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FYI

Georgian Bay: Roi

The Toronto-based bilingual alt-folk duo recently won Stingray's Rising Star Award for this track. A charming new video complements an upbeat and empowering tune delivered via pure vocals.

Georgian Bay: Roi

By Kerry Doole

Georgian Bay - "Roi" (Independent): This Toronto-based bilingual alt-folk duo comprises Kelly Lefaive and Joelle Westman. They recently won Stingray's Rising Star Award for the track "Roi" off their spring release, Courage Vol. 1: Soleil.


A video directed by Jill Lefaive has just been completed, and it is a fitting accompaniment for a rousing song of empowerment. The two voices harmonise sweetly atop a clapping rhythm, and even if you can't follow the French lyrics completely, the optimistic mood of the tune shines through.

Multi-instrumentalists and singer/songwriters Lefaive and Westman hit it off while studying music at the University of Toronto and found that they not only shared a taste in music and love of nature but also the experience of having one foot in each official language. Georgian Bay is the happy outcome of that discovery.

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A second and companion album, Courage Vol. 2: Moon, has been completed and will be released on Oct. 26. A press bio terms it "a wintry, nocturnal counterpart to Soleil.  But if Soleil was marked by resilience and determination to affect change, Moon is a multi-faceted investigation of how to accept the things you can't change. The whole record is imbued with an ominous note of chaos that threatens to undo the harmony sustained by the pure, open voices."  Musical reference points cited include Joni Mitchell, The Weather Station, and Bon Iver.

Georgian Bay has an album launch concert at Hugh's Room Live in Toronto on Oct. 28, followed by a showcase at Halifax Pop Explosion! on Nov. 15 and a Home Routes tour of Manitoba, Nov. 15-28.

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Publicity: Johan Hultqvist, Pinwheel Music

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Oskar Graf
Frontenac News

Oskar Graf

FYI

Obituaries: Canadian Luthier Oskar Graf, Austin Music Scene Veteran Chris Gage

This week we also acknowledge the passing of Laughing Hyenas/Jesus Lizard drummer Jim Kimball and Sigue Sigue Sputnik drummer Ray Mayhew.

Oskar Graf, a renowned Canadian luthier and co-founder of the Blue Skies Music Festival, died on August 26 at the age of 81.

A 2014 profile in Frontenac News noted that "a celebrated 40-year career as one of Canada's top-notch luthiers [guitarmakers] was not the career that Oskar Graf originally planned for but he affirms that it is one that he is very grateful for. Trained in his native Germany as a cabinet maker and industrial/furniture designer, Graf, who was born in Berlin, came to Canada in 1968. He worked briefly in his trained field upon his arrival in Toronto before purchasing land not far east of Clarendon Station, where he designed and built the home and workshop that he has lived and worked in ever since.

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