Discipline: music

transpacific express

Meeting in China through a McGill language exchange program, Elsasoa Jousse and Frantz Lin created Transpacific Express (TE) over their mutual interest in Asian and African American solidarity movements of the 60s and Asian-language hip-hop. TE continues the spirit of these historical predecessors in celebrating and building linkages between global BIPOC youth cultures. The collective launched its first music curation event in Fall 2019 with inaugural keynotes from scholars of global Asian media, showcasing its sincere and serious approach to pop culture deeply informed by media and cultural studies.

Transpacific Express are El, Frantz, and Celia Benhocine, lifelong musicians trained in classical, jazz, and r&b. In the five years since its inception, TE has integrated into the Montreal cultural milieu with commissioned works in music curation and performance for MAI, Festival Accès Asie, YATAI MTL, POCHA MTL, Korea And The Youth Culture Festival, and the RIDM International Documentary Festival. These performances have taken the form of DJ sets with MCing and singing, as well as artist talks on music history. In events produced by the collective, TE pushes for sonic-visual integration through simultaneous DJing and VJing with anime-style figurative visuals.

Currently, TE aims to further develop its capacity for embodied visual expression to build a more interdisciplinary media practice, on top of music as its core discipline. By doing so, the collective aims to amplify its unique approach to global pop culture that emphasizes the mutual convergences between Black Atlantic music & dance and East Asian visual culture, seeking to break from silo-ed perceptions of its work as serving any single demographic community.

auro moura

Auro Moura is a singer/songwriter, composer, and music educator who has been working in the field of music for nearly 20 years. He holds a Master’s in Music and a degree in Music Education from the Federal University of Paraná (Curitiba, Brazil) as well as a diploma in Audiovisual Production from the Institut Grasset (Montréal). Auro has a long and prominent career as a music educator. He is currently the co-founder of the program Les Brasileirinhos, and music director to the “Choeur Scénique Brésilien”, both in TioTia:Ke/Montréal. As a researcher, Auro has published in congresses and symposiums in Brazil, Italy, Canada, and in magazines specialized in education. He published the book “Making Music with Children”, currently in its 3rd edition. As a musician, he has composed and performed music for 4 albums, 1 EP and 1 DVD. Besides his personal projects, Auro also works as a composer of songs and soundtracks for children’s projects, short films, and advertising, among others.

Website: www.auromoura.com

emilio wawatie

Emilio Wawatie is an Algonquin-Anishnabe from Kitigan Zibi and Barrier lake, Quebec, and is a musician, filmmaker, researcher, and educator. Born in Maniwaki and raised throughout Anishnabe Aki in parc la Verendrye, Abitibi, and Gatineau; he now resides in Moniak, where he studies at Concordia University in Music and First People’s Studies. Emilio began his musical journey when he discovered playing the guitar at the age of 12 through the influence of his grandfather and continued his passion for music and classical guitar studies at the age of 22. It was at Cambrian College where he began to build his musical foundation and received training on the Classical guitar with Mathew Gould and Alan Yzereef, where he prepared, organized, and performed a graduating recital. In the last few years, Emilio’s work has been geared towards research and creation with strong focus on Algonquian music and artistic styles of both traditional and contemporary practices. He is currently undertaking work on his first EP as an artist with InPath and composes for the Classical guitar.

atif siddiqi

Atif Siddiqi studied fashion design in Los Angeles and video production/performance in Montreal where they live currently. Their work revolves around gender identity, ecology, justice, notions of personal transformation and metamorphosis by incorporating elements of symbolism and iconography. Their artistic body of work includes the long form experimental documentaries, Solo (winner best documentary) and M! Mom, Madonna and Me. Audio recordings of Amethyst’s Universe, Firefly, and Tranie Tronic. Various other short form videos like Unique Mythology, Erotic, Exotic, and performances of Alienation are also part of their portfolio.

Photo credit : Eisha Marjara

⇒ http://www.atifsiddiqi.com/

diogo ramos

Diogo Ramos is a singer-songwriter from Sao Paolo, Brazil. Ramos’ music is part of a long tradition of Brazilian folk singers. In 2010, Ramos left Brazil to settle in Montreal where he obtained a Bachelor of Music in Guitar Performance from the University of Quebec in Montreal. Ramos has been working professionally for 20 years as a music producer, having released 16 albums. In 2012, Ramos produced the album “Egológico Recycle,” dedicated to Rommel Ribeiro as part of the 2012-2013 Révélations Radio-Canada award in the world music category. In 2014, Ramos directed the album “O Momento Presente é Azul” by renowned artist Paulo Ramos.

2018 marks the release of Ramos’ album “Samba sans Frontières”, where he pays homage to his country of adoption through the interpretation of the works of Gilles Vigneault, Félix Leclerc, Pierre Perreault and his own compositions where Portuguese and French intertwine. As Ramos’ remarkable guitar playing and voice discovers the language of his new country – it’s Franco Bossa-nova. A recipient of a Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ) research and creation grant in 2017, Ramos has also received the Conseil des arts de Montréal’s Coup de Coeur award and MAtv’s Coup de Coeur award at the 2017 MUZ Festival (Vision Diversity) –  a tribute to world music in Montreal.

meryem saci

Meryem Saci is a singer, songwriter, emcee and performer. Lead singer in the group Nomadic Massive since 2005, Meryem is currently focusing on her solo career after releasing her first solo project,  “On my way”, in summer 2017. Upbeat, fun, and moving, this mixtape bridges influences from both sides of the Atlantic. Over the years Meryem has collaborated with many international artists such as IAM, and been featured on movies and TV series such as Omerta, Derapage, Lance et Compte, and Art of More. In addition to performing over 40 shows a year, as well appearing at conferences,workshops, and voiceovers, she juggles her time between her solo project and Nomadic Massive with the aim of creating her own unique image and sound. In 2018 and 2019 Meryem will be following the rhythms of her upcoming European and Latin American tours and dedicating time to her upcoming singles and solo EP.

trio populaire

On a cold February night in 2010, three friends met for an unexpected musical evening in a small bar on Saint-Laurent boulevard in Montréal. Each brought along their good spirits and a few songs, and their will to play together led that night to the creation of Trio Populaire.

Born in Rome to Algerian parents, the self-taught Tacfarinas Kichou has developed a passion for multiple instruments such as derbouka, bendir, cajòn, riq, and bongos. Joey Mallat is a guitarist as well as an author, composer and interpreter for whom music serves as a way of reconciling his dual cultural influences, Arabic and Quebecois. The trio’s third member, Pierre Emmanuel Poizat, a professional clarinetist and sharp, inquisitive multi-instrumentalist, is involved in multiple popular, jazz and world music projects.

Drawing on diverse musical traditions, the trio’s repertoire includes original compositions inspired by Mediterranean, jazz, Gypsy and South American sounds. Simultaneously nostalgic, engaging, thoughtful, frenzied—their music doubles as an unforgettable voyage past the borders of nation and style.

Image: Christina Alonso

ellise barbara

Ellise Barbara is a Montreal-based avant-garde artist, singer-songwriter, and thinker. Rising from artist-run spaces such as La Brique and Drones Club at the turn of the current decade, their recent efforts are centered around LGBTQ community organizing (Taking What We Need, ASTTeQ, African Rainbow). With a band called Elle’s Black Space and a lineup solely made of musicians of Sub-Saharan African descent, Barbara aims to recenter contemporary blackness by rejecting current racialized tropes.