Adila Sedraïa, best known by her stage name Indila, is a French singer and songwriter. Her mother was a caregiver, while her grandmother sang at weddings; she has two older sisters. Indila describes herself as a “child of the world” as she is of Algerian, Egyptian, Indian and Cambodian descent. Prior to her singing career, […]
The Armed Man (A Mass for Peace)
The Armed Man is a Mass by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins, subtitled “A Mass for Peace”. The piece was commissioned by the Royal Amrouries Museum for the Millennium celebrations, to mark the museum’s move from London to Leeds, and it was dedicated to victims of the Kosovo. Like Britten’s War requiem before it, it is […]
Christina Aquilera
Christina María Aguilera is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. As a child, Aguilera was drawn to soul and blues records her grandmother bought and would practice singing, which earned her a reputation as “the little girl with the big voice” in her neighborhood. In 1991, Aguilera auditioned for a position on The Mickey […]
Santana
Santana is an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1966 by Mexican American guitarist and songwriter Carlos Santana. The band has undergone multiple recording and performing line-ups in its history, with Carlos Santana the only consistent member. After their first audition, performing with Family Dog at the Avalon Ballroom in the late summer […]
Rainbow Girls
Rainbow Girls formed in fall of 2010, when a group of friends began performing together at an underground open mic in UC Santa Barbara’s neighbouring college town, Isla Vista. Though other musicians would frequently perform alongside them, the original core members of Rainbow Girls consisted of Erin Chapin, Caitlin Gowdey, Vanessa Wilbourn, and Cheyenne Methmann. […]
Elise LeGrow
Elise LeGrow is a Canadian recording artist and songwriter. Elise was offered a publishing deal from Sony Music following a live performance at the 2009 NXNE music festival in Toronto. Elise’s first release, “No Good Woman,” was the most added single on adult comtempoary radio in Canada the week of April 7, 2012. The single […]
Be Good Tanyas
The Be Good Tanyas are a Canadian folk music group formed in 1999 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Original members Frazey Ford, Trish Klein, and Sam Parton first played together at open mics and tree planting camps in the Kootenays region of British Columbia. Texas native Jolie Holland is also one of the band’s original members […]
Bob Dylan – Gospel Songs
Unusually for this blog I am returning for a seconf day to the same artist. Yesterday I concentrated on the general outline of Dylan’s musical career, but today being Sunday I want to focus on his series of gospel songs which he produced in the late 1970’s. Slow Train Coming was his 19th studio album, […]
Bob Dylan
In honour of Bob Dylan celebrating his 80th birthday this week, I have selected some of my favourite pieces of his music for this blog post. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career spanning nearly 60 years. Much of […]
Oh Wonder
Oh Wonder are an English, London based alt-pop duo, consisting of Anthony West and Josephine Vander Gucht. Before the duo was formed, Vander Gucht was a solo artist, first going by her own name and then later under the alias of “LAYLA”. Anthony West was originally part of the groups Tonight Is Goodbye, Futures, and […]