DENISE
WILLIAMS

MY VOICE, YOUR VOICE, OUR VOICES:

Dialogues with musicians of African Jewish and Muslim Diasporas in Toronto

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Toronto is a fast growing multicultural mosaic and named the most diverse city in the world (Flack 2016). Cultures interweave historically, socially, politically, artistically the appreciation and practise of music can build cultural bridges. New music hybrids are formed and celebrated,  yet often cultural interrelatedness is strained due to general racial sensitivities and misunderstandings within and without the cultural communities. As new music hybrids are formed and celebrated, the appreciation and practise of music can certainly build cultural bridges.

 

A Narrative Study

Taking the vantage point of myself, the researcher being of African descent and a classical musician in Toronto, my narrative study was to re-story the experiences and interactions of various established, Toronto based musicians (some connected to the 2018 WALK TOGETHER CHILDREN concert) as well as other music related artistic professionals, and community musicians of the African, Jewish, and Muslim Diasporas.  The desire was to understand how they locate and identify themselves musically in relationship to their general cultural migrations, transnational and cross-cultural connections, as well as understand any effects of social, political, and racial unions/contentions/inequalities on their artistic work.  I feel that these racially marginalized groups through centuries of oppression, persecution and forcible migrations, share common elements of understanding and expression.

 

This narrative approach was chosen as a poignant way to use a transformative framework in which the music and stories of some artistic racial minorities in Toronto’s multicultural mosaic can be given more of a voice

 

Through reviewing common themes from focused and individual interviews of 13 participants, I arrived at these key ideas from this research

 

​Whose music is it anyway?

 

It turns out that The strong influence of colonial western music existed for generations beyond those of the participants and has interpenetrated with the indigenous music of their cultures (ie walls of cultural music divide have been fluid for centuries creating a situation of imprecise ownership)

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Authenticity

      

If not by direct experience - either handed down or from lived-in experience (bone-knowledge), it then be important in music

representation, to

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• Strive for an ‘authentic music practice’ vs ‘a historical performance practice’.

• Do due diligence to get closest to the truth through proximity as well as length of time in the culture or subculture in question

 

Stereotyping

 

• The largest topic was the effect of racial marginalization, injustices, and stereotypic limitations that still exist very prominently in Toronto’s pluralistic society.  In quotes from the group, Noam (Jewish) was wary of being asked to perform “Hava Nagila’ and Waleed (African) was wary of being asked to supply wild female dancers in grass regalia to bring up the energy.  Carlos (Afro-Caribbean – Canadian R&B artist) is not comfortable presenting reggae and myself (of the same heritage as Carlos) am not comfortable presenting neither R&B, jazz nor gospel. 

 

In essence how are we currently defining and sorting out ‘differences’ and the ‘other’ music? 

 

My main question(s) are:  How have you come to be involved in the music of a culture that is not your own? How do you appreciate it and present it with authenticity?

 

 

Singing the Story

My cross-cultural music initiatives were particularly sparked by Black and Jewish cultural tensions that arose in Toronto in the mid nineties from a major production that prioritized box office sales and limited cultural equality. Out of this as well as my sensitivity to marginalized cultural groups, arose my response, which was to build cultural bridges through exploration and music presentation of our cultural commonalities.

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Learning the African-American spiritual, WALK TOGETHER CHILDREN, in a Jewish folk choir in the mid-nineties, I thought this title would be fitting for these cross-cultural concert presentations which began in 1995.

 

My 2018 presentation was entitled WALK TOGETHER CHILDREN: a cross-cultural concert presentation featuring the music of African, Jewish, and Muslim Diasporas.  It featured song, dance, poetry, an ensemble, choirOne of the most poignant songs was a mash up of the Israeli-Palestinian song Bein Hachoshekh Laor (Between Darkness and Light) by Manal Hreb and Daphna Rosenberg and the Ghanaian song Woyaya (We are going) by the Afro-pop group Osibisa.  You might say that this song presetnation thrusts us right at the borderlines of these cultures.  It did its thing at the concert and delivered a most poignant message of peace, hope, and unity to the performers and audience.