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Peace on 9/11
BILL BROWNSTEIN
The Gazette
Friday, September 9, 2005
The second Rhythms of the World festival marches into the weekend with musical, visual and culinary tributes to Africa today and the Americas tomorrow, but the buildup is already beginning for the event finale on Sunday, Cultural Harmony Day at Place du Canada. Though the day was designed to pay tribute to all the city's cultural communities, fest director Tania Tassone also has another objective.
"The date is extremely significant - but in the minds of most, 9/11 has only negative connotations," Tassone says. "We would dearly love to turn that around and put the focus on peace and harmony for this 9/11 and all those to come. Maybe our idealism is naive, but it's a small step and where better but Montreal, a city of so many cultures coexisting together, to pull it all off."
Tassone, 24, is a newcomer to the city festival scene, but her "naive idealism" is a refreshing departure from the rampant cynicism and backstabbing that have plagued so many of our other cultural events. And she's doing it pro bono - words that members of all cultural communities know only too well.
"More money and manpower would be nice, but that's to be expected starting out," she says.
Regardless, Tassone knows how to stretch the fest's $100,000 budget. In addition to landing 25 artists from 15 countries to perform over this five-day fete, she has lined up local restaurateurs and sponsors for the cause.
Sunday's Cultural Harmony Day will feature an array of workshops - from mask-making to merengue classes, tae kwon do demos to tam-tam banging - and concerts, featuring the Afro-Brazilian percussion ensemble Zuruba, the Rwandan dance troupe Isangano and the funk of S.H.A.R.O.N. Plus, there will be a giant mural painting, in which everyone there can express their views of multiculturalism on canvas. Fittingly, there will also be a massive barbecue, with Italian, Portuguese and Hungarian sausages on the menu.
"Events during the day are geared to kids and their families," Tassone says. "Coexistence all begins with kids. They tend to be more open and accepting in interacting with kids of different backgrounds."
Grownups can celebrate Cultural Harmony Day with the Jazz of the World bash Sunday at 8 p.m. at the House of Jazz. The concert will live up to the festival theme by fusing the talents of Quebecer Alex Bellegarde, Armenian Arden Arapyan and Haitian Evans Baptiste.
Big kids would also do well to check the Afro-Antillean sounds of the Harold Faustin Quintet and Samina tonight at 10:30 and the pulsating Cuban strains of Los Tumbadores tomorrow at 10:30 p.m. at the House of Jazz.
Rhythms of the World Festival ends Sunday. Contact (514) 789-2050 or www.rhythms.tv
bbrownst@thegazette.canwest.com
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2005
