ON THE COVER
Brendan Grey and the Evolving Ethos of Super Duty Tough Work
As Winnipeg hip-hop ensemble Super Duty Tough Work (SDTW) hits the ten-year mark, founder and MC Brendan Grey, sits down with writer Abiola Regan to talk about tapping in to his family’s artistic roots, the words and themes that inspire him, balancing creative and career goals, and the ethos that drives one of Canada’s most dynamic live groups. With the SDTW’s 2019 EP Studies in Grey and 2023 album Paradigm Shift both earning spots on Polaris Music Prize long lists, Grey takes a contemplative view of music-making and his desire to ensure that every word matters. Cover photo by Carla Hernandez Ramirez.
News Flash: SDTW tours Western Canada with Cadence Weapon in November 2024, then heads to the studio to collaborate on their next album.
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José Maceda: Reverberations Beyond the Archipelago pg. 34
The avant-garde sound murals of Filipino composer José Maceda (1917–2004) call for indigenous instruments and massive human forces—often using radio or tape media. But what else lies beyond music and sound? Vancouver’s Western Front frames a bigger picture with the Echoes Beyond the Archipelago exhibition and the Canadian premiere of Maceda’s Udlot-Udlot in May 2024. Juro Kim Feliz asks curator Aki Onda and ethnomusicologist LaVerne de la Peña to translate Maceda’s artistic legacy into the decolonizing ethos of the twenty-first century.
Allison Burik, Riffs and Runes
On their debut solo recording, Realm, Montreal-based composer and improviser Allison Burik uses guitar, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, and voice to create an imaginary ecosphere inspired by Nordic mythology. Burik tells writer Nick Krewen how a 2022 NES Artist Residency in Iceland provided early inspiration for the music. Burik also traces their music education path from traditional to more experimental settings, and discusses how their work in the duo Umbrella Pine, the quartet Bellbird, and Mali Obomsawin’s sextet connects them to different musical interests.
Rita Ueda's Intercultural Music
After the U.S. premiere of her 2022 Azrieli Music Prize-supported composition Birds Calling ... from the Canada in You at Lincoln Center, Vancouver-based Rita Ueda talks to Kurt Gottscalk about her migratory life and how it has inspired her collaborative approach to intercultural music.
Bilal Nasser Centres Community
The Windsor-based post-classical guitarist Bilal Nasser talks to Yaz Lancaster about his solo debut recordings How Can We Say Nothing, how his career in harm reduction has informed his creative ideas, and his commitment to political praxis through art.
Reviews, We Got 'Em
FIMAV (Quebec) and Sound Within Sound (London), the documentary Deep Listening: The Story of Pauline Oliveros, weighty tomes on the music of James Tenney and on vintage electronic musical instruments, and many recordings.
On the CD: Nine tracks of previously unreleased or recently released music from artists featured in the Fall 2024 issue!
Fall 2024
Musicworks
#149
Bilal Nassar pg 6
1> Hush 8:51
Allison Burik pg 11
2> Heiemo og Nykkjen 3:32
3> Be the Dragon 3:33
4> Birka 581 4:32
Rita Ueda pg 18
5> so long as your tears are still in the sea 6:55
Performed by the Budapest MÁV Symphony Orchestra
Brendan Grey pg 26
6> Grey’s Lament (Grandmotherland) 3:46
7> Quiet Strength 3:54
8> Dirty Hands 2:11
Tracks 6, 7, 8 performed by Super Duty Tough Work.
José Maceda pg 34
9> Udlot-Udlot 41:19
Performed by community members in British Columbia.
PHOTO BY KAMRYN CUSUMANO
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