FEATURED:
Nomadic Massive
Nomadic Massive is a Montreal-based collective of independent hip-hop artists, combining their energies to spread their music across borders. They are “cultural nomads,” all uprooted since birth and latching on to hip-hop to express this disruption. With Chilean, French, Haitian, Chinese, Iraqi and Argentine backgrounds, they rap in English, French, Spanish, Creole and Arabic. They are “musical nomads” too –representing an open-minded hip-hop that finds its inspiration in the tradition of the past, combining samplers, turntables and traditional instruments.
Soul Jazz Orchestra
Since 2002, this Ottawa-based band has been keeping the classic sounds of raw, gritty groove alive and well in Canada. Their style combines jazz, funk, African and Latin music with messages touching on politics and spirituality. Their blaring horns, retro keyboards and polyrhythmic beats show the influence of James Brown, Herbie Hancock, Fela Kuti and Tito Puente, but their sound remains refreshingly original. Soul Jazz released their second album, Freedom No Go Die, in September 2006.
Andrew Vincent and the Pirates
Andrew Vincent has been converting the doubtful with his brand of frank, simple narratives and witty wordplay since he started laying songs to tape years back as a student at Waterloo. AV and the Pirates (with Bryan Curry on bass and Scott Terry on the traps) have been breathing new life into the Ottawa rock scene since 2003, igniting dance floors and sing-along with an arsenal of modern classics.
DJ Rise Ashen
Musician, DJ, remixer, martial artist and BBoy Eric Vani (a.k.a. Rise Ashen) has devoted his life to the study of sound and movement. Eric's focus has been on applying hi-fi know-how to underground music. His record collection spans Rai, Ancient Music, Traditional and Popular African, South American and Asian music, with NUJAZZ as is his primary focus. As a DJ, he blends it all in a worldy mash and is always the sweaty and dynamic life of the party. He believes music and dance are essential to human culture and that united, artists can lead humanity towards a more enlightened way of living, saying, “we need to make a shift towards long-term thinking.”
Hosted by Alanna Stuart
ALSO FEATURED:
Spoken word by John Akpata, Ritallin and Doretta Charles
Live art by Kenji Toyooka and Matt Cameron
Breakdancing
