THE MONTHLY GLEANER | DECEMBER 11, 2023 - JANUARY 10, 2024 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | NEWS 19 Tuesday, December 26 Knowledge Bookstore celebrates Kwanzaa and invites the community to the free event at 177 Queen St. West in Brampton, Ontario. Call 905-459-9875 Sunday, December 31, 7 p.m. Friends of the Jamaican Canadian Association presents an elegant New Year’s Eve Affair at the Jamaican Canadian Centre, 995 Arrow Road, Toronto. Tickets: $40 in advance, $45 at the door. Proceeds in aid of the JCA Scholarship Program. Call 647-294-7277 Starting Tuesday, January 9, 4-6 p.m. (happens on Tuesdays) WTO presents a Poetry and Spoken Word Workshop for youths, ages 14-24, with Dwayne Morgan at Blackhurst Cultural Centre, 777 Bathurst St., Toronto. Contact info@adbcc.org or 416-901-7720. Saturday, January 13, 6:30 p.m. EFCCC & TD present MLKCONNEXUS 2024 under the theme, ‘Breaking Barriers, Continuing the Journey’, in honour of Martin Luther King Jr at Canada Christian College, 300 Water St., Whitby, Ontario. THANK YOU, GLEANER/USA. Normadelle Rose (second right), office manager, Gleaner/USA, based in New York City, accepts the Outstanding Community Service award from Charles Murray (right), president of the Morant Bay High School Alumni Association/NY Chapter, at the Association’s annual reunion/ fundraiser, held at the Eastwood Manor Catering Hall, Bronx, NY, in early November. Master of ceremonies Robert ‘Bob’ Desouza (left) and Secretary Joyce Francis (second left), shared the moment. CONTRIBUTED Neil Armstrong/Gleaner Writer TORONTO: JAMAICAN-CANADIAN COUPLE, Phil Vassell and Donna McCurvin, has added another innovation to their long history of celebrating black culture – the Canada Black Music Archives (CBMA), a digital repository dedicated to preserving and celebrating the rich and diverse musical heritage of black Canadians. The couple, who published and created Word Magazine, which covered Toronto’s urban culture, the Toronto Urban Music Festival, and the Irie Music Festival, all of which are now defunct, founded the archives in 2020 as a testament to the enduring contributions of black musicians to Canada’s cultural landscape over the past 100 years. Vassell said many people kept asking why they had not yet archived Word magazine so that the content could be accessible. He said two things influenced their decision to move in this new first direction: the first was that at least 50 per cent of the magazine was music related, particularly in the second half of its 20-year existence; the second was the paucity of information on black musicians throughout Canada. The couple thought they could take care of the concerns of people wanting the content by producing an anthology of some of the best articles, photographs and illustrations. Considering the percentage of music in the publication, they took a second look at what they had done since then, producing the Irie Music Festival for 20 years and the Toronto Urban Music Festival for 16 years. “It became clear to us that music was the majority of what we had done over the past 30 years. We had bios of a lot of the artistes which we would normally post as part of the festivals each summer. We had photos, we had videos of some of the performances, so when you put all of that together we had a head start, if you start talking about a music archive,” said Vassell, executive director of the CBMA, Word Media Group Inc. FOSTERING UNDERSTANDING They then researched a Black Music Archives in Ontario, and in Canada, but soon realised that “there was this huge hole that no one had filled in terms of Canadian black music history”. He said they knew that there was a big gap, in terms of the Toronto experience, and as they looked at the other major cities of Montreal, Halifax, Vancouver, Calgary, they saw that nobody had addressed the matter. “With all the material that we had it felt like a more logical step to make and to try and document all of this history, not just here in Toronto, but in all those other places, and so began the Canada Black Music Archives.” Vassell said the digital platform is accessible to all and highlights the contributions, stories, and legacies of black musicians across various genres. He said the CBMA stands as a testament to resilience, creativity, and cultural richness, amplifying the voices of black musicians and redressing historical under-representation. It is a crucial step toward fostering understanding, appreciation, and a stronger sense of identity for all Canadians. “Collectively, we felt that launching this site we first need to demonstrate that we’re not just about Toronto, but secondly, we needed to say to the public help us do the research. There is no one organisation that’s going to be successful and do justice to 100 years of Canadian black artistes in the three years that it took us to get to that point - to validate the information, to post the information, chase down some of the assets that we need, the photographs, videos, the catalogues of these artistes.” Vassell, who is from Green Island, Hanover immigrated to Canada in 1975. His wife, Donna McCurvin, was born in England to Jamaican parents from Kingston. They migrated to Canada in 1972. SHOWCASE INCREDIBLE DIVERSITY Robyn Small, senior manager, philanthropy, sustainability and corporate citizenship of TD Bank Group, said the power of music can help bring people together, share stories of lived experiences, and spark meaningful conversations about the past, present and future. Small said through the TD Ready Commitment, its corporate citizenship platform, the company is proud to support the Canada Black Music Archives in ensuring black artistes’rich and diverse voices remain accessible for generations while creating space for emerging digital communications professionals to develop their skills. “Ontario Creates is proud to support the development of the Canada Black Music Archives. The Archives, with its cultural significance and legacy, have been thoughtfully and skilfully curated and aligns with Ontario Creates’ vision to showcase the incredible diversity of talent our province has to offer. We congratulate Word Media Group for bringing this initiative to life,”said Karen Thorne-Stone, president and CEO of Ontario Creates. While celebrating the launch at the City of Toronto Archives in November, the organisers invited the public to explore the digital archives and engage with this vital source of Canadian history, ensuring its preservation and dissemination for future generations. The evening was complemented with a live performance by veteran musicians Liberty Silver, the first black Juno Award winner in the R&B category, Jay Douglas, and Eddie Bullen. Jamaican-Canadian couple launches Canada Black Music Archives Phil Vassell and Donna McCurvin. CONTRIBUTED EVENTS
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