Midsummer A Gwaan

Batman Samini & yours truly at Afrofest, photo courtesy of Donna Gee

It's been a minute since I posted about my activities in print and in non-Abstract Index related stuff on the radio.

Eye Weekly has run a few features lately. I wrote a duo of West African articles about Femi Kuti and Oumou Sangare (absolutely killer at Afrofest). Last month I caught what might hold up as my fave show of the year: Goran Bregovic.

In Exclaim, I wrote about Major Lazer in July, and the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble in June. Also in the July issue is a feature/review with MC Zulu and David Last. The interview with Zulu was one of my favourite conversations of the year, unfortunately the sound quality wasn't good enough for broadcast.

Also in Exclaim, I've become one of the Click Hear team. Every week, I post about one or more new or new-ish tracks available for free somewhere in the interweb. Some entries are fairly out of the way, some are merely crucial. It's a fun assignment.

Coming up this Saturday, tune in to CIUT to catch our broadcast of Jamaica Day, live from its new location at Downsview Park. I'll be participating in the conversation, but mostly I'm going to be scouting out all the fried dough at the vendors' booths - that's why they call summertime the "festival" season. Oy, terrible joke....

One last thing: check in to the Abstract Index radio show tomorrow for an interview with Ghanaian hiplife/"raglife" star Batman Samini at 7:30PM. He's been hanging out in Toronto since his triumphant performance at Afrofest, and has a gig coming up at the Fusion Lounge on July 25.