Lille-based saxophonist and flutist Sakina Abdou has been active for many years within explosive collectives such as Muzzix, but it's as a solo artist that her strong, multi-faceted identity shines through: a powerful, precise sound, sometimes fierce, sometimes full of grace and quietude. 

Abdou studied the flute (early and contemporary music) and the saxophone (classical/contemporary/jazz) at the Music Academy of Lille and Roubaix. She graduated from the Fine Arts School of Tourcoing and Valenciennes (DNAP, DNSEP) and also has a State Diploma of Music Teacher. Since 1998, she has been a member of various music bands in Lille's area. Concurrently with her studies, she has explored free improvisation, experimental and contemporary music within various entities: La Pieuvre orchestra, led by Olivier Benoit, part of the collective of musicians Muzzix, the band Vazytouille, part of the collective of musicians Zoone Libre, Le Miroir et le Marteau led by rock drummer Guigou Chenevier, the free rock quintet Eliogabal or the TOC & The Compulsive Brass Band.

"It's a music of paradoxes: at once airy, with its sudden bifurcations and devilishly earthy, planted in the raucousness of the reeds." 
– Franpi Barriaux

9 pm | DOUG TIELLI’S IMAGINARY BRASS BAND

A long-time contributor to the range of experimental music in Toronto affiliated with the Rat-drifting record label, multi-instrumentalist Doug Tielli has been a key member of groups like the Silt, the Reveries, and Drumheller. Now based in Neustadt, Ontario, he has been more engaged in community music initiatives, activities that have inspired his Imaginary Brass Band project, a set of joyful, not-so-imaginary (but certainly imaginative!) tunes for an ensemble of brass and rhythm featuring Tielli, Heather Saumer, Emily Ferrell (trombones), Colin Couch (tuba), Charles Spearin (trumpet), Tania Gill (piano), and Aidan McConnell (drums).

Creating a quilt, or a pillow, not yet knowing who it’s for. A glove - that fits any hand … but just one at a time … a glove for a weather not yet known. In the fertile void of 2020-2022 The Imaginary Brass Band coalesced based on compositions for an ensemble that could not yet exist. 

Writing and recording this music for an imagined group of musicians provided a source of energy, and a sense of vitality and possibility. When playing in larger groups became easier again, a real-life ensemble of instrumentalists  came together to bring the imaginary to life. Friendly and strange, innocent and complex, this music rearranges the organic-familiar and celebrates the unusual.

Photo by Zena Curwain

North Carolina-based Bhutanese guitarist Tashi Dorji and Chicago-based saxophonist Dave Rempis first came together as a duo on the extensive solo tour that Rempis undertook across the US in 2017. Performing together in Dorji’s hometown of Asheville, the two spurred one another on with back-to-back solo sets that ratcheted up the fire, before coming together in a shared union of volcanic proportions. That initial meeting quickly led to the formation of the trio Kuzu with drummer Tyler Damon, which has toured extensively, and released five outstanding records since 2018.  Over the past couple of years, the two have also decided to revisit the more stripped back duo context as a way to re-discover the underlying tendons of what’s become a profound musical relationship. 

Both of these musicians have the ability to come out of the gate spewing lava at anything in their path. But they also know how to temper that energy into patiently constructed arcs, where meditative inner focus within the maelstrom renders the magnificence of their long form constructions even more powerful.  At times, spacious gestures carve up the canvas with the austerity of a calligrapher, while at others those sparse gestures build into an unstoppable tsunami of energy. Those waves are never impulsive or impetuous though, they ebb and flow logically and patiently out of simple and clearly defined sources. Rempis’ penchant for pentatonic melodies and rough and tumble timbres combines seamlessly with Dorji’s thick, raw sound and singular approach to intonation to produce a music that’s exquisitely detailed at any one point in time, yet can also carry the narrative arc of their longer-form explorations without ever losing its coordinates.

$30 advance tickets (for 4 acts) via Eventbrite
$40 door
$85 festival weekend pass via Eventbrite
No one is refused admission for lack of funds

Ashville, North Carolina-based Bhutanese ex-pat, improvising guitarist Tashi Dorji is known for his avant-garde and experimental approach to music. Tashi’s idiosyncratic take on the instrument, one defined by movement and profound openness to technique, adds up to a post-colonial disembowelment of guitar traditions.

Dorji come to Asheville, NC to study in 2000 and discovered worlds of anarcho-punk and avant garde such as he’d only dreamed. Having made recordings of his newly-located improvisational conception, he intuited a desire to go deeper in his explorations of the recorded sound of the guitar, melding and colliding traditional music with his feeling for the range of textures within.

Tashi has released music both as a soloist and as a collaborator, notably with Mette Rasmussen, Aaron Turner (Sumac, Mamiffer), Che Chen (75 Dollar Bill), Aki Onda, Michael Zerang, John Deiterich (Deerhoof), C Spencer Yeh, Dave Rempis, Tyler Damon, Patrick Shiroishi, KUZU ( w/ Rempis & Damon), MANAS (w/ Thom Nguyen) on labels like Moone Records, Gilgonko Records, Bathetic Records, Trost, Cabin Floor Esoterica, Blue Tapes, Marmara Records, Feeding Tubes, UNROCK, VDSQ, MIE, Ultra Violet Light, Aerophonic Records, Medium Sound, Family Vineyard, Astral Spirits and Drag City.

$25 advance tickets (for 3 acts) via Eventbrite
$30 door
$85 festival weekend pass via Eventbrite
No one is refused admission for lack of funds

8 pm | BEINGFIVE

Together since 2019, a mostly Berlin-based ensemble led by Montreal clarinettist Lori Freedman, BeingFive is made up of musicians hailing from everywhere but Berlin. With the vast capabilities of sound production from each of its members, the group can sound like it is anywhere from 1 musician to 5, to 50 musicians. The overall vocabulary of BeingFive is stupefying but what they have to “say” with this palette, unmistakably their own, will open the listener’s mind, body and spirit to a wondrous wilderness.

Yorgos Dimitriadis, born 1964 in Thessaloniki Greece, is an experimental musician, composer performer based in Berlin. Using percussion, microphones, field recordings and minimal electronics his music focuses on real time sonic landscapes, with an emphasis on timbre, sound color and long durations.

Axel Dörner, trumpet, electronics and composition, was born in Cologne, Germany, 1964 and moved to Berlin in 1994. He has worked with numerous internationally respected figures in the fields of improvised, electronic, composed contemporary music and jazz. He has developed a unique style of trumpet playing based in part on unusual, often self-invented techniques. Concert tours in Europe, North and South America, Africa, Australia, and Asia and appearance on numerous CD and record releases.

Lori Freedman is a 21st century clarinet player. Equally active in both improvised and written contemporary music, in addition to touring, recording and giving workshops, Freedman also writes music for an eclectic group of musicians, dancers, experimental film and video. As an interpretive performer hundreds of works have been dedicated to and/or premiered by Freedman.

Andrea Parkins is a sound artist, composer, and electroacoustic improviser. As a performer, she is known for her pioneering approach with her electronically processed accordion, and investigation of embodiment and chance with an array of sonic materials: employing amplified objects, electronic feedback and her custom-built software instrument. Parkins’ projects have been presented internationally and her work can be heard on numerous recordings.

Christopher A. Williams (1981, San Diego) makes, curates, and researches (mostly) experimental music. From 2021-2025 he will lead the research project “(Musical) Improvisation and Ethics” at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. As a composer and contrabassist, Williams' work runs the gamut from chamber music, improvisation, and radio art to collaborations with dancers, sound artists, and visual artists. He co-curates the Berlin concert series Kontraklang.

Soprano saxophonist Kayla Milmine and tabla player Anita Katakkar’s Amrita is like a canvas where shapes are formed by rhythmic grooves, the colour is spontaneous improvisation and the texture is an exploration of tone, timber and emotion.

Kayla Milmine loves the new and under-explored sonic possibilities that only the soprano saxophone can offer. Her unique approach has the edginess and brashness of Anthony Braxton and Roscoe Mitchell yet also a warmth and thoughtfulness reminiscent of Steve Lacy. In 2019, Milmine released a solo album called ‘Straight Horn Magick; a mixture of field recordings and solo soprano saxophone improvisations. She plays regularly in trio form with pianist Bill Gilliam and percussionist Ambrose Pottie, and in duo form with guitarist/composer Brian Abbott in their band FASTER. In February 2019, she was invited to record with celebrated bassist, William Parker in a chamber-improv sextet in NY, where she often travels to study with mentor/collaborator, Sam Newsome. She is presently composing for her new project, the ‘Kayla Milmine Quartet’ with aforementioned Sam Newsome, and drummers Mark Ferber and Rachel Housle. She is co-founder of the Women From Space Festival in Toronto.

With Indian Scottish roots in multicultural Toronto, Anita Katakkar’s music represents a link between her heritage and community. She is a multi-faceted composing, performing and recording artist, with a focus on North Indian tabla. Anita has studied tabla for over 20 years, in Toronto with composer and musician Ritesh Das, and in California and Kolkata with the celebrated tabla maestro of the Lucknow tradition, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri. She has recorded tabla on the Juno award winning album Thieves of Dreams by Lenka Lichtenberg, and has shared the stage with the legendary bassist William Parker. Anita’s solo project called Rakkatak, presents classical tabla compositions using a palette of rhythm, melody and ambient textures. Rakkatak’s song, Heliosphere, is the opening to CBC Radio’s “Big City Small World” hosted by Errol Nazareth. Rakkatak has released an EP and 3 full length albums, including their latest Char Taal and a Raga Rainbow, released in 2021.

Sofia Jernberg voice
Kjetil Møster sax, clarinet, electronics
Mats Gustafsson sax, flute, live electronics
Anders Hana guitar, bass, langeleik
Børge Fjordheim drums

A brand new Scandinavian powerhouse of experimental music was born in 2018. Collectively, the members of the group have worked in a huge variety of creative music ensembles over the past years: Cloroform, Møster, The Thing, Fire! & Fire! Orchestra, Ultralyd, MoHa, Sonic Youth, Refused, Paavo, Datarock, The Core, Noxact, NU-ensemble, Brutal Blues and many other essential groups within the creative music scene of today.

The End is a serious attempt to create new perspectives of contemporary experimental music – where elements of noise, melodies and layers of extreme energy can interact with the different backgrounds and experiences of the musicians and their work in genres as free jazz, noise, alternative rock, free improvised music, contemporary music, opera, Scandinavian & African folk traditions, grindcore, jazz and related activities!

…The sounds resemble the music genre favored by Don Cherry during his years in Sweden. It is world music, but one that claims no specific country of origin, nor for that matter, genre. The End fluctuates between folk, free jazz, hardcore, poetry and jazz rock. 
Mark Corroto

$30 advance tickets (for 3 acts) via Eventbrite
$40 door
$85 festival weekend pass via Eventbrite
No one is refused admission for lack of funds

Sarah Good conductor

Vocalists:
Annie Shaw • Tee Caterini • Bailey Duff • Babette de Jong • Olga Kirgidis • J Burbage • Katie Penrose • Jess Carey • Emily Sattler • Ian Challenger • Jon Dalton • Magda Tigchelaar • Marc Ysselstein • Chris Palmer • Siobhan Murphy

We will start our festival with a tradition, now in its 6th year out of the 11. The ever-evolving local vocal institution Earth Wind & Choir first introduced their fun, adventurous sound some 15 years ago. Conductor Sarah Good plays the choir of 15-20 dedicated creative vocalists like an instrument, presenting idiosyncratic takes on the most beautiful, ugly and/or interesting music the group can find—from early polyphony to avant-pop.

Ugly Beauties explores the terrain between jazz, contemporary classical music and improvisation. Marilyn Lerner’s piano, Matt Brubeck’s cello and Nick Fraser’s drums interweave to create a boundless palette of texture and mood, and the breadth of sonic experimentation at times renders the three instruments indistinguishable from each other. Lerner, Brubeck and Fraser possess an uncanny synergy and improvisational virtuosity, allowing the music to remain free as it circulates effortlessly around groove, abstract lyricism and harmonic exploration.

A gracious treat to the ears, full of great tones and distinctive acoustic perspectives… — Touching Extremes, Italy

Happily, those experimental tendencies are offset by strong compositions and melodies, so they never descend into the tuneless racket some associate with improvised music. — NOW, Canada

Exhilarating jazz pianist/improviser Marilyn Lerner performs from her native Montreal to Havana, from Jerusalem to Amsterdam and the Ukraine. She composes for film, theatre, radio and television. She produced "Birds Are Returning", the first contemporary Canadian jazz recording to come out of Cuba. Lerner has toured with The Queen Mab Trio across North America and Europe. Lerner conducts workshops on improvisation and on Jewish music throughout North America, Europe and the former Soviet Union. Other projects include both a recording and performances of "Shake My Heart Like a Copper Bell", Lerner's contemporary Yiddish song cycle on the poetry of Anna Margolin, scored for piano, cello, clarinet and singer Adrienne Cooper, ongoing collaborations with poet Patrick Friesen, a duet, Brass Knuckle Sandwich, with Nicole Rampersaud, and numerous solo concerts.

Matt Brubeck is a Juno-nominated performer/composer specializing in improvisation on the cello. Raised on jazz and classically trained at Yale, Matt is at ease in multiple genres and has taken his cello improvisation skills into diverse musical territories. In addition to the Ugly Beauties, Matt’s current jazz/improv projects include Brubeck Braid (with pianist David Braid) and Tallboys (with guitarist Kevin Breit and percussionist Jesse Stewart), and a duo with saxophonist David Mott. Matt continues to enjoy performing with a wide range of other musicians including Evan Parker, John Geggie, Pierre Tanguay, Natalie MacMaster, Carlos del Junco, and Yo-Yo Ma to name a few. During his years in San Francisco, Matt performed with numerous jazz and improv artists including Miles Boisen, Gino Robair, Ben Goldberg, and Pamela Z. He founded Oranj Symphonette, which recorded two CD’s for Rykodisc and went on to play the major jazz festivals, from Monterey to Montréal. In the pop/rock world, Matt’s eclectic adventures include many years of recording with Tom Waits, as well as touring with the Dixie Chicks and Sheryl Crow, among others.

Nick Fraser has been an active and engaging presence in the Toronto new jazz and improvised music community since he moved there from Ottawa in 1995. He has worked with a veritable “who’s who” of Canadian jazz and improvised music including Justin Haynes, Mike Murley, Rich Underhill, P.J. Perry, Phil Dwyer, Michael Snow, John Oswald, Andrew Downing, Jean Martin, Christine Duncan, Lina Allemano, Quinsin Nachoff, Dave Restivo, Jim Vivian, David Braid, Ryan Driver, David Occhipinti, William Carn, Nancy Walker, Kieran Overs, Kelly Jefferson, John Geggie, Scott Thomson, Marilyn Lerner, David Mott, Lori Freedman, Jean Derome, Ron Samworth and Kirk MacDonald.

9 pm | GAYLE YOUNG

Composer Gayle Young designs and builds instruments on which she performs music for unusual tunings. Her music often includes recordings filtered by tuned resonators she designed and built to combine pitch and overtones with environmental sound. Her text-based compositions invite musicians to build rhythms and textures in response to depictions of everyday experience.

Her recent recordings As Trees Grow (works for piano) and According to the Moon (works for voice), are both available through gayleyoung.bandcamp.com. Young’s sound installations, often in collaboration with visual artist Reinhard Reitzenstein, include tuned resonators that respond to environmental sound, found objects such as resonant stones and beaver-chewed sticks, and room-sized three-dimensional string structures. Young wrote The Sackbut Blues, the biography of pioneering electronic instrument inventor Hugh Le Caine (1914–1977). As editor of Musicworks magazine over two decades, she established an inclusive perspective on the complex and multifaceted sound worlds that characterize experimental music.

Gayle will perform two short pieces on the Amaranth and solo improvisations. One of them will include lithophone stones. She will also play improvisations that include Eugene Martynec, Bill McBirnie and Bill Gilliam in different configurations. Her improvisations place interaction among musicians in the foreground of a listener’s experience, when sounds and textures are echoed, shared, and extended.

2/5 of The End (playing next day!) grace our stage for the first time. Vocalist Sofia Jernberg and reedsman, flutist Mats Gustafsson perform an all too rare duet set! It's an exciting opportunity to experience the dialogue between two intense and gifted artists, in an unusual context and instrument combination.

Born in Ethiopia, now an Oslo resident, Sofia Jernberg is a Swedish experimental singer, improviser, and composer. She is widely known for expanding the "instrumental" possibilities of the voice and is active both as soloist and in various bands. Her musical partners include internationally acclaimed performers such as Peter Evans, Eve Risser, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Kim Myhr and Heiner Goebbels.

Jernberg is the leader (together with the pianist Cecilia Persson) of the chamber jazz group Paavo. In 2008, the group received the "jazz group of the year" award from Swedish Radio. Jernberg also works on the contemporary classical music scene, in which she serves as both singer and composer.

Although having been adopted as a young child, Jernberg was never completely disconnected from Ethiopia. After traveling to Addis Abeba in 2000, she emerged into Ethiopian music traditions—inspired by the film Endurance, among other influences—, and soon started collaborating with legendary musician Hailu Mergia. Jernberg lives in Oslo.

Born in Umeå, Sweden, living in Nickelsdorf, Austria, Mats Gustafsson is a saxophone player, improviser and composer. He performs as a solo artist, as well as many other projects internationally touring/ playing with Sonic Youth, Merzbow, Jim O´Rourke, Barry Guy, Otomo Yoshihide, Yoshimi, Peter Brötzmann, Neneh Cherry, Chrstian Marclay, Albert Oehlen, Ken Vandermark and in working groups FIRE!, THE END, LUFT, ANGUISH and Gush.

Projects include The Underflow, Boots Brown, Swedish Azz and Fake (the facts), BNNT, etc…. Large ensemble work ranges from FIRE! Orchestra, Klangforum Wien to the NU – ensemble. In all, over 2000 concerts and over 250 record productions in Europe, Australia, Africa, North & South America and Asia. Multidisciplinary collaborations with contemporary dance, theatre, art, poetry as well as projects with noise, electronica, contemporary rock and free jazz make Gustafsson a music and art omnivore.

$30 advance tickets (for 4 acts) via Eventbrite
$40 door
$85 festival weekend pass via Eventbrite
No one is refused admission for lack of funds

Previous New York resident, now Honolulu-based, Alberta-born, daring improvising guitarist Jessica Ackerley’s first visit to Something Else! will be a great thrill for us all.
" Jessica weaves a distinctive path between atonality & tonality, noise & notes, while bringing heart to a style that can often reside in the head." – Guitar Moderne

Bodacious New York City quartet is led by trumpeter, composer Ralph Alessi, with Andy Milne piano, John Hébert double bass, Mark Ferber drums, organically towing the line between jazz, pop and contemporary classical (sans Ravi Coltrane, sadly). The band has toured Europe and the United States since 2004 playing venues such as The Earshot Festival in Seattle, RedCat Theatre in Los Angeles, Bimhuis in Amsterdam and The New Morning in Paris. Recently they released their 3rd album, Imaginary Friends which the London Guardian called “Alessi’s best album yet for ECM.”
Ralph Alessi photo by Peter Gannushkin

Borrowing the project’s title from a work by Canadian poet Meaghan McAneeley, Montréal voicalist / electronicist Erika Angell (was at last year’s festival with Thus Owls), Vancouver composer & improviser Róisín Adams on wurlitzer / piano and Canadian treasure, veteran Vancouver cellist Peggy Lee (also very present at 2022 SE!) explore how memories, pain, and a spectrum of emotions are stored in and continue to be carried by our physical bodies.

$25 advance tickets (for 3 acts) via Eventbrite
$35 door
$65 festival weekend pass Eventbrite
No one is refused admission for lack of funds

Half of Toronto’s multi-faceted Faster duo (with Kayla Milmine), composer, guitarist, visual artist Brian Abbott’s exciting solo project, microtonal guitar excursions, preternatural and organic, performed in Hamilton for the first time.

Evolver is a partially composed, partially improvised piece for 31 tone microtonal guitar. With each performance the piece grows and changes. This was performed at Array Space in Toronto on April 14th 2019. See video ––>

Music and the Shadow People is a story written by William Parker, who self published it in 1995. It takes place in a world that is "for the most part ruled, dominated, and being destroyed by HE," a world built on lies, a world "not in tune with the reality of the universe." It centers around two main characters: Johnson Wordless, a conscripted soldier in HIS Army, and Stockyman, a revolutionary figure trying to show people the path to the “Tone World.”

The story was adapted into a radio play by Andrew O’Connor, premiering on Austrian public radio’s KunstRadio. That work has since been further adapted by William and Andrew into a live performance for musicians, actors, and multi-channel sound design, styled in the German tradition of Hörspiel or live radio/sound play. Featuring original music composed by Parker, and immersive multi-channel sound design by O’Connor developed at the NAISA North Media Art Centre.

In Hamilton for the first time (after 4-5 years of planning), with William Parker writer, composer, ensemble director, bass, flutes, brass • Andrew O’Connor live multi- channel sound mixing, sound design, direction, production • Bea Labikova saxes, fujara, vibraphone • Kayla Milmine soprano sax • Anita Katakkar tabla, percussion • Rosina Kazi narrator • Mike Rinaldi Johnson Wordless • Trent Pardy Stockyman • Gary Kirkham live visual projections.

Tania Gill's name will undoubtedly be familiar to anyone that's been keeping a close eye on Toronto's jazz and experimental scenes over the past two decades. She is a member of the Brodie West Quintet, the Titillators, Rebecca Hennessy’s Makeshift Island; a former member of the Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band and Deep Dark United; and has performed with a long list of other prominent musicians including Steve Reich, Anthony Braxton, Andrew Downing and The Weather Station.

Tania Gill Quartet is a primary vehicle for her writing and playing. The group launched their debut Bolger Station (Barnyard Records) in 2010 to numerous accolades including a nomination for ‘debut album of the year’ in The Village Voice jazz critics’ poll, and a spot on The Globe and Mail's top 10 discs of the year. The quartet’s most recent recording, released in March 2022, is titled Disappearing Curiosities.

Tania Gill piano • Brodie West alto saxophone • Rob Clutton bass • Nico Dann drums

“…cleverly and completely effortlessly balances between modern jazz and the more unpredictable avant-garde” – Ivan RodDK

$25 advance tickets (for 3 acts) via Eventbrite
$35 door
$65 festival weekend pass via Eventbrite
No one is refused admission for lack of funds

PATRICIA NICHOLSON dance, text
WILLIAM PARKER bass, ngoni

Music and dance for a better world! Renowned New York City stalwarts of creative music and dance, bring music, words and movement to open hearts and minds to envision a compassionate world... embracing creativity to find strength and reclaim hope in a difficult time. Inspiring, much needed!

Craig Dunsmuir, Kurt Newman guitars • Josh Cole electric bass • Jay Anderson Roland Handsonic • Blake Howard percussion • Colin Fisher, Brodie West, Ted Crosby saxes 
"..reminiscent both of prog and Afrobeat, with sequenced rhythms cued by Dunsmuir and executed by the rhythm instruments while the electronics and saxes played through, occasionally dipping into composed melodies." – Nilan Perera

Susanna Hood photo by Frederic Chais

Unpacked by Susanna Hood Trio
Montreal-based bandleader and vocalist-dancer, Susanna Hood, along with the superb Toronto-based musicians, Tania Gill (piano) and Kayla Milmine (soprano saxophone) bring poet, Judith Malina and composer, Steve Lacy’s “Packet” suite to life through sound and movement. At the heart of the suite, a provocation: the emotional, embodied, unfettered female voice. Heart-felt, yet unsentimental, these eight songs hold no punches as they bring voice to a woman’s later life, grappling with imperfection, sexism, paradox, grit, beauty, regret, invisibility, death and love. 

"Remarkably, Susanna Hood proves to be impeccable when it comes to interpreting Steve Lacy's repertoire of magnificent songs. Her voice, expressive and sumptuous, makes us favorably forget the interpretations of Irene Aebi, Lacy's collaborator and first interpreter of his songs." – Montreal drummer, Michel F Côté

$25 advance tickets (for 3 acts) via Eventbrite
$35 door
$65 festival weekend pass via Eventbrite
No one is refused admission for lack of funds

Sarah Good conductress
Annie Shaw piano

Vocalists:
Tee Caterini • Bailey Duff • Babette de Jong • Olga Kirgidis • J Burbage • Katie Penrose • Jess Carey • Rebecca Duyzer • Christeen Urquhart • Emily Sattler • Ian Challenger • Jon Dalton • Kieran Commanda • Lee Skinner • Hope Wickett • Ania Fritch • Mimi Vukasevic • Amy Gowling

This ever-evolving local vocal institution Earth Wind & Choir introduced their fun, adventurous sound some 15 years ago. Conductress Sarah Good plays the choir of 15-20 dedicated creative vocalists like an instrument, presenting idiosyncratic takes on the most beautiful, ugly and/or interesting music the group can find—from early polyphony to avant-pop.

One time Blue Rodeo keyboardist, singer, guitarist, accordionist & songwriter Bob Wiseman has become even more prolific and artistically omnivorous since leaving the band in ‘92. His music is hard to pigeonhole varying from avant-garde to political pop. Wiseman makes super 8 films and videos that he accompanies live on accordion, guitar or piano.

He has co-written, produced and played on records for a wide variety of artists ranging from the Barenaked Ladies to John Oswald to Mendelson Joe, as well as scoring music for many television & film projects.

Wiseman toured with Feist, Final Fantasy, Ron Sexsmith, and Scott Thompson and was a guest performer with Wilco, The Wallflowers, Eugene Chadbourne, Jimmy Carl Black (of Frank Zappa), Edie Brickell, Michelle Wright, Ashley MacIsaac & Garland Jeffries.

From Chicago, New York City and Siena, HEAR in NOW is comprised of Mazz Swift on violin/ vocals, Silvia Bolognesi on double bass and Tomeka Reid on cello. A world-caliber collective of women working in a class almost entirely their own, HEAR in NOW is a string trio that composes and improvises fluidly between free jazz and contemporary classical, folk music and avant-garde. In over a decade since their first encounter, Hear in Now has become a rare egalitarian ensemble for three highly active musicians who are as often singular band leaders as they are sidewomen.

The trio’s compiled musical CV is as impressive as it is diverse – including collaborations, performances and recordings with Anthony Braxton, Nicole Mitchell, Butch Morris, William Parker, Common, Jay-Z and Kanye West. As a unit they have comprised half of the Roscoe Mitchell Sextet for several European shows in early 2017. Not Living in Fear, their second studio album, was engineered by Griffin Rodriguez (Icy Demons, Beirut, Modest Mouse) and Alex Inglizian (Experimental Sound Studio), and features guest vocals by Chicago jazz legend Dee Alexander.

"They begin by telling us stories, these stories have all kinds of twists and turns plots and counterplots. . . . The musicians use sound hieroglyphics to set up structures that construct and deconstruct regrouping after every excursion. These compositions change hue and timbre, landing at different positions then eventually returning to a place of silence. This is music with a new sensibility that flies and hops over fields of blues, jazz, bluegrass, classical, yet it is none of these things; it is MUSIC – nameless, eloquent, not locked into category." – William Parker

$25 advance tickets (for 3 acts) via Eventbrite
$35 door
$65 festival weekend pass via Eventbrite
No one is refused admission for lack of funds

Formed in 2017, Canadian trumpet player and composer Lina Allemano's Berlin trio Ohrenschmaus (or “ear feast” in English) epitomizes the power trio format through their virtuosic dynamism. Although the group has been featured heavily on European stages—notably at the 2020 edition of Berlin's Jazzfest—they're just now visiting Canada for the first time and Something Else! is delighted to be including them in this year's program.

Their critically acclaimed 2020 debut recording Rats and Mice (Lumo Records) sees Allemano leading Norwegian bassist Dan Peter Sundland and German drummer Michael Griener through a bristling series of pieces, each full of explosive melodic interplay and deep textural exploration. In addition to receiving a generous helping of press worldwide, the disc was also featured on the NPR Jazz Critics Poll Best Music of 2020 (USA), Citizen Jazz France Best New Albums (2020), and PAN M 360 Top Albums of 2020 (Canada).

linaallemano.com/ohrenschmaus

Genre-defying trio Numinosity consists of David Mott (baritone saxophone), Justin Gray (bass veena, acoustic bass), and Jesse Stewart (percussion). The group was named for the music they play, which audience members have described as having a “numinous” or spiritual quality. Their music is entirely improvised, drawing on diverse influences and traditions that reflect their respective musical backgrounds.

David Mott’s playing crosses the boundaries of style, form, and content, incorporating elements of jazz, creative improvised music, new music, and world influences. He is one of the pioneers of using circular breathing, multiphonics, and other extended techniques on the baritone saxophone in order to create a rich tapestry of polyphonic sound. He has worked with musicians including Gil Evans, Stevie Wonder, William Parker, Ray Anderson, Gerry Hemingway, Mark Dresser, Robert Dick, Ernst Reijseger, Wadada Leo Smith, Michael Vlatkovich, and many others.

Justin Gray performs in a variety of traditional and contemporary musical ensembles from around the world and leads his own contemporary world music ensemble, Justin Gray & Synthesis. In 2010, he invented the Bass Veena, an instrument designed for Indian classical and contemporary world music performance.

Jesse Stewart has performed and/or recorded with many musical luminaries including Pauline Oliveros, Hamid Drake, and William Parker. In 2012, he was honoured with the “Instrumental Album of the Year” JUNO award for his work with Stretch Orchestra.

When they perform together, their diverse musical sensibilities overlap and interact with one another in unexpected ways, creating transcendent improvised music.

• $20 advance tickets via Eventbrite

• $20 at the door for students, seniors, artworkers, un(der)employed

• $25 at the door regular

  No one will be refused admission for lack of funds, provided there’s space

  Limited capacity, masks, social distancing and vaccine passports may be required.

  These concerts are made possible by kind support from Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, City of Hamilton, and Ontario Trillium Foundation. Big thanks to these funders for believing in what we aim to do.

  Also a big thanks to The Cotton Factory, Bayfront Park, Bridgeworks and the Hamilton Public Library (for partnering with us and) for opening their doors to us …the Hamilton Spectator for their support.

In the tradition of cross cultural exploration, the trio New Origin come together to make a clear statement of its intent. With a new recording and concerts internationally, these three "comprovisors" are truly the sum of their individual paths.

Christophe Rocher has been involved in the creation of new works that feature Paul Rogers, Daunik Lazro, Hasse Poulsen, Joêlle Leandre, and Bernard Lubat amongst many other cutting edge artists in the European contemporary music scene. In addition, his own "Ensemble Nautilus" and his key role in the "The Bridge Project" have toured internationally to high acclaim.

To say that the list of important artists Joe Fonda and Harvey Sorgen have created with is impressive is an understatement. Those in the world wide community are well aware of their accomplishments over the decades. Artists such as Wadada Leo Smith, Anthony Braxton, Barry Altchul, Dave Douglas, Oliver Lake, Hot Tuna, Brenda Bufalino, Karl Berger, Ahmad Jamal and a host of others have had the good fortune to make a connection to these two.

Through many years of touring and recording, the members of this trio have left an indelible mark on the history of jazz and improvised music. Many reviews, awards, and accolades have been bestowed on each of them from the international music critics and writers. With the coming together of Rocher, Fonda, and Sorgen, the expansiveness of their output is a force to be reckoned with. New Origin will be on tour supporting their new record.

christopherocher.eu
joefonda.com
harveysorgen.com

Understated Nova Scotia improvising quartet New Hermitage has steadily been gathering momentum over the past few years. Veteran critic Peter Margasak remarked in the Quietus that “the group’s fragile, gauzy chamber sound pushes against what you might expect from such an ensemble,” and indeed their unconventional instrumentation of Andrew Mackelvie (reeds), India Gailey (cello), Ellen Gibling (harp), and Ross Burns (guitar) imparts an ambient weightlessness to their music. 

The ensemble's debut album was nominated for Music Nova Scotia Award, and written up by dearly departed wayward tastemaker Tiny Mix Tapes. Their 2018 performance with internationally renowned bass clarinettist/ ECM record alumnus Jeff Reilly saw subsequent commercial release and won Classical Recording of the Year at the 2019 Music Nova Scotia Awards. 2020's Unearth was widely acclaimed in publications such as Musicworks, Vital, Free Jazz Blog, the WholeNote, PanM360, and Esoteros.

In their five years together, they've been programmed alongside Joshua Abrams' Natural Information Society, Angel Bat Dawid, pi'pa virtuoso Liu Fang, and prolific noise explorer i d m theft able while embarking on multiple tours of Eastern Canada. 

newhermitage.ca

Free event… we do appreciate donations

PLEASE REGISTER VIA EVENTBRITE

Water & snacks available by donation

Limited capacity, masks, social distancing and vaccine passports may be required.

These concerts are made possible by kind support from Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, City of Hamilton, and Ontario Trillium Foundation. Big thanks to these funders for believing in what we aim to do.

Also a big thanks to The Cotton Factory, Bayfront Park, Bridgeworks and the Hamilton Public Library (for partnering with us and) for opening their doors to us …the Hamilton Spectator for their support.

• $25 advance tickets via Eventbrite

• $30 at the door for students, seniors, artworkers, un(der)employed

• $35 at the door regular

• $130 festival passes to all 7 ticketed core weekend events + Balkan vocal workshop (up to $255 value at the door)

  No one will be refused admission for lack of funds, provided there’s space
  Food and beverages available at venue

  Limited capacity, masks, social distancing and vaccine passports may be required.

  These concerts are made possible by kind support from Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, City of Hamilton, and Ontario Trillium Foundation. Big thanks to these funders for believing in what we aim to do.

  Also a big thanks to The Cotton Factory, Bayfront Park, Bridgeworks and the Hamilton Public Library (for partnering with us and) for opening their doors to us …the Hamilton Spectator for their support.

Amsterdam-based American vocalist, dancer, actor, and pedagogue Jodi Gilbert has enjoyed a fascinating and eclectic career thus far. She has received several grants to study theatrical forms and music (Wayang Kulit and Gender) in Bali and was sent to Mongolia by the Dutch government to work and perform with Mongolian musicians and singers. She continues to teach privately sponsored workshops in voice, dance, theatre, improvisation, and Balkan song throughout Europe and the USA.

Jodi Gilbert came into contact with the traditional musics of her Eastern European grandparents as a teenager, and since that time has been influenced by this music as a singer, and an improviser. She has taught many workshops in Balkan song in USA, and Europe.

Balkan song is an incredibly rich and varied oral tradition that has been passed down through countless generations. In Balkan countries singing accompanied every aspect of life; work and play, happiness and sadness. Those familiar with its sound know that it embodies great emotional intensity, and resonates with people the world over.

In this workshop we will learn and sing some of the beautiful folk songs sung at gatherings of everyday people in communities around the Balkans. We will explore the harmonies, melodies, rhythms of Bulgaria, Macedonia, Croatia, Serbia, oa. Through these soulful songs (most sung in 2 and 3 part harmony), we'll explore techniques to open participants' voices to discover a natural Balkan folkloric timbre.

It is not necessary to read music, it is helpful, but much of the music will be taught by “ear” with just lyric sheets, sometimes music notation will be used. Singers of all ages, genders, and levels of experience are welcome! The only prerequisite is the ability to accurately match pitch and solidly hold one's part when singing in harmony with others.

$20 advance
$25 regular participants at door
$20 discounted at door for students, seniors, un(der)employed, artworkers
PLEASE REGISTER & PAY VIA EVENTBRITE

Beverages & snacks available

Limited capacity, masks, social distancing and vaccine passports may be required.

These concerts are made possible by kind support from Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, City of Hamilton, and Ontario Trillium Foundation. Big thanks to these funders for believing in what we aim to do.

Also a big thanks to The Cotton Factory, Bayfront Park, Bridgeworks and the Hamilton Public Library (for partnering with us and) for opening their doors to us …the Hamilton Spectator for their support.

• $20 advance tickets via Eventbrite

• $25 at the door for students, seniors, artworkers, un(der)employed

• $30 at the door regular

• $130 festival passes to all 7 ticketed core weekend events + Balkan vocal workshop (up to $255 value at the door)

  No one will be refused admission for lack of funds, provided there’s space
  Food and beverages available at venue

  Limited capacity, masks, social distancing and vaccine passports may be required.

  These concerts are made possible by kind support from Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, City of Hamilton, and Ontario Trillium Foundation. Big thanks to these funders for believing in what we aim to do.

  Also a big thanks to The Cotton Factory, Bayfront Park, Bridgeworks and the Hamilton Public Library (for partnering with us and) for opening their doors to us …the Hamilton Spectator for their support.

• $25 advance tickets via Eventbrite

• $30 at the door for students, seniors, artworkers, un(der)employed

• $35 at the door regular

• $130 festival passes to all 7 ticketed core weekend events + Balkan vocal workshop (up to $255 value at the door)

  No one will be refused admission for lack of funds, provided there’s space
  Food and beverages available at venue

  Limited capacity, masks, social distancing and vaccine passports may be required.

  These concerts are made possible by kind support from Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, City of Hamilton, and Ontario Trillium Foundation. Big thanks to these funders for believing in what we aim to do.

  Also a big thanks to The Cotton Factory, Bayfront Park, Bridgeworks and the Hamilton Public Library (for partnering with us and) for opening their doors to us …the Hamilton Spectator for their support.

Amsterdam-based American vocalist, dancer, actor, and pedagogue Jodi Gilbert has enjoyed a fascinating and eclectic career thus far. She has received several grants to study theatrical forms and music (Wayang Kulit and Gender) in Bali and was sent to Mongolia by the Dutch government to work and perform with Mongolian musicians and singers. She continues to teach privately sponsored workshops in voice, dance, theatre, improvisation, and Balkan song throughout Europe and the USA.

This workshop focuses on the voice and the unknown regions of the voice; the expansion of the boundaries of vocal possibilities. Through the exploration of improvisational ideas and games based on rhythm, timing, physicality, counterpoint, personal expression and emotion, we will discover a broader definition of musicality that can expand ones personal musical vocabulary and freedom of expression.  

The workshop will begin with a highly physical and vocal warm-up and move into various exercises focusing on freeing one’s thinking and judgemental mind to discover the expressive and personal voice. Elements of intention, texture, emotion, images, timing, color, timbre, dynamics, and physicality of sound will be employed.

This workshop is open to everyone, musicians and lay-persons alike. No previous singing experience is necessary. The workshop is for anyone with an adventurous spirit.

Free event… we do appreciate donations

PLEASE REGISTER VIA EVENTBRITE

Water & snacks available by donation

Limited capacity, masks, social distancing and vaccine passports may be required.

These concerts are made possible by kind support from Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, City of Hamilton, and Ontario Trillium Foundation. Big thanks to these funders for believing in what we aim to do.

Also a big thanks to The Cotton Factory, Bayfront Park, Bridgeworks and the Hamilton Public Library (for partnering with us and) for opening their doors to us …the Hamilton Spectator for their support.

• $20 advance tickets via Eventbrite

• $25 at the door for students, seniors, artworkers, un(der)employed

• $30 at the door regular

• $130 festival passes to all 7 ticketed core weekend events + Balkan vocal workshop (up to $255 value at the door)

  No one will be refused admission for lack of funds, provided there’s space
  Food and beverages available at venue

  Limited capacity, masks, social distancing and vaccine passports may be required.

  These concerts are made possible by kind support from Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, City of Hamilton, and Ontario Trillium Foundation. Big thanks to these funders for believing in what we aim to do.

  Also a big thanks to The Cotton Factory, Bayfront Park, Bridgeworks and the Hamilton Public Library (for partnering with us and) for opening their doors to us …the Hamilton Spectator for their support.

Broadcast in 1992, On The Edge is a 4-part miniseries about improvisation in music — in all of its forms. Written by improvising British guitarist Derek Bailey and based on his book 'Improvisation: Its Nature and Practice in Music', the program admirably includes everything from traditional Korean music to French Catholic liturgical organ performance to downtown New York free jazz.

Film screening will be followed by a handful of short, 10-15 minutes each, festival curated, surprise ensembles, ad hoc groupings made up of some of the leading, world-renowned improvisers from acrooss the globe, revered national artists and Southern Ontario musicians.

Free event… we do appreciate donations

PLEASE REGISTER VIA EVENTBRITE

Water & snacks available by donation

Limited capacity, masks, social distancing and vaccine passports may be required.

These concerts are made possible by kind support from Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, City of Hamilton, and Ontario Trillium Foundation. Big thanks to these funders for believing in what we aim to do.

Also a big thanks to The Cotton Factory, Bayfront Park, Bridgeworks and the Hamilton Public Library (for partnering with us and) for opening their doors to us …the Hamilton Spectator for their support.

• $25 advance tickets via Eventbrite

• $30 at the door for students, seniors, artworkers, un(der)employed

• $35 at the door regular

• $130 festival passes to all 7 ticketed core weekend events + Balkan vocal workshop (up to $255 value at the door)

  No one will be refused admission for lack of funds, provided there’s space
  Food and beverages available at venue

  Limited capacity, masks, social distancing and vaccine passports may be required.

  These concerts are made possible by kind support from Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, City of Hamilton, and Ontario Trillium Foundation. Big thanks to these funders for believing in what we aim to do.

  Also a big thanks to The Cotton Factory, Bayfront Park, Bridgeworks and the Hamilton Public Library (for partnering with us and) for opening their doors to us …the Hamilton Spectator for their support.

• $20 advance tickets via Eventbrite

• $25 at the door for students, seniors, artworkers, un(der)employed

• $30 at the door regular

• $130 festival passes to all 7 ticketed core weekend events + Balkan vocal workshop (up to $255 value at the door)

  No one will be refused admission for lack of funds, provided there’s space
  Food and beverages available at venue

  Limited capacity, masks, social distancing and vaccine passports may be required.

  These concerts are made possible by kind support from Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, City of Hamilton, and Ontario Trillium Foundation. Big thanks to these funders for believing in what we aim to do.

  Also a big thanks to The Cotton Factory, Bayfront Park, Bridgeworks and the Hamilton Public Library (for partnering with us and) for opening their doors to us …the Hamilton Spectator for their support.

• $25 advance tickets via Eventbrite

• $30 at the door for students, seniors, artworkers, un(der)employed

• $35 at the door regular

• $130 festival passes to all 7 ticketed core weekend events + Balkan vocal workshop (up to $255 value at the door)

  No one will be refused admission for lack of funds, provided there’s space
  Food and beverages available at venue

  Limited capacity, masks, social distancing and vaccine passports may be required.

  These concerts are made possible by kind support from Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, City of Hamilton, and Ontario Trillium Foundation. Big thanks to these funders for believing in what we aim to do.

  Also a big thanks to The Cotton Factory, Bayfront Park, Bridgeworks and the Hamilton Public Library (for partnering with us and) for opening their doors to us …the Hamilton Spectator for their support.

This fifth in-person sliver of a festival day of our 2021 Something Else! Festival Series at the Bay, merged with a Watch it Burn! event, has one of our all time favourites; avant-folk heroine, violinist, vocalist İVA BITTOVÁ, return with family, her talented pianist son ANTONIN FAJT; plus our old friends, the inimitable avant-rockers RONLEY TEPER & THE LIPLINERS returning in full force as a 7-piece, for the first time in 5+ years, and a special addition, NIMAL AGALAWATTE, on no-input mixing board… Following dinner, we will screen part 2 of director Tony Gatlif’s marvellous film on the Romani people, LATCHO DROM!

PAY WHAT YOU CAN… Suggested donation $15-25 at the door…or $15 in advance via Eventbrite …NO ONE WILL BE REFUSED ENTRY FOR LACK OF FUNDS.

Sep 11
4:00 pm —> ANTONIN FAJT
4:30 pm —> NIMAL AGALAWATTE
5:00 pm —> İVA BITTOVÁ & ANTONIN FAJT
6:00 pm —> RONLEY TEPER & THE LIPLINERS
7:00 pm —> Dinner Served
7:30 pm —> İVA BITTOVÁ
8:00 pm —> Film: LATCHO DROM (part 2)

We are delighted to welcome back one of our avant-folk heroines, İVA BITTOVÁ, who has a rare, ineffable two-fold gift; She’s versatile enough to have collaborated with esteemed artists across the spectrum of musical expression, yet her sonic signature remains deeply imprinted, no matter what the context. Best described as a storyteller who seldom uses discernible language, her intimate, engrossing narratives unfold in a unique personal folk idiom of her own deriving—inspired by her northern Moravian roots and countless other traditions.

“… a forward thinking composer who sings and plays violin simultaneously… Her sound isinvigorating, urgent, and also soothing; it is a fusion of Old World and new-music sensibilities,infused with the spirit and language of Czech, Slovak, and Moravian music.”–New York Magazine

“With intimacy and grace, she bridges the gap between the Czech folk tradition and the avant-garde. Her voice can gently and beautifully warble oblique poetry one minute, garrulousabstractions the next. Bittová’s unique charm gives her work a constant air of accessibility.”–Request

“Iva Bittová is an extraordinary artist. Raw and refined, passionate and contained, she has the soul of a gypsy, the voice of a troubadour, and the mind of a genius.”– NPR/All Things Considered

RONLEY TEPER acoustic guitar, vox
TIM POSGATE banjo/electric guitar
DAVE CLARKE drums
VIVIENNE WILDER bass
GORDON HYLAND tenor saxophone
CHRIS PRUDEN keys
CALEB HAMILTON trumpet, accordion

“The Ronley is quite a peculiar creature”… read her bio. We love The Ronley around here! A brilliant mish-mash of roots, folk cabaret, world, jazz, blues & electronica… like an old pair of silk slippers, Hamiltonians will slip into this sweet-voiced, inventive Toronto artist’s creative work, … of this, we’re certain… what exactly will happen on stage on this day, we’re not so sure, as every night she creates a thing of one-off beauty!

RONLEY TEPER is one of Canada’s most unique and interesting musical artists. At once a storyteller, a performance artist, and a singer/songwriter, she combines these disciplines into provocative stage shows as a ringleader with the help of her improvisational band, THE LIPLINERS. The Lipliners began as a monthly residency at the legendary Tranzac Club in Toronto. Teper invited some of Toronto’s finest musicians to publicly improvise around her storytelling and songwriting. Over the past two decades, this process has developed a body of work that listeners often compare to Tom Waits, Frank Zappa and Laurie Anderson.

Czech composer, pianist and electronic producer. Born in Brno, he moved to the U.S. at age 15. Drawing on his Moravian heritage and transient upbringing, his music explores for rhythmic and melodic nuances in folk song interpretation and translates them into an improvisational language informed by the American diasporic musical landscape. As a soloist, he likes to work with prepared piano, modified keyboards, and live sampling. His own bands include Mantis, a collaboration with Niloufar Shiri (Iran) and Ben Finley (Canada), and Window with Matt Norman and Carolyn Hietter.

Our esteemed sound technician, who is also a musician in different projects and varied settings, joins us for a palate-cleansing, short, intense set on no-input mixing board.

LATCHO DROM is a unique musical documentary tracing the Romani people’s migration from Northwestern India to Spain over the course of more than a thousand years. Through an extraordinary variety of song, music, and dance director/writer Tony Gatlif brings Romani history to life. This vibrant musical heritage stands as a counterpoint to the darker realities of persecution faced by a nomadic culture in which family, honour and tradition are as essential to survival as water, transportation and food.

This event was made possible with kind support from Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, the City of Hamilton, as well as partnerships with Musicworks, The Whole Note and The Hamilton Spectator.