folk

Cairo: The rhythm of the whole, the sound of the pure love!

“You could call it folk. Or rock. Or ambience. If you wanted to deny that parts make a whole. It is realer than that! It is love! Yes, love!” as the band Cairo describes themselves as which Mustafa and I totally agree on. They are one of the best, more importantly loveliest folk, rock, and orchestral alt pop bands in Toronto. It won’t take you long to fall in love with them once you see them on the stage; just close your eyes, follow the rhythm. Then BOOM! You are charmed. Officially. When I first saw them at Horseshoe back in 2013, I was hooked by dreamy lyrics, heavenly violin tunes and cottonous vocals of their first EP “Young Love”. And of course as any person in love would do, I took every opportunity to check their gigs whenever, wherever possible; Horseshoe, The Garrison, The Rivoli etc. And then, the day came! They were releasing a new album. As soon as I found out about it, as deary music we got them under the radar because we believe that every band member of Cairo loves making music. The band is formed by Nate Daniels (Vocals/Guitar), Matt Sullivan (Drums/Percussion), Caitlin Grieve (Strings/Vocals), Dante Berardi Jr (Guitar/Vocals/Synth) and Joel Dalton (Bass/Key/Synth) They have been playing in the city since 2011. They make something that it comes in the bottom of their hearts. That was pretty much why they were under our radar and we were pretty curious and excited to hear the new tunes of their new album “A History Of Reasons”. As you would predict, we went to the gig to cover their live performance.

They started the set with the song “A History of Reasons” which has a super cool intro within soft vocals and fragile violin tunes. The song itself tells the story and carries the all the elements of folk, pop and rock. The Rivoli’s perfect lighting and sound system also helped everyone to experience the song in a different level. That was one of the best moments of the night. They continued the set with “With You”, “Age/Sex/Race”, “Kingdoms”, “Render” and “Starry Eyes”. We must say that we loved pretty much all songs but “With You” was one of the our favourites. We were a little bit disappointed the fact that they didn’t play any other songs from the previous EP called “Young Love”. We wish we could listen “Selfish” and “Addict” at that night.

It was a very short but also a very fun set. We had a great grasp of the new album. And it’s enough talk about our good fortune. We have 3 great news for you: First great news is NOW the album is available to purchase. And you can order it online! Second great news is they are going to tour in UK so even if you are not in Toronto anymore or ever been and if you are somewhere close to UK, here is an opportunity to see a lovely Canadian band. That’s pretty sweet, eh? Highly recommended to follow their Facebook page and track their upcoming shows in Toronto and UK. Third great news: We have two videos in the bottom for you to hear their tunes. If you are patient enough to watch a 16 minutes video, you can almost watch the whole concert but if you think you don’t have time – which we can understand – here is a 4 minutes short video from that night. Enjoy and support local music! Cheers! Itir & Mustafa

The Jessica Stuart Few: Folk-Jazz Power Trio Will Take You To Your Happy Place

Don’t you wanna hear some good music with a bit spiced up koto tunes? Yeah, we know you would take it. Let us introduce you Toronto based folk-jazz power trio Jessica Stuart Few.

I clearly remember the first time I saw Jessica Stuart. She was playing Radiohead songs at a bar in Junction. I was really mesmerised the way she was playing the guitar and how she was losing herself in music. Then I decided to do some research about her and discovered her band The Jessica Stuart Few. It took me a while to digest their two albums. First I spent a quite a bit time to understand the stories behind the songs and then bam! I was hooked by the second album.

The Jessica Stuart Few is formed by Jessica Stuart (band leader, vocal, guitar and koto), Liam Smith (double bass, vocals) and Jon Foster (drums, vocals). The band had various different members in the past but Jessica Stuart has been working Liam and Jon for the last few years. We definitely felt their deep musical connection when they were on stage. They are so meant to play together!

We were very excited to cover their show because maybe this is the only band that both of us would listen almost every day. Therefore we reached out to them and they were very happy to feature with us. On the gig day, we arrived to the Central pretty early as usual and settled in close to the stage. In the meantime we grabbed drinks with a couple of musician friends who came to the show and met with the whole band.

The Jessica Stuart Few took the stage around 9 pm and started the set with Two Sides To Every Story which is one of our favourites. I especially love this song’s guitar riffs. They continued with “Lost Friends”, “Only Girl (Rihanna cover)”, “Kid Dream”, “One Day”, “Same Girl”, “How to Ride A Bicycle” and “What Is It For”. We were not expecting to hear a Rihanna cover but it realy didn’t surprise us since they are very innovative musicians and their music does’t fall into a concrete music genre. It includes jazz, rock, folk and a little bit pop e.g: Don’t Ya. That’s why, it is really difficult say who are their influencers but you can find some clues in the interview video.

Akin to their albums, the show took surprising turns –new songs-, while maintaining beautiful tunes that you wouldn’t forget. We love The Jessica Stuart Few’s candid tunes harmonized with very well written lyrics and we strongly believe that they will definitely take you to your happy place. If you would like to check their music, you can find the videos below – yes, this time we have 3 videos- and you may want to take a look at their lovely blog and Facebook page. They will go for a tour in March, so before they take off, try to catch them in Toronto.

Happy holidays!

Itir & Mustafa

CADE: Dreamy Folk Tunes

We’d love to introduce you a dream folk project based out of Toronto which was founded by Kaiya Cade. She is the daughter of a blues guitarist, Brooke Blackburn, of the band Blackburn. If you are a Torontonian, you have probably heard about Blackburn before! CADE is formed of Kaiya Cade (lead vocals, guitar, and piano), Josh Bois (supporting vocals and guitar), Wesley Allen (upright bass), Julian Clarke (percussion and drums), and Adelaide Beach (supporting vocals and violin).

Mustafa discovered them last year at the Free Times Cafe. He had a chance to watch their shows a couple of times in different venues. Since he knows how I dearly love folk music, he highly recommended me to check them out. I listened to a couple of their songs on band camp. Their music reminded me the rainy days that I used to take long walks along the Beaches. Calm, peaceful. When we decided to work on deary music, CADE was one of the bands that we would definitely share with music lovers, so we started to stalk them! The closest gig was on August 20^th at the Island Cafe. We were really pumped to watch them at an outdoor venue.

We met 2 hours before the show and took the ferry. The weather was pretty awful but we hung in there! This is the most fractionating thing of outdoor shows in Toronto because weather is always unpredictable – don’t get us wrong, we dearly love our city.

After a lovely ferry trip, we arrived on the Ward Island, took a couple of photos, and then we set forth for the show. First of all, we grabbed our drinks and then settled in for the shooting. CADE took the stage by 7 pm. The gig started with “How Can I Write” (Kaiya+Josh Duo) then continued with “Road”, and “James Donalnue” They had to stop playing after the 4th song because it started raining as we had expected! The break took about 15 minutes thus they had to make sure the instruments were safe and sound. It stopped raining after 20 minutes or so then they started playing St John. We’d recommend you to check that song out at their next gig because you may not be able to find it online. The rest of the set list was “Liar”, “Plans”, “Semicircles” , “Giant on Our Trail”, “Fruit Fly”, “Homesick” and “ It Doesn’t Know How”

Even though the weather was pretty chilly, they were very connected to the audience so everyone stayed to listen to their dreamy folk tunes. Our favourite was Homesick. We love the lyrics as well as how it sounds, but we also have to say that we are a big fan of Fruit Fly because its tunes totally reflect the band’s concept. Kaiya has a tremendous voice. Fruity Fly will definitely take you to your happy place. Guaranteed.

The gig ended with “It Doesn’t Know How”. The show itself was really candid. This is what we really like about CADE. Kaiya is such an open minded, friendly musician and all the band members are very talented. They love playing music and they love sharing with the audience. This is absolutely very exciting for us to see passionate people who love what they do and open to share with audience. Kaiya’s voice will touch your heart and soul. If you are curious about their music, you can watch our video below.

CADE is like the rainy days that you spend under your blanket. If you are seeking for warm and dreamy tunes, here you go, check them out! http://www.cademusic.ca/

Cheers!

Itir & Mustafa

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Maneli Jamal: A Great Talent With A Humble Soul

“Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.” ― Lao Tzu

I had the opportunity to listen to Maneli Jamal’s incredible music at a friend’s house party. He played for such a small group of people and weaved intricate story after stories with his tunes. Everyone in the room admired him; we could see it in their eyes. After the concert, I had a chance to meet him and learn about his interesting life story…

Maneli Jamal is a Toronto based, Canadian acoustic guitarist but before he moved to Canada, he pretty much travelled the whole world. You will find his interesting stories between the lines of his songs.

We were really excited to watch his show on August 15^th 2014 at the Harbourfront Center, but unfortunately we were a little bit late for the show. Mustafa always bikes so it was not a problem for him, but I had to take TTC, so it was a big challenge during rush hour.

We arrived at the venue before he started playing a piece called “Most Glorious Day” which has a quite interesting story. During the show, Maneli told us little anecdotes about his songs. He said, Canada was the first country where he became a citizen and after the court day, he decided to make a song about his experience. “Most Glorious Day” has a beautiful and deep story but we don’t want to mention what it’s about because we’d definitely recommend you to see his live performance.

Then he played Zim Blues, Us Against Them, Ziur, On the Run and Awakening -we are not very sure about the exact order- Us Against Them is one of his greatest songs which carries an interesting story. Maneli and his family used to live in Unites States for about 9 years, and then one day they received a letter from US immigration that asked his family to leave the country in a month. The song definitely makes you feel his sadness and fragility and maybe a little bit anger. Basically, every song has its own story, which makes Maneli is a unique musician because the audience can listen to his beautiful tunes with interesting stories. Maneli was in full storyteller mode, which we saw at the Harbourfront Center once again.

Most of the songs he performed were from his previous albums or his latest album called Lamaj Movement, but there was also a brand new one called Zim Blues. He said he was really inspired during his Zimbabwe tour. This piece particularly sounds pretty different than his other pieces. It is a heavily blues-influenced tune with some percussive use of the guitar. If you would like to hear this song, you can find it on his Youtube channel. It is difficult to write about a talented musician and we have to say Maneli’s live performance is amazing. The way he played and communicated with the audience was fabulous. We did not hear any mistake during the show which is not quite possible during live performances. If you are curious about his music you can check our video out. We highly recommend you to see his show, because he is a great talent!

Cheers!

Itir & Mustafa

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