Your Community Newspaper
Jeff Leiper
A toll booth on Richmond Road? You’d better believe it.
City Councillor Conseiller municipal
Westfest is moving to a new home
613 366 1803
PAGE 9
PAGE 5
613.580.2485
The Company Friends & Family Recommend
22 Pretoria Avenue www.lambden.com
kitchissippiward.ca
jeff leiper - councillor ad.indd 1
15-01-12 8:13 PM
kitchissippi.com
The Spirit of Kitchissippi
October 15, 2015
Kathy Armstrong established the Baobab Community in 1990 to teach West African drumming, dancing, and singing. This year marks Baobab’s 20th anniversary. Photo by Kate Settle
The beat goes on
BRAIN BOOSTER
BUY NOTHING
Get to know a new side of Stephen King
Save money and the environment on FB
Five things you should know about Kathy Armstrong By Bhavana Gopinath
Kathy Armstrong’s life beats to the rhythm of Ghanaian drums. Armstrong has trained as a classical percussionist and music educator, receiving her BMus. and MMus. degrees from the University of Toronto, and is presently researching drumming as music therapy. In the 80s, Toronto was a hotspot for
world music, with Peter Gabriel’s WOMAD Festival (the first outside the UK). Exposed to several influences, Armstrong found herself drawn to Ghanaian drumming. Unlike traditional Western classical percussion, Ghanaian drumming doesn’t have a downbeat. Rather than acting as an anchor, the drumbeats form a perpetual cycle that moves all the time. Different
rhythms emerge; patterns overlap and shift. Performers need to be confident about their part in the overall sequence, and also fit in to form a cohesive whole. The music pulls in the audience, so the lines between audience and performer become blurry. The performers’ experiences as they play permeate into the audience. Continued on page 3
SEE PAGE 12
SEE PAGE 7