KURATED NO. 200
READERS’ CHOICE 2023
Part Eight
PLAYLISTS
• 2-Song Playlist with two community choirs by Caitlin Smith
• 3-Song Playlist by John Doherty
Contributor John Doherty chose Montreal singer Daniel Belanger for one of his Top 3 picks.
Belanger is a pretty good photographer too. Check out his Instagram page.
Contributors
Toronto’s Caitlin Smith and John Doherty are serious about their music and social activism. Smith has recently joined a social justice community choir which she tell us about below.
Doherty listens for, and shares, great tunes – political and otherwise; both better and lesser known. His annual Christmas playlists (which aren’t focused on seasonal tunes) are always welcome and well-received by the small cohort on the receiving end. The three varied tunes he shares on today’s post are, as usual, intriguing and unique.
The 6th Annual Readers’ Choice
Kurated’s music lovers share tunes you might want to know about!
Kurated is a music sharing project.
Go ahead! Share with your friends.
Caitlin Smith
Toronto, ON
Contributor Caitlin Smith is a member of Toronto’s Common Thread Community Chorus – a social justice choir. (photo from the choir’s Facebook page.)
2-Song Playlist
• People gonna rise like the water: song lyrics for the streets
• Freedom is Coming
I joined a social justice choir – The Common Thread Community Chorus – in September and we are doing some great songs, some that I knew and others I’ve heard for the first time. We held a fundraiser concert on December 2 and our singing was followed by a fabulous Latin dance band.
So much fun!!
The songs I recommend are: People gonna rise like the water: song lyrics for the streets and the other one is Freedom is Coming. This recording focuses on the climate crisis.
About Caitlin: Caitlin Smith is a long-time Toronto resident who has recently retired as a fundraiser (well, not exactly retired…) She loves to sing as a member of Common Thread Choir, a social justice chorus that is 25 years old this year. Caitlin also reads voraciously and is crazy for Scrabble.
John Doherty
Toronto, ON
Innu artists Matiu and Kanen
3-Song Playlist
- Sailors
- J’entends tout ce qui ce qui joue (dans ta tête)
- Blinding Lights
For the 39th year in a row I live in Toronto. Despite living in the centre of the universe, I occasionally leave to go somewhere to ride a bike.
The first song is Sailors by Matiu (Matthew Vachon) and Kanen (Karen Pinette-Fontain), two young Innu who appear to be mentored by Florent Vollant of Kashtin fame.
My French is not good enough to fully understand the song J’entends tout ce qui ce qui joue (dans ta tête) (I hear everything that’s playing (in your head)) by Daniel Bélanger but on a late Friday night it sounds great. Daniel has been popular in Quebec for a long time but border control between Ontario and Quebec protects us from too much culture leaking across our border.
Abigail Lapell is from Toronto and a friend of my niece and I really like this cover of the Weeknd‘s song Blinding Lights.
About John: John Doherty lives in Toronto and debates the question of whether to retire and, if yes, from what?
(Ed. Note: Here’s a translation of Bélanger’s song:)
I hear everything that plays (in your head)
by Daniel Bélanger
I know you better
Better than I know myself
How you work
I know better than anyone
That no one
Nothing can stop me anymore
To think like you
It’s almost scary
It’s like living in you
We’re so good both
You and me
We’re so good both
You and me together
Nothing is missing from anyone
As long as no one fills that nothing
In my head resonates
The echo of you
I hear
I hear everything that’s playing in your head
I hear everything that plays
I hear everything that plays
I hear
I hear everything that’s playing in your head
I hear everything that plays
I hear everything that plays
I hear everything that’s playing in your head
(I hear everything that’s playing in your head)
(I hear everything that’s playing in your head)
I hear everything that plays
I hear everything that plays
I hear everything that plays
I hear everything that’s playing in your head
.
