World Music

Pavlo strings the world along

Toronto guitar master’s expanded global sound gets special showcase at Roy Thomson Hall Self-made guitar star Pavlo Simtikidis relaxes in Toronto on the Danforth. Nick Krewen  Special to the Star Published on Wed Feb 22 2012 Pavlo Simtikidis is not a man who operates by convention. For example, the 42-year-old master guitarist, who specializes in Mediterranean-style instrumentals and will be performing selections from his ninth album Six String Blvd, at Roy…


Sultans Of String see their world expand

Entertainment / Music Band playing Saturday on rise, despite any confusion about its name.    Sultans of String: Chris McKhool, centre. Nick Krewen Special to the Star Published on Wed Oct 26 2011 Fair warning to all those recording artists — aspiring and otherwise — who decide to name their unit after a hit song: be prepared to tolerate some confusion. Not that anyone would mistake Sultans of String‘s lively rumba and…


Rihanna’s first headlining show dark and steamy

Rihanna’s first headlining show dark and steamy | Toronto Star Welcome to her nightmares. Nick Krewen Special to the Star Published on Fri Aug 06 2010   Welcome to her nightmares. Psychiatrists would have a field day trying to figure out the meaning and the metaphors for what is going inside Rihanna’s head after what she unloaded on the Molson Amphitheatre audience Thursday night. For her first headlining show, The…


Yat-Kha grabs them by the throat

Nick Krewen For The Record   When they perform at the Guelph Spring Festival Saturday, Yat-Kha is hoping to grab you by their throats. Albert Kuvezin leads the four-man throat-singing collective known as Yat-Kha. Based out of Tuva, located in the mountainous regions of Asia between Mongolia and the former Soviet Union, Yat-Kha specializes in the ancient artform that dates back thousands of years. Kuvezin says throat-singing is easier to…


Loreena McKennitt sets up Water Safety charity

  Nick Krewen For The Record May 19, 1999   TORONTO: Lorenna McKennitt learned about the importance of water safety the hard way. McKennitt, the world renown Stratford based singer and songwriter, was mixing her live album last July at Peter Gabriel‘s Real World Studios in Bath, England when she received word that her fiancé, his brother and a friend were missing after a boating accident in Nottawasaga Bay, near…