Island Soul at Harbourfront Centre will run July 31 to August 3

Part of World Routes 2009 presented by RBC

Island Soul takes audiences on a panoramic tour of Caribbean culture with international and Canadian artists in music, food, film and more.

This year's festival begins with a mighty display of Calypsonian skill, when The Mighty Shadow graces the SIRIUS Satellite Radio Stage (July 31, 9:30 pm). One of Reggae's most influential artists Tony Rebel returns (August 2, 9:30 pm) after an amazing 2006 Island Soul performance for more than 5,000 attendees in 2006.

Like Black Stalin and The Mighty Sparrow, The Mighty Shadow is a completely unique Calypsonian. Since his 1974 landmark composition De Bassman, he has never failed to deliver some of the toughest basslines, most infectious grooves, and most original compositions of anyone in the Caribbean. His social and political commentaries are delivered in such a clever way the messages often sink in subliminally. Born in a suburb of Port of Spain, Trinidad in 1941, he won the Road March in 1974 and 2001 and the Calypso Monarch competition in 2000 with What's Wrong With Me and Scratch Meh Back. Shadow is also known for dancing and jumping in a skip-rope style with both feet in the air at the same time. He won the national award Trinidad & Tobago Humming Bird Medal (Silver) in 2003.

Jamaican Rastafarian Tony Rebel's career spans two decades and the creation of many global reggae anthems including If Jah (Is Standing By My Side), Fresh Vegetable and Nazarite Vow along with smash collaborations with Everton Blender (Ghetto People Song), his late friend Garnett Silk (Dancehall Principle, Sweet Jamaica) and Swade (Just Friends). Rebel is not only a musician, he has built a music empire producing one of the most popular music festivals in Jamaica (Rebel Salute) and is engaged in serious social issues as the chair of the UNICEF sponsored Artists Against AIDS organization.
 
Island Soul also features Jamaica's Charles Town Maroons (August 1, 8:45 pm) in partnership with the Consulate General of Jamaica. These drummers use the vocabulary of the past to send messages of freedom to the present while dancers reply by using their bodies to heed the ancestral call keeping independent spirits alive. The Maroons are descendants of runaway slaves from 18th century Jamaica who escaped into the hills and waged two wars against the British slave owners. One of the most famous is Queen Nanny - the only female listed among Jamaica's national heroes. Many Maroons were deported to Halifax, Nova Scotia during that period. To this day The Maroons have retained and developed their own rich culture within Jamaica which they will showcase at Island Soul.

Island Soul presents the premiere of the Emancipation Jubilation with B. George Blake and Kalalu Folklore Theatre (August 1, 7 pm). This performance celebrates the first officially recognized Emancipation Day in the Province of Ontario with stories, songs, and percussion revisiting the colonial slavery of former British territories and the leadership taken by John Graves Simcoe (Ontario's first Lieutenant-Governor) to abolish slavery in 1793. Ontario's emancipation took place more than 40 years before it occurred in the Caribbean and more than 70 years before the U.S. civil war ended. The B. George Blake and Kalalu Folklore Theatre four member ensemble will use a combination of Afro-Caribbean drumming, singing and storytelling to vividly recognize the first Emancipation Day.

Island Soul, in partnership with the Government of Saint Lucia, will be celebrating the country's thirtieth year of independence with Saint Lucian music, dance, and cuisine- a dynamic blend of French, West Indian, and Creole traditions (August 2 and August 3). Featured are  Meshach of Wevolusion, Christylights Dance academy, and Chef Richardson Skinner of Ti Banane.

Island Soul presents a Jerk Jamboree Competition beginning with an online contest from June 15 to July 15. Online audiences are to vote for their favourite jerk from locations like Willy's Jerk, Jerk King, Mr Jerk, Irie Food Joint, Sunrise Caribbean Restaurant, Albert's Real Jamaican Food, The Real Jerk, Soul Food Restaurant, Jam Dee's Jerk Pit, or Nicey's Take-Out. The winner and their winning dish will be featured at the festival on August 2.

The festival also has family activities, including a Steel Pan Workshop for Children (August 2 at 2 pm and 4:30 pm) where children experience the steel drums by learning how to play this unique, historically significant instrument under the guidance of Toronto's Princess of Pan Joy Lapps. On August 3 (1pm-4:30pm), SwizzleSticks Theatre, together with Ballet Creole, will celebrate the carnival culture of the Caribbean with Djollification: Kids Jump-Up.

Leroy Sibbles (August 1, 9:30pm) is a Jamaican-Canadian reggae musician who was the lead singer for the iconic rocksteady vocal trio The Heptones (Fattie Fattie & Party Time). Sibbles was also a session bassist and arranger at Clement "Coxsone" Dodd's Jamaica recording studio and the associated Studio One label. As a solo artist, Sibbles worked with Sly & Robbie, Augustus Pablo, Bruce Cockburn, and Lee "Scratch" Perry among others. Sibbles won a 1987 Juno Award for best Reggae album.

Curatorial Statement
Island Soul will showcase, explore and document how ages-old regional arts, music and cultural practices survive, mutate, thrive or are threatened in the face of technology. From dubplate to download, old school to new, an Obamaian shift has taken place in the production and performance of many Caribbean art forms. Within the creolized cultures of the Caribbean lie numerous cultural community sub groups who's artistic contributions to the region's profile are immeasurable, so we will showcase a series featuring Indo-Caribbean culinary, literary, music and gaming rituals as a means to re-discover the identity of Indo Caribbean persons as a fragment of the Caribbean Diaspora in Toronto. In the Caribbean culinary arts tradition we will supplement our food programme with a special section catered to the unique vegetarian ("Ital") cuisine communities promoted by vegans and Rastafarian culture groups.

GET INSTANT NEWS... subscribe to www.Toronto-Lime.com/feed.rss