Arts

Digging Roots and Clamp in concert

Watch these Canadian artists perform from empty venues and their own homes

Watch two performances by Canadian musicians on April 17—Clamp, as well as Juno-winning Digging Roots —in concert at 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. ET respectively. You can stream the full performances from the comfort of your own home as you self-isolate.

URGNT, a music collective put together by Mark Marczyk of Lemon Bucket Orkestra, is putting on this concert after the global COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of hundreds of concerts, shows and other gatherings across the world. Maclean’s is supporting these concerts, which are presented by Tonight Live Happenings Bar, International Indigenous Music Summit and Global Toronto.

PAUL WELLS: Coronavirus ghost town: Introducing live music from empty venues

This concert is part of a series of free, livestreamed musical events over the next few weeks. Watch the last few concerts streamed on Maclean’s: Measha BrueggergosmanMoscow Apartment and The Holy Gasp.

Bookmark this page and check back, or visit macleans.ca/inconcert to watch CLAMP and Digging Roots’s performances on April 17 at 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. ET respectively. The concert will also be streamed on the Maclean’s Facebook page as well as the Maclean’s YouTube channel.

About the artists

Clamp

Owner/operator of ‘TONIGHT Live Happenings Bar’, Clamp has his own seasoned history in the music world having fronted both New York City indie band ‘InAshton’ and Toronto rock recording group ‘Classick’. In recent years while conceiving new solo material, Clamp was happily distracted by the opportunity to open his own small music venue on Toronto’s vibrant Queen Street West.

Just six months since opening ‘TONIGHT’ in the autumn of 2019, Clamp’s time had been entirely focused on the day-to-day operations of the fledgling venue when the sudden COVID-19 crisis forced the doors shut.

But with quarantined downtime came Clamp’s first opportunity in a year to revisit some of his developing solo material. With a guitar in hand and an empty bar just footsteps across the street from his home, Clamp decided to awaken his voice and take to his own little stage for the first time, showcasing not only a handful of his songs but also offering an inside look at his venue to a larger world.


Digging Roots

For the last few years the JUNO winning genre-blurring indy band from the Toronto area have been touring North America, Australia and Europe performing at venues and festivals.

Musical partners Raven and ShoShona are the creative team and inspiration behind Digging Roots. For over ten years they’ve been utilizing the traditional North American Anishinabek compositional approach of music creation called ‘Song Lines’ whereby melodies and rhythms are created by tracing the rise and fall of horizons within a landscape. This is a musical way of reconnecting with the earth and the hidden melodies and rhythms that are contained on her. By utilizing and integrating traditional approaches to music composition Digging Roots have also combined western and eastern approaches to their compositions. Reflective of a contemporary Indigenous identity their music is equally expressive of a global human experience as they connect with audiences on this musical and humanistic basis.

Their latest JUNO nominated album ‘For The Light’ brings more global-blues infused songs and audience ‘round dances’ to their national and international tours.

For the last year, Digging Roots have been in studios from Australia to Canada producing their latest album ‘Zhawenim (To Love Unconditionally)’ and they have released a single and video for their song ‘AK-47’ which explores the concept of love as a weapon in reclaiming our humanity. Digging Roots is a musical group that balances femininity and masculinity with Indigenous traditions and modern aesthetics. Their goal is to engage wider audiences to promote their Anishinabek music and cultural ideals.

 

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