice Pieces” ft. Christine Duncan and the Element Choir, Lillian Allen, and Mamalia at The Gardiner Museum (Feb 23); and “Land of Kush” led by Sam Shalabi and ft. Cairo-based guests Nadah El Shazly and Maurice Louca (Mar 24).

….. cIRcle, the University of British Columbia’s digital repository for research and teaching materials, has added IICSI to the UBC Library’s Open Collections portal. cIRcle invites its visitors to watch & listen to past IICSI Colloquium performances & talks, including Four Electro Aerials with Jeannette Hicks & François Houle at the 2017 IICSI UBC Colloquium, Lines of Flight: Improvisation, Hope and Refuge.

….. Memorial University’s MMaP Lecture series presents Memorial professor and IICSI researcher Ellen Waterman on Wednesday, January 17 at 7:30 p.m. Dr. Waterman’s talk, entitled “The Idea of North, Post-Nationalism, and the Changing Ecology of Experimental Music Performance in Canada,” will also be live streamed here.

Improv Notes is edited and written by David Lee and assembled by administrative assistant Rachel Collins. If you have anything improvisation related that you would like included in the newsletter, please send an email to [email protected].