A Night at the Museum

When The ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) expanded with the geode-like Michael Lee Chin Crystal extension, opinions in the city were divided. Though I have seen it from the outside, it was one of those "I'll go see it some time" thought that eventually encompassed a decade. But on Friday, with The ROM hosting a monthly after-hours party called ROM After Dark, I finally found my way inside.

The first sight of the atrium with a gigantic multi-story dinosaur overhead was impressive. The museum had divided up the space into multiple themed exhibits. It didn't feel different from typical construction until I moved along the walkways connecting the rooms. Then I could see the sharp angles and slanted walls.

The galleries included gems, minerals, dinosaur reconstructions and an exhibit about The Age of Mammals. I only felt abstractly the age of the collections since they were numbers too large for me to comprehend viscerally. One thought kept returning: "Animals seemed much bigger in the past". For our current age, the flora and fauna were grouped into ecosystems under a theme of Life In Crisis. So while I marveled at the variety (there are butterflies in the Arctic!), I also felt an overall sadness. The human inventions from armor to utensils were also interesting. A reliquary, which happens to be exactly 800-year-old this year, struck me as truly antique.

But it wasn't just about stuff on display. In conjunction with International Women's Day, this edition of RAD was named Sisterhood. Throughout the evening, I experienced various women musicians, artists, fashion designers, and scientists plied their craft. In Bronfman Hall, Lisa Odjig (a former Hoop Dancing champion) demonstrated an Eagle dance, a Fancy Shawl dance, and a Hoop dance with 12 hoops. She was accompanied on the drum by a good-natured Steve Teekens.

In the shadow of a T-Rex, cuban-jazz group OKAN kept people dancing with some high-energy songs like Mas Que Nada. Tonight, they were joined by Carlie Howell on bass, Sarah Thawer on drums, and Jeremy Ledbetter on piano. The 3 guests added a lot of groove and fun. Additional vocals came from Eliana Cuervas who took the lead with some excellent scatting on El Tucusito.

Early on, Mr. Teekens opined that all cultures have drums. So it was appropriate that the evening ended on the main floor with Raging Asian Women. These taiko drummers got the crowd cheering and hollering throughout their set. Each song didn't just incorporate a variety of rhythms but choreography, too. It was mesmerizing to watch. I think some audience members will take up their offer to attend a taiko workshop at The Toronto Taiko Festival in August.

Spaced Out

On Thursday, I was at The Burdock for the sophomore year of the Women From Space festival. The organizers wanted to focus on women playing creative, jazz, and improv music. Tonight was the first of 4 nights and it was a bit of hit and miss for me.

The stage was decorated with the psychedelic logo and people got face markings from the face-painting station. A few black lights scattered about made some clothes glow.

Elisa Thorn was one of two performers who debuted new material. Both suffered from a lack of familiarity with their composition. That might seemed strange given that it was improvised music but as an audience member, you can feel whether someone has had time to fully live and experience their songs. I'm also no longer enamored with numbers relying heavily on looping. But I liked the range of sounds Thorn got from her harp. With the 20-minute undulating soundscape, I took the opportunity to meditate.

Amy Brandon also got a wide variety of sound effects from her acoutic guitar although it was pre-recorded. It started with scratchy ASMR-esque creaks and scrapes which wasn't unsurprising. But then proceeded to ocean waves, rain, lightning crackle, and even a sudden clap of thunder. For the live part, Brandon gave us a glimpse of her improvisation prowess on her guitar.

Using a drum sampler and some synth, Claire Yunjin Lee gave us a looping collage of designed sounds. Unfortunately, she only made them recently and it showed in her weakness to coax a coherent feel from her set. This was not as fun as her set with Mingjia.

Susan Alcorn was the highlight of the night. A veteran musician of the steel-pedal guitar, she regaled us with stories from 40+ years of playing music and touring. She "transformed" her instrument from the twangy country guitar into a theremin, a synthesizer, and even a piano without effects or looping. The first half was more experimental including her tribute to Messiaen's Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum called And I Await The Resurrection of the Pedal Steel Guitar.

The latter half of her set was an arrangement of songs she titled Liberation Suite. Inspired by an anti-fascist march in Mantua while on tour in Italy, and feeling tired from the rhetoric of her very fascist local roadie, she played a snippet of Bella Ciao during her concerts. Some thought her out-of-touch, but she received emails thanking her for including this old protest song. From that came this suite which encompassed several songs including Víctor Jara's El Arado, Vitali's Chaconne, and ending with Oscar Peterson's Hymn To Freedom. After a short take on Quartet for the End of Time, Alcorn dedicated the last song, a beautiful rendition of Song of the Birds, to exiles and refugees. She explained that its composer Pablo Casals was a refugee from Franco's fascist Spain and never returned to his homeland.

It was a wonderful close to a so-so night. I was glad I changed my mind about leaving the show before the end.

Mama Bowl's Best

Walking through Koreatown after a morning concert on Thursday, I decided to have lunch there. I've been watching Youtube food-tasting videos and realized it's been a while since I've enjoyed Korean banchan, that spread of tasty side dishes that accompanies most meals. On the way, I passed by Mrs. Kim (Jean Yoon) of the TV show Kim's Convenience.

There were so many choices along those blocks including Soon Tofu, Tofu Village, and Imonay. I finally stepped inside Mama Chef because their window display promised cheese bibimbap. I didn't get that unusual dish today but did pick a kimchi and tofu bibimbap ($14.99). I haven't had this stone bowl entrée in a while because I developed an allergy to sesame oil. So sauces like bibimbap or Middle-Eastern hummus and tabouleh were out. But it seemed to have diminished lately so fingers crossed.

The bowl came out hot with the rice still crackling and cooking. There were six side dishes including kimchi that were all tasty. In fact, the whole meal was wonderful: soft tofu, crunchy radish, carrots, and cabbage, slightly burnt pieces of rice at the bottom of the bowl. The only drawback was the amount of food. Good thing I was planning on walking home.

It turns out I still have the sesame oil allergy but only in a mild form. But a few itchy bumps that lasted about 40 minutes was worth it. Mama, I'm coming back for that cheese bowl and your special "pies".

The More You Know

Tafelmusik had concerts this past weekend titled The Indigo Project wherein they used the history of the indigo dye to showcase both baroque music and South Asian music. The concerts were mostly sold-out with only the pricey seats still available. So when I found out that there was a free, abbreviated version on Thursday morning, I made my way through the sunshine to Trinity-St. Paul.

It turned out to be an educational outreach program. But because of the teachers' strike, class trips have been canceled. Wednesday's show was packed with kids; today's event had mostly retirees, families with pre-kindergarten children, and a smattering of preteens. Congenial hostess Cynthia Smithers introduced us to the world of Louis XIV, and the instruments of his musicians (with quick demonstrations from Tafelmusik members) including familiar ones like violin, oboes, bassoon, and cello, and more unusual ones such as the double-bass, harpsichord, and the baroque theorbo or lute. His court's penchant for blue attire led to a discussion of the making of blue dye from the indigo plant in India.

Suba Sankaran and her father Trichy Sankaran then gave the audience a taste of Indian raga (melodies) and tala (rhythms). She got the crowd singing the Indian scale including microtonals, while Trichy led us clapping with correct palm positions through the 8-beat ardha taal.

Smithers told us the story of Charles Spencer, a foundling who was reunited with his mother Sarah thanks to a torn strip of sewn cloth.They had each held on to one of the two halves. This decorative sash included an indigo square taken from a hand-me-down dress gifted to Mrs. Spencer by her former Duchess employer. This true tale raises the question of "what stories do our own clothes tell?" and gave program director Alison MacKay a way to talk about the modern issues of cheap clothes, slave labour, fair wages, and environmental sustainability.

This hour-long show had some music and even a short dance, but not much compared to the program notes for the 2.5 hours concert. Yet I suspect the latter had less interaction and crowd participation. So in the end, it was fun and informative and I even learned a few things. The droning you sometimes hear in yoga class, which is now mostly done with an electronic app or recording, is the overlapping tones of the 4-string tanpura.