The weekend is upon us, almost, perfect for a festival of some sort. Something like MASALA! MEHNDI! MASTI!…Y’ALL! In its sixth year running, M! M! M! is going large and fabulous at Exhibition Place (Toronto), starting with the opening reception tonight and continuing on till people are dropping with dance fever (for real, this happens) on Sunday. The incredibly varied programme brings together artists, authors, performers, instructors, and anyone I’ve left out from Canada, USA, UK, France, New Zealand, Trinidad, Guyana, and India.
This year’s headlining act is Trickbaby (of Bluffmaster fame) as part of the Brit InvASIAN showcase, which is presented yearly courtesy of the British Council. And if you Taraana Mutineers were wishing you could have gone to see some Rajasthani folk music tonight then hold up because Kerap is going to be on stage this Friday evening. I love me some Marwari music. Strangely enough they are also “from France!” The “Chillin’ in Your Brown Skin” seminars are back facilitating dicussion on different social issues. A spoken word fest (with Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Sheniz Janmohamed and Muslim Rizvi) and book readings galore. There’s even a couple Laughter Yoga Club sessions on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Need I say any more? Check the listings for your fix.
Like I said, M! M! M! has gone big this year with an impressive corporate sponsor (Rogers) and a spangly new venue, much needed after they hit the 100, 000 people mark last year. Admission price is still a big juicy zero, thanggod. So go forth and machaao-fy some dhoom dhaam, it’s a brown town this weekend (well, actually, every weekend, but this weekend especially so 🙂
The weekend is upon us, almost, and here in Ontario it is a loooong weekend
do you mean a looong week followed by a loooong weak-end .
Darn my RADO perpetual calendar has let me down , I thought it was next week-end….?
Now for the event , I will have to break out the Rolex that I got for a steal $50 bucks ( includes papers) from a “watch dealer ? ” in Times Square ….If you see a well-aged brown guy in cut-off jeans whose left arm is slightly stretched and there are flashes of light reflecting off the huge time-piece hitting hitting your chili-lemony laced BBQ corn – than that’s me .
My desi thing this weekend is going to Himesh Reshamiya’s concert. I better learn to spell his last name right before it becomes moot.
I do envy you your Trinidadian artists, though we have been blessed by an ample supply of Trinidadian culture down here in South Florida. I am more into that stuff than my Trini-Indian wife.
Yes! Your RADO works just fine. Thanks dude, I got a little carried away, I’m on vacation next week so it’s all loooong for me 🙂
Happy M!M!M! has a $ boost, but bit annoyed at the corporate sponsorship induced name change. Also, “ChillinÂ’ in Your Brown Skin” seminars AND a spoken word fest with my beloved Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha…lucky toronto mutineers!
i hope to see tons of post-M!M!M! photos eventually. (how fun is M!M!M! to type. all those exclamation points can’t be sincere)
I find Trickbaby the worst kind of watered-down flat indie pop with a few sitars thrown over the beat boring. I tried to listen to their music but there was nothing to listen to. I’m sure they’re better live, though.
Red Dogg – what about Bluffmaster, yaar? they did a few tunes for the soundtrack, i haven’t heard them but i hear they were fun?
i have a confession Greta, i’m going on vacation sat. morning and am pretty much chained to my desk till then so i don’t even know if i’ll be able to attend a single event 🙁 this is why instead of covering it i’m having to pimp it with all i’ve got. god i love me some m!m!m!
runyolarun – they need the sponsorship to keep it large and free, what to do?
I didnt see Bluffmaster Neha. I saw a video of theirs played continuously on one of the Indian music channels. Normally they play 40.6% bhangra and 59% Bollywood, with the remaining 0.4% by an artist like Nitin Sahwney or Talvin Singh to show how cool they are, just in case any art students are watching, or as public service so that the rebellious Suicide Girls type of Indian youth don’t totally abandon their culture. And they played this video of women doing synchronised swimming in 1950’s swimsuits, with a few sitar twangs over it, and the singer singing twee lyrics about how ironic and delicate and sensitive they were. I had enough after they played it a few times, and switched over to watch Mallika Sherawat thrusting her crotch into Akshaye Khanna’s abdomen, which I think is also ironic.
But even if it’s not, I know which one I prefer.
Anyway, good luck to them. Trickbaby is a really cool name – it almost makes me wish I had thought of it for my own imaginary band which I fantasise about. At the moment, we are called ‘Mango Daddy’.
soooooooo…how was it?