Category Archives: MusiCamp

Lecture on Georgian Polyphony

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Andrea Kuzmich, MusiCamp’s director, is guest lecturing at Ryerson University, for the Traditional Musics of the World Course.

Georgia, is located in the mountainous region of the Caucasus, the crossroads of Europe and Asia. Its ancient singing tradition, known for its distinctive and haunting harmonies, was recognized by UNESCO as an intangible masterpiece of humanity in 2001. The 3-part form defies Western conventions and comes in a plethora of musical dialects, reflecting the diverse geographical and cultural makeup of the land.
This hour-long lecture will introduces traditional singing practices of Georgia by exploring the variety of polyphonic singing styles through musical examples (audio and video) as well descriptive analysis. It will also reflect on how the practices figures into the region’s historic, geographic and cultural contexts.

Guest Lecture on Georgian Polyphony by Andrea Kuzmich
For the Traditional Musics of the World Course
POD 368, Ryerson University
Cost: Free.

6-week Georgian Singing Workshop

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A 6 Week Workshop led by Shalva Makharashvili and Andrea Kuzmich
MONDAYS 7 – 9 PM April 11 – May 16 2016
at the MusiCamp studio
$240 for new participants; $200 for repeat students
More info or register by email through our contact page

The picture above is of workshop leader Shalva with his children singing with Basiani, one of Georgia’s acclaimed state folk ensembles. Have a listen to them here.

IMG_1558Take part in a Georgian singing workshop and join the thousands of voices before you that have contributed to this millennia-old folk tradition. Georgia, is located in the mountainous region of the Caucasus, the crossroads of Europe and Asia. Its ancient singing tradition, known for its distinctive and haunting harmonies, was recognized by UNESCO as an intangible masterpiece of humanity in 2001. The 3-part form defies Western conventions and comes in a plethora of musical dialects, reflecting the diverse geographical and cultural makeup of the land.

Canada’s foremost experts in Georgian polyphony, Georgian-born singer/multi-instrumentalist Shalva Makharashvili and Andrea Kuzmich, will be leading the workshop. In this series, we’ll take a look a variety of regional styles and song-types (work/travel/table/love songs and chants). At the end of the 6 weeks we’ll have a little performance for friends and family… and a little toast – to keep it in the Georgian tradition…

For some samples of Georgian songs have a listen to Shalva’s and Andrea’s trio soundcloud playlist

To register for the workshop send us an email through the contact us page.

 

2016 MusiCamp Themes & Fees

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15% EARLY BIRD registration discount before April 15!
$25 discount for additional weeks, siblings and referrals!
No additional fees or taxes charged!

 

July 4-8 ~ THE BLUES: FROM SHOUTS TO 12 BARS ~ $275 … more info →
July 11-15 ~ COMPOSITION & SONG ~ $275 … more info →
Aug 8-12 ~ ROOTS MUSIC (guest artist!) ~ $325 ….  more info →
Aug 22-26 ~ WEST AFRICAN DRUMMING (guest artist!) ~ $325 … more info →

 

  • Class sizes are small.
  • All-day (9am-4pm) programming with extended care available from 8am-6pm.
  • No formal training is required. No instrument required – just an enjoyment of music
  • Our intuitive approach to exploring sound, music, composition, the voice, and the weekly themes also functions as a great supplement to conventional music lessons
  • We also integrate crafts (instrument and mask making), backyard games, Pizza-making Wednesdays in Dufferin Grove park and other outdoor fun
  • Limited financial assistance is available on a per person basis. (Contact MusiCamp for more info)
  • 2016 Registration can be accessed here

 

visit our Flickr Gallery – click on the images below

MusiCamp at a glance

REGISTRATION 2016

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REGISTRATION FOR 2017 SUMMER CAMPS WILL OPEN MARCH 1st!

15% EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION before April 15

$25 DISCOUNT
for registering more than one child, for each additional week,* and for referrals.

AND DON’T FORGET THE FEE LISTED IS THE FEE YOU PAY
THERE ARE NO ADDITIONAL FEES OR TAXES CHARGED!

 

SECURED ONLINE 2016 REGISTRATION

or

DOWNLOAD 2016 REGISTRATION FORM

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* additional-week discount override $25 sibling discount. In other words, sibling discounts only apply to the first week. For example, a family with 2 children may register both for the first week and $25 discount is applied to that week. If they both register for an additional week, then the $25 additional-week discount is applied to each child, for a total discount of $50.
note: camp weeks with guest artists require a minimum number of registrants for specialized programming. Please contact for more details.

Instrument Making at MusiCamp

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Yes, these are real, playable instruments. They aren’t toys or kids’ versions. They are still played today and have an interesting social history worth telling. But best of all, they are fun to play and are excellent pedagogical tools for teaching musical concepts of tonality and harmony.

 

The Diddley Bow

The diddley bow is the instrument featured in the picture above on the left. As you can hear and see in the video below, the diddley bow is played with the neck of a glass bottle and a stick (though at MusiCamp we replace the glass bottle with a copper washer, it’s a little less dangerous). The result is very bluesy! No wonder the diddley bow is considered the precursor to the slide blues guitar.

The diddley bow is related to many different instruments found around the world (like the andibidi from the Congo, the umakweyana of West Africa, the dan bau of Vietnam, the gobichand of India). But this particular set up, a metal string expanded over wooden 2X4 (it used to be the wall or beam of house) with a metal or glass resonator, is of African American origin and emerged out of  the ugly social and economic conditions of slavery in the Southern United States.

More pictures of the diddley bow construction at MusiCamp can be found here.

The Bucket Bass

The featured image at the top of this post show three campers building/painting their bucket basses.

Below is a video of Andrea, MusiCamp’s director, and her son performing In The Highways Of The Hedges with the bucket bass. NOTE, you need headphones or good speakers to hear the bass because laptops and mobile devices tend to cut out the bottom end.

The bucket bass, closely related to the washtub or tea-chest bass, is not so different from the diddley bow. Both are one-stringed instruments and vary the tension on the string to alter pitch. The emergence and use of either the bucket, the washtub or the chest as a resonator is similarly linked to conditions of economic hardship.

For more information about the construction of the bucket bass visit our earlier post about making a washtub bass.

Cigar Box Diddley Bow

In 2015 we started making cigar box diddley bows as well (picture below).

cigarbox diddleybow

6-week Georgian Singing Workshop

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A 6 Week Workshop led by Shalva Makharashvili and Andrea Kuzmich
THURSDAY 7-9 PM February 4 – March 10 2016
at the MusiCamp studio
$240 for new participants; $200 for repeat students
Register by email through our contact page

IMG_1558Take part in a Georgian singing workshop and join the thousands of voices before you that have contributed to this millennia-old folk tradition. Georgia, is located in the mountainous region of the Caucasus, the crossroads of Europe and Asia. Its ancient singing tradition, known for its distinctive and haunting harmonies, was recognized by UNESCO as an intangible masterpiece of humanity in 2001. The 3-part form defies Western conventions and comes in a plethora of musical dialects, reflecting the diverse geographical and cultural makeup of the land.
Canada’s foremost experts in Georgian polyphony, Georgian-born singer/multi-instrumentalist Shalva Makharashvili and Andrea Kuzmich, will be leading the workshop. In this series, we’ll take a look a variety of regional styles and song-types (work/travel/table/love songs and chants). At the end of the 6 weeks we’ll have a little performance for friends and family… and a little toast – to keep it in the Georgian tradition…

* If you are interested, let us know what evening works best for you and we’ll try to best accommodate your availability.For some samples of Georgian songs have a listen to Shalva’s and Andrea’s trio soundcloud playlist

To register for the workshop send us an email through the contact us page.

 

Diddley Bow Song

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Must Hear! Especially the ending!!
Diddley Bow Song from the Rhythm & Stuff week at MusiCamp 2015.

 

A large part of MusiCamp is making instruments and the tin-can-2X4 diddley bow featured in this post is just one type of instrument campers can choose to make during their week at MusiCamp. This past week, these three campers decided to really explore the playing of the instrument and in particular drew from the instrument’s African origins. They based this song off of a Malawian song we heard from another Youtube video that discusses the history of the diddley bow – and it was so much fun to figure out and then play – and these guys did a great job getting the groove! Have a listen to them and make sure you listen to the end to hear their singing!

 

Malawi was probably used as an example in “The History of the Diddley Bow” video because Malawians were and are so successful at using recycled containers as resonators for homemade instruments and then creating music that is exciting and fun yet distinctly Malawian. I spent a few years in Malawi in the 1990s and especially recall the Malawian Chibuku beer box guitar!

 

The diddley bow, as seen in the above video, with tin resonator attached to wooden 2X4, is believed to be an African American origins, though it is related to many different instruments found around the world, like the andibidi from the Congo, the umakweyana of West Africa, the dan bau of Vietnam, the gobichand of India. More information on instrument making at MusiCamp can be accessed here.

 

By the way, in case you are wondering, the Rhythm & Stuff week was originally scheduled as West African Drumming Camp; however, because we didn’t have enough registrants (we needed 7 registrants to run the drumming) we ran an alternative program that involved lots of rhythm fun, including lots of body percussion as well as beatboxing, rhythm games and some hand drumming and singing.

 

6-week Georgian Singing Workshop Starting May 12 2015

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A 6 Week Workshop led by Shalva Makharashvili and Andrea Kuzmich
TUESDAYS 7-9 PM May 12 – June 16 2015
at the MusiCamp studio
$240 for new participants; $200 for repeat students
Register by email through our contact page

 
IMG_1558Take part in a Georgian singing workshop and join the thousands of voices before you that have contributed to this millennia-old folk tradition.Georgia, is located in the mountainous region of the Caucasus, the crossroads of Europe and Asia. Its ancient singing tradition, known for its distinctive and haunting harmonies, was recognized by UNESCO as an intangible masterpiece of humanity in 2001. The 3-part form defies Western conventions and comes in a plethora of musical dialects, reflecting the diverse geographical and cultural makeup of the land.
 
Canada’s foremost experts in Georgian polyphony, Georgian-born singer/multi-instrumentalist Shalva Makharashvili and Andrea Kuzmich, will be leading the workshop. In this series, with wedding season just around the corner, we’ll take a look at some wedding processional songs as well as a host of other songs (work/travel/table/love songs and chants) in a variety of regional styles. At the end of the 6 weeks we’ll have a little performance for friends and family… and a little toast – to keep it in the Georgian tradition…
 
For some samples of Georgian songs have a listen to Shalva’s and Andrea’s trio soundcloud playlist

To register for the workshop send us an email through the contact us page.

 

Haivky: Kosa Kolektiv’s Spring Festival Revives More than Tradition…

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Kosa’s Festival Revives the True Meaning of a Festival.

Preamble: this post is part of a larger discussion on the traditional uses of art to empower, foster community, and resolve conflict – a driving force to MusiCamp’s programming. Also note that while this post is from 2015, the date, location and egg-decorating workshops listed at the bottom of the page are updated for 2016

 

When one mentions “festival” in this part of the world, people immediately think of it in commercial terms – big stages, sound systems, visiting artists, official schedules, ticket sales, wrist bands, CDs and many other forms of merchandising – from specialty foods to cultural wares. But this is not the sort of festival Kosa Kolektiv will be bringing to Trinity Bellwoods Park this Sunday. There will be no stage. No sound systems. No vendors trying to sell you food. No money will ever cross hands. In contrast, this is a true community celebration to welcome Spring back to Toronto!

Haivky is a traditional Ukrainian community celebration of renewal that occurs in the days after Easter. Kosa Kolektiv, the host organizer for this event, is comprised of a group of young women of Ukrainian heritage who are determined to make folk forms relevant to our contemporary urban existence. And true to their word, this event, while based on a Ukrainian peasant tradition, has been re-learned and revitalized for not just a pan-Slavic experience but for a multi-cultural Toronto experience. Ancient songs from Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Bulgaria and Georgia will be calling forth spring. Rituals of washing away the crustiness of winter and children’s weaving dances and games played under the open sky will welcome the onset of longer days, the warmth of the sun, and regeneration that’s on the way. And adults will be entertained with fiddlers, a bassist, accordion and woodwind players from the Lemon Bucket Orkestra and Balfolk Toronto, who will be leading village-styled dancing from France, Briton and other parts of Western Europe and America.

Best of all, the festival will offer a pure acoustic experience, free of electronic mediation or amplification. This in itself should be celebrated as it is a rarity in our age of connectivity! It is this sense of community building through artistic forms, especially music, that I admire. This, in part, is the motivating force of my own professional and personal development, including MusiCamp. I’ll be at the festivities with my children, singing songs and dancing, and I encourage you all to come too, to experience the collective magic of song and dance in the beautiful outdoors of Trinity Bellwoods park, smack in the middle of Downtown Toronto. But be warned, no vendors will be there! This is a true festival– a community celebration – so come prepared with your own picnic basket and blanket to join in on and extend the fun!

Haivky 2013 3

Haivky is on Sunday, May 1, 2016
3:00 – 6:00 pm at Trinity Bellwoods Park
790 Queen St W Toronto, ON

Visit Kosa Kolektiv Hailky for more information.

In lead up to the festival Kosa Kolektiv also runs traditional easter egg decorating workshops.

New host for ROOTS MUSIC WEEK!

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MusiCamp is happy to announce our new Roots Music guest host Hannah Shira Naiman!

It’s with mixed emotions that we must say goodbye to Rosalyn Dennett, the former guest-host of Roots Music Week. We are happy to congratulate Rosalyn on her new position as the Membership Services Coordinator of the Canadian Independent Music Association and Music Ontario!! Our best wishes extend to her and we are sad to see her go but thankfully we have found the wonderful Hannah Shira Naiman – an acclaimed musician, dancer and educator – to take on the guest-host of Roots Music Week.

 

Hannah Shira Naiman, Roots Music Instructor

Hannah Shira Naiman

Hannah Shira Naiman grew up just north of Toronto- a few thousand miles away from the hills of Appalachia- and yet her family home was always full of the sounds from that land. Raised by a banjo plucking Pa, and a children’s musician/dance caller/fiddling Ma, her home was a hub for American roots music in the cold heart of a Canadian metropolis. Hannah performs her original banjo driven songs internationally, and is backed by a stand-up traditional stringband. In addition to her career as a songwriter, Hannah is a traditional dance and music leader based in Toronto, Ontario. A fiddler, banjoist, guitar player, dancer and singer- Hannah has taught the gamut to all ages. Although she was trained classically in her youth, Hannah’s teaching method is to organically and joyfully immerse in the music. www.hannahshiranaiman.com.