Toronto Mass Choir, Jazz Festival 2016, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. June 2016.
I am a sucker for the union of many voices. How many eons of humanity are there in which we have curled the sounds we can make with our throats, mouths, tongues, and the manipulation of air through our lips - in unison or in harmony - to effect a communal one-ness?
In listening to gospel music specifically, it evokes for me strength, surrender, hope, determination, acceptance, love, exuberance, action, declaration, courage, unity.
Although most of the Toronto Jazz Festival venues were outdoors, such as at Phillips Plaza, there were several smaller events tucked into various Toronto nooks and crannies.
An upscale department store, Holt Renfrew, was one such nook. My two take-aways from that experience:
The enjoyable performance Jane Bunnet and Hilario Duran delivered to an appreciative audience; and
Holy mother fuckity-fuck, are you serious that the pretty skirt I saw on sale for an incredible 75% off or something like that was originally priced at many hundreds of dollars, so even at 75% off, it was absurdly expensive? It wasn't as if the materials or colors or design warranted such a grotesque price; I can't even remember what it looked like. I confess that this sort of profligate commerce offends my plebeian sensibilities.
Below is a piece by Jane Bunnet and Hilario Duran at Holt Renfrew:
Setting aside the channeling of my malcontent Irish forebears who likely shook their fists impotently against the robber barons .... Jane Bunnet and Hilario Duran ... they were a fresh musical breeze to whisk away the cares of the world.
