Kurated No. 234
Readers’ Choice 2024
Part 7
- PLAYLISTS
Strange Medicine by Kaia Kater on Spotify and on YouTube
Kiyam by Phyllis Sinclair on Spotify and on YouTube
4-Song Playlist made by John Doherty
Phyllis Sinclair is a Cree elder from Manitoba. Her sixth album is Kiyam which means “Let it be” and is featured in contributor Diane Beckett’s write-up.
CONTRIBUTORSToday’s writers are Winnipeg’s Diane Beckett and Toronto’s John Doherty who are both regular contributors to Readers’ Choice.
• Doherty’s four-song playlist features 20-year veteran Newfoundland trio The Once; one of Ireland’s top musicians – Mick Flannery, plus longstanding American indie bands Manchester Orchestra and Real Estate.
• Beckett highlights two accomplished feminist musicians – Indigenous folk singer Phyllis Sinclair who she met at a recent house concert in Winnipeg touring behind her sixth album. Kaia Kater is a roots musician and banjo wizard Diane first ran into in a festival food line-up some years back. She’s been following her music and considerable progress ever since.
The 7th Annual Readers’ Choice
One of Kurated’s aims is to share music with you. In turn, readers often mention new music, upcoming concerts, offer musical opinions and more.
Once a year you’re invited to act as guest curators to highlight music that’s caught your attention during the last year in the annual Readers’ Choice series. Anything musical is welcomed whether its new, an old favourite, something self-composed and more.
Thanks to all of you contributors for participating!
19 January 2025
John Doherty
Toronto ON
Newfoundland trio The Once.
4-song playlist
I Know How To Speak by Manchester Orchestra
The Bend by The Once
Come Find Me by Mick Flannery
Water Underground by Real Estate
John Doherty writes: “I am struck by how mellow and reflective these four songs are … I love the feel of the music.” He’s got a point. These easy-on-the-ears tunes could take you through a very relaxed evening and into your dreams.
• Manchester Orchestra – online magazine Medium says the Atlanta band’s music “… is known for its raw, emotional lyrics and heavy instrumentation, which often includes elements of folk and post-rock. However, their willingness to explore themes of faith and spirituality in their music sets Manchester Orchestra apart from other bands in their genre.” The band has been recording since 2006 and has made six albums
• The Once – this award-winning Newfoundland folk trio has been making great music for about 20 years. The 2014 Vancouver Folk Music Festival program underlines that their strength is in the harmonies. “While part of a summer theatre company in 2006, they started singing around a kitchen table. Their chemistry was so immediate – a “light-bulb moment” – that it led them to keep singing, and making music, together.”
• Mick Flannery – one of Ireland’s top musicians, Flannery is surely losing his status as one of the country’s best kept secrets. This past summer he toured Canada and the US promoting his eighth album – Good Time Charlie. The disc features duets with Valerie June, Tianna Esperenza and Anaïs Mitchell plus a set of songs co-written with Ana Nuge. The Irish Times praised the native son saying, “Flannery continues to prove himself to be one of our finest singers, songwriters and sonic storytellers.”
• Real Estate – the Brooklyn-based indie band has made six albums since 2008 exploring styles described as jangle pop, surf rock and dream pop. Pitchfork magazine said the group’s 2024 release, Daniel, “… fuses the laid-back sound of 1990s soft rock with pedal steel and countrypolitan filigree. It’s lean, clean—and a little sleepy.”
About John Doherty: John lives in the in-between zone of work and retirement This place is located in Toronto.
Manchester Orchestra (Shervin Lainez photo)
Diane Beckett
Winnipeg, MB
Kaia Kater (Janice Reid photo)
Kiyam (album)
by Phyllis Sinclair
Strange Medicine (album)
by Kaia Kater
I chose two albums this year. Both are by award-winning musicians who combine stunningly beautiful music with powerful messages.
Phyllis Sinclair is new to me. I met her at a house concert in my new home of Winnipeg just after I moved from Churchill. And I have been following Kaia Kater since I met her in the line-up for the food shack at Blue Skies, a small music festival up the Ottawa Valley, more than a decade and a half ago.
Phyllis is a Cree elder who grew up in Churchill, and her music reflects her Indigenous and northern roots. She is a singer-song writer who uses her uplifting music to speak of ancient traditional wisdom and modern Indigenous realities. In the process she creates a nurturing space for more compassionate and culturally respectful ways.
Her most recent album, Kiyam, means ‘Let it be’ in Cree. The album focuses on the healing power of nature, as well as women’s and Indigenous self-empowerment. She sings of casting off self doubt and the joys and importance of friendship as well as the reality of being an Indigenous woman in a hostile society. Roots Music Canada describes the record as “a little bit dreamy and a little ethereal, and the whole album seems to float by on a current of good vibes. Read more about Phyllis on her website.
Kaia, is a young Grenadian-Canadian woman whose music reflects the interface between larger societal issues and her personal experiences with them.
Her most recent album, Strange Medicine, celebrates the power of women and oppressed people through history, while also sharing meditations on her own life. The title refers to a Herbie Hancock quote where poison is turned into medicine. The album acknowledges the horrible past and current reality of colonialism, sexism, racism and misogyny. However it moves past anger, revenge, fatigue and grieving by acknowledging history, releasing emotions and claiming self. She works this magic with top tier guest artists such as Taj Mahal, Allison Russell and Aoife O’Donovan.
About Diane: Diane Beckett has lived near the equator and the Arctic circle and places in between working for environmental and social justice. She is proud to now be working for Wab Kinew’s Manitoba government in what she considers to be the most progressive government in North America.
