African Music

Another interesting project for Kora lovers

Safe Havenfeatures music by European baroque composers including Corelli, Lully, Bach, Telemann, and Vivaldi — composers whose interactions with migrant musicians, impresarios, and artisans had a major influence on their work. In the final section of Safe Haven, Mackay brings the program full circle to Canada’s music scene, where cross-pollination has flourished thanks to the arrival of musicians and musical traditions from around the world. With guest artists Diely Mori Toukara, kora, Maryem Tollar, voice, and Naghmeh Farahmand, percussion, the second half explores some of the rich global cultural traditions passed along to a new generation of Canadian musicians.

Safe Havenalso explores how the movement of refugees across baroque Europe changed and enriched the economy and culture of major cities. French Huguenots could be found in Amsterdam, Scottish Catholics in Warsaw, and Sephardic Jews in the cities of Northern Italy. Audiences will hear how the term refugee (or refugiés) first came into common usage during the forced exodus of Protestants from France, following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV in 1685.

Safe Haven features music by European baroque composers including Corelli, Lully, Bach, Telemann, and Vivaldi — [...] with guest artists Diely Mori Toukara, kora, Maryem Tollar, voice, and Naghmeh Farahmand, percussion, the second half explores some of the rich global cultural traditions passed along to a new generation of Canadian musicians.

Once I got into the rhythm of this, which is to say, reading in French, and getting past the need to look up too many new words, I couldn’t put this down, by the time I found my reading rhythm, the lives of Gabriel (Gaby) and his sister Ana, his parents, his friends had their claws in me and I had to know what was going to happen next.