Line-up Announcement

WHO: FIAMMA FUMANA, NATACHA ATLAS, RAVI SHANKAR and ANOUSHKA SHANKAR, CARMEN CONSOLI, KINNIE STARR / TANYA TAGAQ, JOAQUIN DIAZ, DRUM NATION, ASH DARGAN, MR. SOMETHING SOMETHING, HENDRIK MEURKENS & PERMUTACOES, PARABOLICA, AFRICAN GUITAR SUMMIT, DEBASHISH BHATTACHARYA, CHANGO FAMILY

WHAT: The Fifth Annual Small World Music Festival

WHERE: Lula Lounge, Phoenix Concert Theatre, Roy Thomson Hall, The Music Hall, Mod Club Theatre and The Gladstone Ballroom (Downtown Toronto)

WHEN: September 21 ? October 1

Wednesday August 23rd, Toronto - Small World Music announces its fall festival line-up. Celebrating the festival’s fifth anniversary, Small World once again presents the best from the global music scene at some of Toronto’s best downtown clubs and theatres: Lula Lounge, Phoenix Concert Theatre, Roy Thomson Hall, The Music Hall, Mod Club Theatre and The Gladstone Ballroom. From September 21st to October 1st, 2006, Small World Music Festival delivers performances from around the planet. Tickets will go on sale through www.ticketpro.ca on Monday, August 28th and will also be available by calling 416.645.9090.

Almost ten years of adventurous programming have made the Small World Music Society renowned for bringing together global music trend-setters, breaking down sound barriers and weaving musical magic into Toronto’s cultural landscape. Over the last five years, the fall festival has established itself as one of the key dates on the city’s busy arts calendar. Dozens of artists have made their Canadian debut under the Small World Festival banner and this year promises more of the same - a diverse line-up of the best of global sounds on Toronto’s stages and ten days of musical discovery for the city’s audiences. The following line-up of musical acts is now confirmed.
 

Thursday September 21st, 9:00 p.m.

Lula Lounge, $15 adv / $20 door

FIAMMA FUMANA, (Italy)

An outrageously cool sound-clash by three women from Emilia Romagna. With a reverence for folk tradition and a modern beat-driven sound, they’ve set ears and dance-floors ablaze in Europe. Led by the crystalline voice of Fiamma herself, this group is on a continuing mission to remember what is being forgotten in their local culture and bring the songs to pop music. This summer saw the release of their new CD, Onda, on Omnium Records.
 

Friday September 22nd, 8:00 p.m.

Phoenix Concert Theatre, $25 adv/ $30 door

NATACHA ATLAS (England / Egypt)

‘Bewitching in any language’ ? Uncut

The world music diva, with a voice that has opened up western ears to Arabic music, performs with her new ten-piece ensemble. A globetrotting palette of influences has allowed her to create a body of work that refuses to be categorized, entrancingly fusing North African and Arabic music with western electronics to produce a unique and passionate dance hybrid. With this tour, her career comes full circle to touch base with her roots. Her new ensemble harks back in its sound and traditions to the music she grew up with.

‘...Atlas’ voice ... [is] fragile, sensual, mysterious....’ -Time Out, New York
 

Saturday September 23rd, 8:00 p.m.

Roy Thomson Hall, $49.50-$99.50 @ 416 872-4255

RAVI SHANKAR and ANOUSHKA SHANKAR (India)

The guardian of Indian classical music and world music mentor, RAVI SHANKAR and daughter ANOUSHKA SHANKAR, a star in her own right, prove their mastery of the sitar ? two generations of music?s most creative and influential figures. Their on-stage collaborations are transcendent. Presented by Roy Thomson Hall & Asian Television Network.
 

Saturday 23rd, 10:00

SevenFiveOne, 751 Queen Street W., $10 door

SAL PRINCIPATO (Liquid Liquid) (USA) & PAN TIKI (Canada)

Few bands cast a net of influence as wide or unaffected as seminal New York punk-funkers Liquid Liquid. Active from 1979 to 1984, the band released four EPs and created underground classics including "Cavern" (sampled by Grandmaster Flash in "White Lines") and "Optimo." Adored by house and hip-hop heads, art rockers and dub fanatics alike, the band was championed by peeps including Larry Levan, Afrika Bambaataa and, later, the Beastie Boys.

The night will include the live multi-percussion/ world-dance vibes of Toronto’s Pan-Tiki. Pan-Tiki project is Christian Newhook DJing or performing a near-solo live PA, building and blending sounds he compares to Jeff Mills, Todd Terry’s House of Gypsies alias and Gary Martin of Technotica.

Sunday September 24th, 9:00 p.m.

Lula Lounge, $15 adv / $20 door

CARMEN CONSOLI (Italy)

Jon Pareles of the New York Times called her "...an Italian singer and acoustic guitarist whose volatile songs signaled passion across the language barrier." Carmen is known for her unflinching emotional live performance of songs that examine broad themes of love, illness, solitude and friendship from a feminine - and feminist - perspective. Her innovative mix of indie-rock influences, bossa nova rhythms and jazz and blues-inspired riffs have engendered a sound unique on the Italian music scene. Her albums sell in the millions and she has been a multiple honoree at the MTV Italy Music Awards.
 

Monday September 25th, 9:00 p.m.

Lula Lounge, $15 adv / $20 door

KINNIE STARR / TANYA TAGAQ (Canada)

Groundbreaking Inuk throat singer TANYA TAGAQ has brought an ancient Inuit vocal game to the heights of the international music scene, and to collaborations with Bjork and the Kronos Quartet. Tagaq makes music that is both unusual and universally appealing on a most primal level. Her innovative, solo style of throat singing seeks to push the boundaries of emotion. Tagaq?s new CD, Sinaa (?sih-NAA?), displays her technique through a collection of original improvisations and three traditional Inuk throat songs.

The KINNIE STARR you know: MC-singer-poet-actress-beatnik who was born in Calgary, became her adult self in Vancouver, and was raised on heavy doses of Zeppelin, Sade and De La Soul’s Daisy Age... The Kinnie Starr you’ll meet on Anything, her new CD: the title is her stock answer to a question that she hears all the time: "So, uh, what does your music sound like?" (For the record: hip hop, rock, folk, R&B, electronica... anything.)

Tuesday September 26th, 9:00 p.m.

Lula Lounge, $10 adv / $15 door

JOAQUIN DIAZ CD RELEASE (Canada / Dominican Republic)

His repertoire is a mixture of traditional and original tunes, characterized by irrepressible beats. Among the best of a new breed of merengue artist, Montreal accordionist Joaquin Diaz fills the dance-floor with syncopated Caribbean rhythms and infectious vocals. "In Diaz’s hands merengue is hard-core stuff, an exhilarating polyrhythmic ride on a runaway train.’’ - Chicago World Music Festival
 

Wednesday September 27th, 9:00 p.m.

Lula Lounge, $15 adv / $20 door

DRUM NATION (Canada)

A celebration of percussion music from all corners of the globe and beyond, DRUM NATION presents an evening of smokin? grooves, virtuosic solos, and percussion music that runs the gamut from the traditional to the cutting edge of contemporary and everything in between. Together for the first time, this stellar cast of Canadian percussionists will share each other’s repertoire and musicality to create a concert that will be unlike anything you have heard before. The first of many Small World Music initiatives in the creation of new Canadian music. DRUM NATION is : Ravi Naimpaly (Tasa), tabla / Deb Sinha (autorickshaw, Maza Meze), darbuka / Rick Lazar (Samba Squad), congas / Kiyoshi Nagata, taiko / Mark Duggan (Evergreen Club), marimba / Patrick Graham (GaPa), frame drums / with special guest Kwasi Dunyo, Ghanaian drums.
 

Thursday September 28th

Lula Lounge ? 8:00 p.m. $15

8:00 p.m. - ASH DARGAN (Australia)

ASH DARGAN, an Australian indigenous recording artist renowned for his mastery of the Didgeridoo, has been pushing the boundaries of contemporary world music for the last ten years. His distinct blend of Australian indigenous and contemporary music captures the essence of one of the oldest cultures on earth.
 

Thursday September 28th

Lula Lounge ?10:00 p.m. $10

10:00 p.m. - MR. SOMETHING SOMETHING (Canada) Funky seven piece afrobeat-jazz dancefloor sensation and one of Canada’s most successful tour club acts to emerge in recent years, MR. SOMETHING SOMETHING has blown away audiences in the summer of 2006 from Sydney, Nova Scotia to Vancouver Island. Founding members Larry Graves [drums/percussion] and John MacLean [saxophone/voice] settled on the unbeatable dance rhythms of Nigeria, Senegal, Mali and Ghana as the natural elements that would ultimately make up the Mr. Something Something sound. ?These guys rank with any Afrobeat in the world today.? ? Exclaim
 

Friday September 29th, 8:00 p.m.

Lula Lounge, $15 door

8:00 p.m. - HENDRIK MEURKENS & PERMUTACOES (Brazil / USA)

10:00 p.m. -PARABOLICA (Brazil / Canada)

HENDRIK MEURKENS, a virtuoso on both the chromatic harmonica and the vibraphone, is the most important jazz harmonica player since Toots Thielemans. German-born but now based in New York, Meurkens’ recordings and performances garner worldwide acclaim. A two-mallet player in the tradition of Milt Jackson and Bobby Hutcherson, Meurkens was en-route to being an instantly recognizable vibraphonist when he heard Toots Thielemans. Inspired by the sound of Thielemans’ harmonica, he taught himself the difficult-to-master instrument.

Singer and percussionist Guiomar Campbell, a native of Minas Gerais, Brazil, leads the band PARABOLICA, the Toronto-based musical group built on a strong foundation of Afro-Brazilian folk rhythms, bossa nova, samba and forro, played with a jazz sensibility. Their high energy show ranges from Brazilian folkloric music, to popular samba medleys, to jazz and funk-inspired original compositions.
 

Saturday September 30th ? 2 Shows

The Music Hall, $20 adv/ $25 door @ 416 778-8163

AFRICAN GUITAR SUMMIT (Canada), 8:00 p.m.

2005 Juno Award winners for World Music Album on the Year, AFRICAN GUITAR SUMMIT is a star-studded collective uniting the talents of nine virtuoso musicians: from Guinea, Juno Award winner Alpha YaYa Diallo, with his countryman Naby Camara on balafon; from Ghana, the elder master of the guitar, Pa Joe, with ?golden voice? Theo Boakye, and the heartbeat of drummer Kofi Ackah; from Kenya, the Fiesta guitar of Professor Adam Solomon; from Burundi/Rwanda, the bluesy Mighty Popo; and from Madagascar the quicksilver guitars and harmonies of Donne Robert and multiple Juno Award winner Madagascar Slim. This group has created a buzz ever since their first performance and this show will continue that legacy.
 

Sunday October 1st, 8:00 p.m.

Mod Club Theatre, 722 College St., $20 adv/$25 door

DEBASHISH BHATTACHARYA (India)

DEBASHISH BATTACHARYA, (India) is a master slide guitarist who, along with V. W. Bhatt, has blurred boundaries between Indian classical music and the blues. Stunning virtuosity combines with deep soul for a ?truly

groundbreaking? (MOJO) musical experience. ?Beautiful and inspired? - Daily Telegraph

Sunday Oct. 1, 9:00 p.m.

Gladstone Ballroom, 1214 Queen St. W., $15 door

CHANGO FAMILY (Canada) - Festival Closing Party

A Montreal-based non-stop party that masquerades as a band. From raucous ska-punk, groovy funk and mellow reggae, to plaintive gypsy violin, all find their way into Chango’s uplifting, joyous sound. The texts are sung in French, Spanish and English as well as Wolof, Arabic and a few others, very often in the same song.