Quebec composer Jean-Michel Blais is doing something extremely unlikely in 2018 — making classical piano cool again. He also suffers from Tourette Syndrome, and in this interview, he discusses how it affects him.
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Good Friday
Good Friday
June 4, 2018
by Karen Bliss
“Reminding Me” singer Shawn Hook and “Marching Bands” EDM-pop act Neon Dreams will be touring together this fall on a 17-date Canadian tour, with a dollar from each ticket sale going to We Charity, formerly known as Free the Children.
May 25, 2018
by Karen Bliss
George Thorogood doesn’t call donating money to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society “charity.” He calls it “a tragedy.”
May 18, 2018
by Aaron Brophy
Tegan and Sara are sending more than 100 young people to LGBTQ camp this summer in the U.S. and Canada for a total cost of about US$100,000 and have invited the public to help make that dream a reality.
May 11, 2018
by Aaron Brophy
Celebrating its 25th year together, Billy Talent has launched an innovative trust as a means of giving back to various organizations the band members wish to support.
April 19, 2018
by Karen Bliss
The Slaight Family Foundation has provided more than $200-million in grants to humanitarian and cultural organizations in Canada and beyond. SamaritanMag's Karen Bliss sat with the Foundation's CEO for a frank discussion about the family's philanthropy and his own unbridled passion in supporting Canada's upcoming tier of musicians and songwriters.
April 13, 2018
by Karen Bliss
Michael Barclay — who wrote extensively about The Hip's final tour in 2016 for Maclean's magazine, and co-authored 2001 and 2011’s Have Not Been the Same: The Can-Rock Renaissance 1985-1995 — has always selected a charity or two for his book projects and this one is no different.
April 6, 2018
by Kim Hughes
Few bands mesh the political with the personal, the altruistic with the artistic, quite like Rosie & the Riveters. With their honeyed vocal harmonies, vintage 40s-era look, and conscious lyrics, the Saskatoon-based trio is fast emerging as a folk/pop icon for the age.
March 23, 2018
by Aaron Brophy
"I would hope that many people would have stood up and stood up against extremists, against not just the extremists, not just the people, but against the ideology because that's what we have to fight against: the ideology that exists there that does not accept women as equal to men..."
March 9, 2018
by Kim Hughes
"I tend to gravitate towards women in history. There are just so many untold stories, especially in Canadian history..."
January 26, 2018
by Nick Krewen
The 30-year-old LA-based Atlantic Records signing bravely sang about her own experience of sexual abuse and harassment in the ballad “Quiet,” which fanned the flames of the #METOO Movement when she performed it at the 2017 Women’s March on Washington.
January 19, 2018
by Aaron Brophy
Montreal-based nine-piece soul-pop band Busty and the Bass is using its newfound clout to launch an on-the-ground, in-the-schools’ music education initiative.