Masala Canada - Saturday, January 28th 2012

Conversations with Roger Augustine and Supinder Wraich

MASALA CANADA with WOJTEK GWIAZDA

On this edition of MASALA CANADA we’ll examine the state of relations between Canada and its indigenous peoples, and in particular the results of the Crown-First Nations Gathering in Ottawa, this past Monday and Tuesday. The meeting between Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper, along with some of his ministers, and the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Shawn A-in-chut Atleo, and First Nation chiefs from across the country, raised both expectations and cynicism within Canada’s indigenous communities.

We talk to Chief Roger Augustine, Regional Chief for the Atlantic coast provinces of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island at the Assembly of First Nations, about the meeting, and about the expectations, mistrust, and hope among Canada’s indigenous people.

Then a conversation with Toronto actor Supinder Wraich who co-stars in a new interactive web series called “Guidestones”. The story is intriguing: it’s about a real monument in the American State of Georgia – called the Guidestones. And in eight languages, including Sanskrit and Hindi, it gives guidelines for rebuilding civilization after an apocalypse.

Supinder Wraich plays the role of a journalism exchange student from Delhi studying in Toronto, and the deepening mystery she gets involved with in investigating a murder, a global conspiracy and the Guidestones. The series opens on February 2nd on the web.

WEB LINKS:
Assembly of First Nations website – www.afn.ca
Shawn Mativetsky music and info – www.shawnmativetsky.com
Guidestones website – www.guidestones.org
 

View

Masala Canada - Saturday, January 21st 2012

Conversations with Ravi Jain and Janak Khendry

MASALA CANADA with WOJTEK GWIAZDA

On this edition of MASALA CANADA we’ll talk to Toronto actor and theatre director Ravi Jain. As the Artistic Director of “Why Not Theatre” he has explored many different approaches to creating a stage experience. In his new play “Brimful of Asha”, he acts and is, the son of his co-star, his real life mother, Asha. The subject of the play is arranged marriages, and that it’s time for Ravi to get married. We also discuss the fact that even though his mother co-stars in the play, she is not an actor, and what that has taught Ravi Jain about acting. The play opens at Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre this Thursday, January 26^th, and closes February 18th .

Then a wonderful exploration of the concept of time with Toronto dancer and choreographer Janak Khendry, the Founder and Artistic Director of the Janak Khendry Dance Company. This year the company celebrates its 33^rd anniversary with a rather remarkable exploration. An exploration of time, of the concept of time, of what has happened, and what will happen – all this through the movements of 14 dancers. This dance exploration is called “Kaal” (Time) and will be presented this coming Thursday to Saturday, January 26^th to 28^th, at the Fleck Dance Theatre at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre.

WEB LINKS:

Why Not Theatre website – www.theatrewhynot.org

Jamie Parker / Gryphon Trio info – http://www.gryphontrio.com/bio_jamie.php

LAL music and info – www.lalforest.com

Janak Khendry Dance Company website – www.jkdanceco.org

View

Masala Canada - Saturday, January 14th 2012

Conversations with Noa Mendelsohn Aviv and Nayan Sthankiya

MASALA CANADA with WOJTEK GWIAZDA

On this edition of MASALA CANADA we’ll talk about a Canadian government fugitive list put out by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). The list includes some of the people the agency wants to deport from Canada for allegedly being war criminals, or for a number of other alleged offences. We discuss the civil liberty issues that this list raises with Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, the Director of the Equality Program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA).

Then I have a fascinating and wide ranging conversation with freelance photojournalist Nayan Sthankiya. For the past 11 years he’s been travelling the world, documenting natural disasters, wars, and the beauty of the world for such publications as the New York Times, The Guardian, Canada’s Maclean’s Magazine and Canadian Geographic. We’ll talk about how he approaches photography – whether it’s photographing Canadian writer Yann Martel, or taking photos after an earthquake in Pakistan. We'll also discuss the state of photojournalism, and the advantages and disadvantages of being based in our western Canadian city of Saskatoon, as opposed to key big cities like Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver.

WEB LINKS:

Canada Border Services Agency – www.cbsa.gc.ca

Canadian Civil Liberties Association – www.ccla.org

Raghav music and info – www.raghav.com

Harry Manx music and info – www.harrymanx.com

Nayan Sthankiya photos and info – www.nayansthankiya.com

View

Masala Canada - Saturday, January 7th 2012

Conversations with Dennis Gruending and Gabriel Dharmoo

MASALA CANADA with WOJTEK GWIAZDA

On this edition of MASALA CANADA we’ll talk about politics and religion in Canada with Ottawa-based author Dennis Gruending. He is a former journalist, a former Director of Information for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. He’s been a Member of Parliament, and is the author of a number of books. His latest, released this past autumn, is titled “Pulpit and Politics: Competing Religious Ideologies in Canadian Public Life”. We discuss the alliances and antagonism among religious groups, the issues that unite many religious activists, and the approach of Canada’s ruling Conservative government towards the different political tendencies among them.

Then I talk to Montreal contemporary classical music composer Gabriel Dharmoo, who this Monday, January 9^th, will perform a solo Carnatic Cello Concert at the Arkay Convention Centre in Chennai. For the past three months he’s been studying the Carnatic music approach of Indian classical music. It’s a music with a strong emphasis on singing, even if it’s interpreted by instruments. What Gabriel Dharmoo is doing is trying to understand the music as a composer, through playing the music, and on a very western instrument, the cello. Monday he’ll share that experience with an audience in Chennai.

(Photo by Paul Neudorf)

WEB LINKS:

Dennis Gruending blog – www.dennisgruending.ca

Beats on Canvas music and info – www.beatsoncanvas.com

Brigitte Boisjoli music and info – www.brigitteboisjoli.ca

Gabriel Dharmoo, Monday 7PM concert info– here

Gabriel Dharmoo music and info – www.gabrieldharmoo.org

View

Masala Canada - Saturday, December 31st 2011

Conversations with Scott Taylor, Michael Lewis, and Farzana Doctor

MASALA CANADA with WOJTEK GWIAZDA

On this edition of MASALA CANADA (originally broadcast April 9, 2011) I talk to former Canadian soldier and now journalist Scott Taylor about his television documentary “Afghanistan: Outside the Wire”. Produced for Canada’s privately owned public affairs and parliamentary cable TV network CPAC.  It’s an attempt to bring the point of view of Afghans to a Canadian audience.

Toronto painter Michael Lewis shares with us his vision and his images, what one reviewer described this way: “Michael Lewis’s grimly funny paintings evoke the great economic unravelling”. We talk about his approach, his themes, and the new approach he’s now undertaken. He was one of the featured artists at the Art Gallery of Mississauga’s “Sorting Daemons – Art, Surveillance Regimes, and Social Control” exhibition.

And Toronto author, psychotherapist and activist, Farzana Doctor talks about her new novel, “Six Metres of Pavement”. It’s about a middle aged South Asian man in Toronto, almost destroyed by tragedy, who finds his life changed by a Portuguese-Canadian widow, and a young queer South Asian woman, who’s the age of his dead daughter.

WEB LINKS:

Afghanistan: Outside the Wire documentary – here

Esprit de Corps magazine – www.espritdecorps.ca

SAN music and info – www.myspace.com/sanmusictm

Michael Lewis paintings - www3.sympatico.ca/mlew

Art Gallery of Mississauga – www.artgalleryofmississauga.com

Chin Injeti music and info – www.myspace.com/chininjeti

Farzana Doctor website – www.farzanadoctor.com

Six Metres of Pavement webpage – here

View

Masala Canada - Saturday, December 24th 2011

Conversations with Robert Fox and Ron Deibert

MASALA CANADA with WOJTEK GWIAZDA

On this edition of MASALA CANADA (originally broadcast November 12, 2011) I talk to Robert Fox, the Executive Director of the international aid organization Oxfam Canada. He describes the crisis flood situation in Pakistan, and the lack of urgency and funding from world governments for relief aid for the millions affected in Pakistan. This past November Oxfam, along with three other aid agencies, warned some of the relief work may have to stop after December because more money is not being made available.

And I talk to Dr Ron Deibert, the Director of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. The Citizen Lab focuses on the surveillance of the Internet by governments, on cyber warfare, and on privacy and human rights issues on the Internet. We’ll discuss his concerns about these issues and the tendency of people to transfer their data from their computers and other devices to the computers of “cloud-computing” providers.

WEB LINKS:

Oxfam Canada website – www.oxfam.ca

Rebecca Nazz music and info – www.myspace.com/rebeccanazz

Citizen Lab website – www.citizenlab.org

View

Masala Canada - Saturday, December 17th 2011

Conversations with Maureen O'Neil, Swati Sharan, Mahmuda Aldeen

MASALA CANADA with WOJTEK GWIAZDA

On this edition of MASALA CANADA we’ll talk about a Canadian agricultural economist who played a huge role in Canada’s support of science and technology in developing nations. His name is W. David Hopper, and he died last month at the age of 84. But his legacy continues as we’ll hear from Maureen O’Neill, a former president of Canada’s IDRC – the International Development Research Centre. Hopper was the first president of the IDRC. His presence at the centre was thanks to a number of people who believed in his vision, including former Canadian Prime Minister and Nobel Peace prize winner, Lester B. Pearson.

Then a conversation with Toronto social activist and freelance writer Swati Sharan who’s organizing a special event this Sunday, December 18^th in Toronto. She’s asking people to come pray for peace between India and Pakistan. And if they can’t come downtown, she wants people to take 30 seconds to say a prayer for peace. This is part of an international pray for peace initiative.

And Mahmuda Aldeen, a program officer with the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, will tell us about this year’s competition for the best paper on India by a Canadian university student. There are three prizes: one for undergraduate university students, one for graduate students, and one for a paper in French on India. The deadline for applications is January 16, 2011.

WEB LINKS:

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) – www.idrc.ca

Information on David Hopper – IDRC – here

Anuj Rastogi music and info – www.omnesia.com

Zameer music and info – www.zameermusic.com

Chin Injeti music and info – www.myspace.com/chininjeti

Pray for Peace Between India and Pakistan – www.facebook.com/PrayPeace

Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute – www.sici.org

Lal Bahadur Shastri Student Prize info – here

View

Masala Canada - Saturday, December 10th 2011

Conversations with Chantal Bernier, Sukanya Pillay, Peter St. John and Mita Naidu

MASALA CANADA with WOJTEK GWIAZDA

On this edition of MASALA CANADA - days after Canada’s Prime Minster Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama announced an agreement to control the flow of goods and people between Canada and the United States, we talk to a number of people about the privacy, civil liberty, and security issues raised by this agreement. This North American security perimeter deal will share huge amounts of information on citizens of each of our countries.

Canada’s Assistant Privacy Commissioner Chantal Bernier talks about some of the privacy issues the Office of the Privacy Commissioner will be examining, as the details of this agreement are elaborated.

Even before this new Canadian-American deal was announced, civil liberty questions were raised by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association along with the American Civil Liberties Union. Sukanya Pillay is the Director of the National Security Program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

So if the security perimeter agreement will allow for the sharing of lots more information, will we be safer in Canada and the United States? That’s what I asked Peter St. John, a retired professor of international relations who teaches at Canada’s University of Manitoba and elsewhere. He is an intelligence and terrorism expert, and the author of the 1991 book, “Air Piracy, Airport Security, and International Terrorism”.

And finally, a fascinating conversation with multi-talented Vancouver fashion designer Mita Naidu. She’s the founder of Lotus Eye, and has created an edgy mix of Indian and western styles which is making inroads into mainstream Canada.

WEB LINKS:

Privacy Commissioner of Canada – www.priv.gc.ca

Canadian Civil Liberties Association – www.ccla.org

Peter St. John info -  here

Mita Naidu’s Lotus Eye on Facebook – here

View

Masala Canada - Saturday, December 3rd 2011

Conversations with Naveen Girn and Sathy Rajasekharan

MASALA CANADA with WOJTEK GWIAZDA

On this edition of MASALA CANADA I talk to Naveen Girn, a cultural researcher at Simon Fraser University. He’s a guest curator of a unique exhibition at the Museum of Vancouver called “Bhangra Me: Vancouver’s Bhangra Story”. The exhibition started this past May, and is the result of a collaboration between the museum and the Vancouver International Bhangra Celebration (VIBC) which hosts annual bhangra music festivals and dance competitions.

The “Bhangra Me” exhibition not only focuses on music and dance, but also on what Girn calls the soundtrack of Vancouver’s history, and the history of South Asians in the city and Canada. It also discovered how present Bhangra was over the past few decades, including being used to organize Canadian farmworkers. As well, the Bhangra sound of Vancouver is unique, and different from that of India or the UK and yet, shows their influences, as well as those of other music such as hip hop.

And I talk to Sathy Rajasekharan, the Chair of the Montreal Business Council, of the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce. The Council is organizing an event this Thursday, December 8^th, called “Back from India”. It’s following up on other events that focussed on preparing people to do business or connect with India. This event takes advantage of the experience of Canadians who have already been to India, and who will talk about their experiences. We’ll also talk about some of the advantages of being based in the predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec, as far as promoting Canada-India relations.

WEB LINKS:

Bhangra Me website – www.bhangra.me

Museum of Vancouver – Bhangra Me page – here

Delhi2Dublin music and info – www.delhi2dublin.com

En Karma music and info – www.enkarma.ca

Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce – www.iccc.org

View

Masala Canada - Saturday, November 26th 2011

Conversations with Gary Thandi and Vivek Shraya

MASALA CANADA with WOJTEK GWIAZDA

On this edition of MASALA CANADA I talk to Gary Thandi, the lead researcher on a report just released this past week by the Justice Institute of British Columbia. It’s called “This is a man’s problem: Strategies for working with South Asian male perpetrators of intimate partner violence”.

The study is the result of extensive interviews with 17 frontline workers: counsellors, social workers, police and probation officers who have extensive experience in dealing with the issue of domestic violence in the South Asian community. Thandi also spoke with men who had committed violence and were getting help to deal with the issue of male violence. Among the recommendations of the report: a need to understand family violence within the context of the South Asian community.

And Toronto singer-songwriter-musician Vivek Shraya, who’s also a filmmaker and writer, talks about his just released EP of six songs 1:1. It’s a change in his musical approach from electronic to acoustic. But an acoustic sound that is full and lush. The EP also examines a lot of issues: aging, self preservation and self assessment in a personal and accessible way. (Photo: www.zacharyayotte.com )

WEB LINKS:

Justice Institute of British Columbia – www.jibc.ca

“This is a man’s problem” report – here

Vivek Shraya music and info – www.vivekshraya.com

View