Episode 4: in concert: Shumaila Hemani and Arts&Crafts (Lydia Pineau with Chris Dadge)

Pre-Recorded Concert broadcast from cjsw studios on january 5th, 2021.

Shumaila Hemani is an Edmonton-based Sufi singer-songwriter, acousmatic composer, and ethnomusicologist. As a singer, Shumaila crosses genre boundaries while remaining rooted in Pakistani songs of Muslim heritage. She has performed at the World Odyssey (2020), Femme Wave Festival (2019), Canada’s Music Incubator (2019), the University of Alberta (2016), and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (2015).

Shumaila’s acousmatic compositions, Supplication and Sarang: Perils of Heavy Rainfall were premiered at Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM)’s 2020 Virtual Conference. Perils of Heavy Rainfall received Second Prize at the Listening to COVID Contest, hosted by the Canadian Association for Acoustic Ecology. Her research expertise in sounds of religion has been awarded First Prize at the Society for Ethnomusicology meeting (2017), and the Frank Henderson Prize in the study of Women and Religion.

Calgary Herald described Shumaila’s music as “mesmerizing,” and “emotionally nerve-striking,” carrying “vocal virtuosity,” and “expressing radically different inner existential visions,” (2015). Edmonton Journal has recognized Hemani’s music for enriching the city’s cultural life.

Lydia Pineau is a Calgary-based multi-instrumentalist, improviser, composer, and self-produced artist, exploring the worlds of both visual and auditory art. She is a frequent participant in the Bug Incision concert series performances; a member of Chris Dadge’s band Circular Sparrow; and has her own project under the name Arts&Crafts, which is an experimental improv project utilizing many types of instruments and sounds from around the world to create ambient and noisey soundscapes.

Chris Dadge is also a Calgary-based artist. He founded Bug Incision in 2005, which he operates as a record label and concert series, and records and produces music for many people. Dadge is the co-leader of the band Lab Coast, plays in the backing bands of Chad VanGaalen and Samantha Savage Smith, and for the better part of the last two decades has delved into the worlds of jazz and free improvisation with Scott “Monty” Munro as the Bent Spoon Duo.

Lydia will be pairing up with Dadge for Arts&Crafts’ debut public performance. They will both be using multiple instruments involving electronics, wind/brass, tape machines, percussion, and strings, recorded with analog gear to capture a rustic and imperfect sound that reflects the soul of the project.