Greater Toronto Area Christmas Celebrations

Christmas Celebrations of Diverse Cultural Nature

By William Doyle-Marshall

Canadians who observe Christmas are currently counting how many days are left before the frenzy associated with this season comes to a close. Acquiring gifts and preparation of traditional delicacies are part and parcel of getting ready for the season. Attending concerts right across the Greater Toronto Area and elsewhere in Canada is also an integral of the season.

   The Caribbean Catholic Center whose parishioners worship at Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church at 867 College Street, Toronto, are having special Christmas activities designed to remind them that this year-end Christmas festive occasion is not just about spending money on unnecessary things. “We live in a world that is consumerism oriented and everybody is concerned with buying things and spending their time on events of the season,” says Father Carlyle Guissepi, parish priest. He contends the church has to do something to kind of bring the people back to what Christmas or the feast of the Epiphany is supposed to be.

                           Father Carlyle Guiseppi, left, participating 

                           in T&T Independence celebrations

In little ways the church is doing little things to help people understand that Christmas is much more than emphasizing on material things. The Advent wreath-making project was introduced to parishioners which involves the idea of prayer and preparation for Christmas. The candles on the wreath are lit when prayers are said as a genuine illustration that Advent is not just shopping and preparing for Christmas. About 100 participated. “We would like much more to participate but we start where we are,” the Parish Priest surmised.

The setting up of the cresh and the trip of the wise men who followed the star from the East to visit Jesus in his crib in Bethlehem is being dramatized during the Epiphany celebration. Youth, seniors, men and women are participating in the performance. The wise men are moved along different areas of the church, different groups – sometimes families, sometimes children are included. There are prayers and explanation about the wise men’s journey every Sunday and it concludes with gift giving.  All of this is done to keep focused on what the season is all about. The whole idea is to give a gift (nothing expensive) to somebody in the church who is not your friend.

“All you are saying to that person is, ‘you see God in them. You see the Christ child in them,” said Father Guissepi. This is an attempt to bond the community and to get them to meet others who they would not necessarily have met and associated with. It certainly is not a matter of giving a gift to your friend and expecting one in return. Sometimes people would come to church not knowing about the event and would receive a gift and they would have no gift to give anyone. It is a case of giving a gift without any strings attached.’ This too is to center the congregation on the spiritual value of Christmas celebration.

Christmas Eve (December 24) mass will begin with the singing of Carols at 9:00 pm and Christmas Day mass will be offered at 12:00 noon. Old Year’s Night (December 31) Mass starts at 10:00 pm to be followed by ringing in the New Year.

                                    Exciting Songs of My Mother  

An interesting performing arts event for the year end season was “Songs of My Mother” concert produced by the Batuki Music Society at the Daniel Spectrum Theatre. It was truly an exciting production. Singing is a central element in most African cultures and traditions, and it is often associated with women, concert promotion noted. And once you arrived at the theatre and the women occupied the stage, as a member of the audience the situation became infectious. The featured artists were Tapa Diarra of Mali, Blandine Mbiya from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ruth Mathiang -- South Sudan, Evelyn Mukwedeya, Memory Makuri of Zimbabwe and Mabinty Sylla a dancer   from Guinea.  Batuki Music Society’s artistic director, Nadine McNulty, produced the exciting lineup of artists. What a powerful assembly of talent straight from the African continent. We sat in the audience truly appreciating their presentations and at times stepping gingerly into the groove. Irrespective of your ailing bones, it was difficult to sit still and avoid attempting some steps when African rhythms are unleashed.

It is Sunday afternoon and 28 aspiring Canadian musicians assemble at a neighbourhood church in Durham for their annual Christmas recital under the tutelage of Anna Knutel, who runs Horizons Music. Seeing these impressionable children of all ages and ethnicities occupy their seats at the piano and demonstrated their respective level of perfection could be a reminder for parents of their own first public appearance as a child playing an instrument or a minor role in a production many Christmases ago.

                                Horizon Music students Christmas recital 

Summoning up the strength to appear before a gathering of mainly strangers is commendable. The tutor sees the recitals as an opportunity to get the students before audiences. They were encouraged to set their sights on performing at Roy Thompson Hall or the Air Canada Center as they learn, develop and emerge into major Canadian artists. The youngsters were reminded that the longest journey begins with the first step and as students of Horizons Music, they were already taking the first step.

Over 40 students benefit from Ms Knutel’s tutoring all year round and seniors and other adults receive training that includes music therapy for seniors at retirement homes. Teaching music from her teenage days she admits it is rewarding to see somebody excel at something she taught them. “Music is my life so I want to share it with others,” Knutel concluded.

Whether you have disposable income or not to indulge in consumerism, you should invest in personal decency and utilize this time you are privilege to be experiencing in the best possible way. At the top of your "to do list" must be the exhibition of respect, peace, love and total understanding of those around you -- family, friends and others with whom you come into contact.      

What a Christmas Concert!

Not So Good Lessons from Christmas Concert

By William Doyle-Marshall

The Ultimate Christmas Concert featuring three of Trinidad and Tobago’s top musical bards produced by Drupatie’s Restaurant at the Scarborough Convention Center on Sunday can easily be summed up as a good social occasion.  Approximately 2,000 Trinis and their Canadian friends turned out for the event. It was much better than sitting at home looking at some mind-numbing recycled television production.

After the social contribution everything went downhill. Consider this: You are in a convention hall and all the seats are at the same level. No risers. The stage where performers showed off their wares is barely above the heads of patrons. Visibility is bound to be a problem. That should be pretty easy to observe.

  The promoter need to do a course on what decent promotion should look like. For starters, it is highly recommended that they contact Impresario Earl Harris, my American colleague who was responsible for promoting the Mighty Sparrow’s career back in the sixties and through the seventies. Calypso and Soca should be elevated, not pushed down into the basement environment where it once flourished. Whatever happened to those days at the Roy Thomson Hall? They can come back again.

The Scarborough Convention Center is good for a large crowd. But where is the artistry? Surely capitalism went very mad. Imagine patrons paid 35 dollars to enter and just be there. Then others paid 45 dollars to be in the VIP section. Sounds really good. But what did they get that was different from those who paid $65? Sorry friends. Communication or miss-communication was the order of the night. Some patrons heard that $65 admission entitled them to hor d’oeuvres. But others did not know that. There were rumours that you would get two drinks. But not everybody knew that.

Let’s look at why we were there: The attraction was to experience Kenny J and Crazy and the Baron. Why did the promoters present them very late in the evening after people started getting restless and noisy? Some left the premises without seeing their stars perform. This says a lot about the promoters’ ability to program a show. Or should we conclude they didn’t care as long as they got your money? There was no reason for a late start. Patrons arrived at the venue early for a five o'clock show as was promised.

  Disrespect is one word to be associated with the shoddy presentation.  Since Baron emerged enthusiastically with “Severe Licking (He Lick She) on the music scene back more than forty years ago, he deserves stellar recognition. Kenny J entered the musical scene afterwards. He too has been an immense crowd pleaser. And of course the loveable lunatic as we call Crazy, known for his antics on stage, with his memorable Dustbin Cover, the Electrician and much more, like Paul Yuh Mudder Come, Nannie Wine plus. They should not be expected to perform to tracks. Just listen to the calibre of their music as it bounced through the lousy speaker boxes in the Scarborough Convention Center and you wonder, why wasn’t there a real, live band accompanying them – perhaps with a conductor as well? But no. Madness blended with Capitalism caused the promoters to delve into a high wire balancing act of frugality.

                                             Joel and Joane Davis (top photo); section of 

                                             Sunday's audience and Crazy -- at the 

                                             Scarborough Convention Center 

Joanne Davis and her brother Joel (Connector) Davis suffered the brunt of sound system incompetence. Their muffled sound forced people to steups throughout their early sppearance on the show. June Smith, a balladeer of note faced the viscious agony of poor sounditis. After stopping the track two or three times, she resorted to getting on the floor close to the audience. That seemed to provide the technicians an opportunity to re-tweak their toys that they were obviously just learning to use.  Los Amigos, Los Bajaros and Moka, were the other local input to the show and they too struggled to be heard over the faulty sound system. Why were those three parang bands squished into one room -- surely not appropriate for dressing and definitely uncomfortable to facilitte that many individuals. Seems like Curtis Eustace, the man of the moment believed he was dealing with a masquarade band on the Lakeshore where individuals are forced to get into costume behind automobile doors or in the confines of towels held in place by friends. Performers should not be dressingg in washrooms, restrooms or toilets. That practice must be outlawed.

  But I am still wondering whether that concert was a dress rehearsal for Moka headed by Garth Blackman. To stand on stage swinging to and fro before about 2,000 patrons looking pretty and sounding very, very shaky to the point that people started rubbing their eyes, stretching and yawning, is not anywhere near to being impressive. By now Eustace and his team should have done a post mortem and among the items on their list for next time should be hiring a qualified and experienced producer and a budget for sound check time is vital. It would cost a bit more but in the end you would smell like roses – never mind the colour. Delivering to your patrons exactly what you promise is cardinally correct. Anything else has to be seen as false advertising. And consumers are entitled to demand a refund.

   Frankly, I left the Scarborough Convention Center Sunday night feeling as though I was in a flea market and there was some entertainment thrown in for good measure. Not good enough fellahs! Our stars have earned the right to supreme treatment.