Crystal Laderas
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Not talkin’ ‘bout Montreal
Kicking off this year’s summer festival season, the Winnipeg International Jazz Festival commences with a variety of traditional and modern artists from Wednesday, June 23 to Sunday, July 4.
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Of dreams, discrimination and persecution
“I used to feel [that] perhaps I was the only one these terrible things happened to. You know [I] never ever agreed to tell this story to anyone, but then after I read Ishmael Beah’s book, it really encouraged me to tell my story,” explains a student of one of Winnipeg’s most notorious inner city schools: Gordon Bell High School.
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ALEX CUBA - Alex Cuba
You don’t have to worry about the language barrier to understand this album. Alex Cuba is not limited to traditional Cuban music but extends further into his favourite genres, making his self-titled release easy to enjoy.
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This is not Hollywood
Where slums sit across skyscrapers and 500,000 people commute in and out of the city each day, the world’s third-largest film industry is operating with open public auditions and self-financed projects. Often described as “the answer to CNN,” Nollywood Babylon explores Nigeria’s film industry as it employs amateur writers, first-time actors, self-taught directors and apprenticing film crew.
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GRAND ANALOG - Metropolis is Burning
Forget previous rap-rock fads; Grand Analog consists of music veterans (DJs, MCs, musicians and music collectors) who take the best of all genres for their sophomore album.
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All in the family
Sometimes tragedy kills creativity as much as it inspires it, but the arts don’t always pay the bills. Local rappers Mitchell and Michael Francisco (a.k.a. Lasing and Mikal) of Brakada use it to drive their upcoming album, a last effort to make it big in the music industry.
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THE HAPPY UNFORTUNATE - Be Yourself to Free Yourself
Producer/MC DJ Envoy experiments with further hip hop sounds and steps up his rhymes more evenly with his already fluent partner Malcolm-Jay on The Happy Unfortunate’s second release, the follow-up to Stand Up or Fall Down.
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NESTOR WYNRUSH - Trinnipeg !78
He may rhyme the blues but there is no hometown hatred or sad songs here.
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The Happy Unfortunate - Stand Up or Fall Down
It’s hard to imagine a new generation of hip hop kids influenced by smooth, ‘90s-styles, but The Happy Unfortunate know how to use jazzy beats and neo-soul instrumentals behind a voice that echoes Camp Lo.