Gift Of Music at the Hard Rock cafe

Like any successful holiday gift exchange, ticketholders left Toronto’s Hard Rock Café with a lot more than a gift card or stocking stuffer at the third annual Gift Of Music.
The event, hosted by Kid Kut and Jully Black, was dedicated to raising money for MusiCounts, a charity-based organization that focuses on supporting music initiatives and programs in schools. Those who supported the fundraiser enjoyed music from the solid roster of Canadian talent such as Kim Davis, August, Trinity Chris and JD Era. The renowned venue was packed wall to wall with music lovers who came out to celebrate the season and give to a great cause.
Michael Hurley, manager of MusiCounts, thanked everyone in attendance for making a difference in children’s lives across Canada and shared that the foundation will donate over $600,000 to Canadian schools in order to build their music programs.

“At MusiCounts our mission is to make sure that every child in Canada, regardless of circumstances, has access to music programs in school,” he said, while addressing the crowd. “What this is doing is providing an opportunity to learn skills to help them improve with other subjects in school, it’s an opportunity to discover a class that actually makes them want to go to school every day. It’s an opportunity for them to discover their talent and an opportunity for them to build their self-confidence. These are skills that transfer far beyond a classroom, whether they want a career onstage or anywhere else. That is why music is so important and that’s why it needs to stay in our schools.”
Many desirable gifts, including House of Marley headphones and boom boxes were raffled off between sets. The music company has partnered with MusiCounts, donating funds from every set of headphones sold in Canada, which has been tallied at $70,000 to date.

Savannah Re, who opened the show with her signature soulful voice in a festive red dress, was blessed enough to go to arts school, but the young up-and-comer said that the support is not there for the majority of kids who have dreams of becoming an artist like herself.
“Even in our schools, music is looked at as something that is less than exemplary. MusiCounts is something that we need,” she said.
Besides raffle prizes, everyone in attendance was given the gift of music through some of the talent in Toronto and were able to give back just that through their support of the MusiCounts initiative. It was a night of great music, in support of the future of music in Canada.
Photos By: Kiah Walsh

The Honey Jam 2012

Nearly two decades of female empowerment and opportunity for female songstresses brought 17 female musicians out at the 17th anniversary of The Honey Jam, presented by PhemPhat Entertainment Group.
The performers ranged in genre from R&B, rock and pop to soul, blue, hip-hop and even opera. Young, talented female artists from all over Canada were chosen to showcase their talent at the 17th annual Honey Jam at the MOD Club last month. The packed venue was treated to a spectacular night of music as DJ Melboogie and DJ Tasha Rozez spun the ones and twos before MuchMusic host Lauren Toyota invited each female act to hit the stage. Each performer had her own vastly unique ‘it’ factor that won over the hearts of the supporters, fans and industry representatives in attendance.
Fourteen-year-old Angelique Francis played the upright bass and shocked the crowd with her deep, soulful voice, emcee Notty spit her track “Laissez Tomber Les Filles” in French, while 15-year-old Victoria Fragomeni’s larger than life vocal skills belted out Pavarotti’s “Nessun Dorma”.

Stacey Asiedu from Brampton, who performed the song “Memory Lane”, accompanied by an entire band, says that The Honey Jam is an amazing experience, but so much more than just a performance.
“People may think that The Honey Jam is just about a one-night showcase, but it’s so much more than just providing the artist with a day to perform, it’s about giving us education and resources so that we can facilitate our knowledge and actually develop through our career. It’s been amazing,” she says.

She says the opportunity has given her more of a drive to pursue her career and she doesn’t know which doors will open for her because of it.
Melissa Bel, from Burlington, who won the opportunity to perform in Barbados through The Honey Jam, accompanied herself on guitar and said she is thankful for The Honey Jam, as the opportunity for females to showcase their talent is rare to find.
“I don’t feel like there are enough opportunities for women to, first of all be showcased like this, and then also, to do it all together. We’re not competing, we’re all on the same team and we’re all just enjoying each other’s performances and learning from each other.

Toronto’s Savannah Ré performed her hit “Paranormal” in a stunning yellow dress, and talented songstress Shi Wisdom performed her new single, “Penny”, in a black ensemble before all the “honeys” were invited onstage to participate in a freestyle cypher to close off the night of immense talent.

Culture Shock 2012

The rain didn’t stop supporters and music lovers from attending a day jam-packed with local talent at the 8th annual CultureShock at the Weston Farmers’ Market presented by the UrbanArts Community Arts Council in August.
UrbanArts is a non-profit organization, which engages youth through the arts in the Weston-Mount Dennis community through multi-arts programs throughout the year.
Comedian Trixx and hip-hop legend Michie Mee hosted the event and had the crowd hype all day, despite the miserable weather.
Michie Mee, who is from the Weston area, says that it was only right for her to give back to the non-profit organization that does so much for the youth and arts community. “It lets [the youth] know that there is something else that they can get into. That they can vent, they can speak freely; they can meet other people in the community. The fact that we can all get together through the arts is the best thing.”

The CultureShock event featured reggae, hip-hop, R&B, spoken word and dance from some of the best local talent in Toronto. As the rain showered off and on throughout the day, the performers took turns entertaining the crowd who came out despite the dreary weather.
Singer Obidiah, accompanied by a band and his backup singers, The Sweetness, opened up the show before Enuma and her guitar took to the stage and performed through the rain.
Dance groups Bootcamp, Bootcamp Juniors and The League all livened up the crowd with their routines and Yusra and Rolling Stone brought the element of spoken word to the show.
The rain made way for a giant double rainbow in the sky while reggae artist Smuggz Holiday performed before Toronto emcees Church Chizzle, Jaek Delarge, Erik Flowchild and Supreme Swiss all took a turn on the stage to spit their hits, all with vastly different flows.
Savannah Ré, Tamara Madison and 2Z brought the element of R&B to the show, belting out tracks with soul, as their voices echoed through the Farmers’ Market.

Savannah Ré, who performed her hit “Paranormal” and a new track “Geet Weh”, which features peer Tamara Madison, says she has been involved with UrbanArts before and supports what the organization does for the community as an artist. “[UrbanArts] brings a positive light. There are a lot of negative things that people correlate to this area, so it’s good that they have something that anyone can come to no matter what you do – art, spoken word, rap, sing, whatever it is, you can come and do it,” Ré said.

As the day turned to night, Trish and Shi Wisdom headlined the event with their unmistakable star quality performances. Trish killed her performance with a unique vibe of dance and Shi’s goose bump worthy voice captivated the crowd with her hits such as “Take the L” and “Easier”, before the majority of the crowd jumped onstage to dance along to “Mr. Parker”.
It was an entertaining day, which drew awareness to not only the talented artists who performed, but also to UrbanArts and the work it does to support these artists and the youth in the area.