Women's Blues Revue Preview
Diana B
Diana Braithwaite, a powerful, soulful singer, is one of the artists featured at the Women's Blues Revue at the Danforth Music Hall on November 23. Braithwaite's latest CD, blues dance, should appeal to blues traditionalists as well as listeners who appreciate an artist who stretches the form.
Diana Braithwaite grew up surrounded by her musical family and for the past two years her home has been filled with music once again as 50 new blues songs came to life there.
Braithwaite is a singer, songwriter and a Gemini Award-winning scriptwriter, who put her unfinished scripts aside while her days and evenings were taken up with songwriting. "I find that the best thing is to focus on one thing at a time," she says.
That couple of years of creativity has led to the release of ten of the new songs on Braithwaite's latest CD, blues dance, an independent recording made with some of the city's top players, including saxophonist Dougie , keyboard players Kingsley Ettienne and Denis Daoust, bassist Alec Fraser, guitarist Jack de Keyzer, drummer Ed White and percussionist Armando Borg. Recorded at August Night Music, the CD was produced by Braithwaite and Daoust, who was also the engineer.
Braithwaite is a traditionalist who's not afraid to experiment. Blues dance should appeal to blues traditionalists because, as she says, she tries to write songs that are "authentic and follow the form that has been established that makes blues blues," as well as listeners who appreciate an artist who stretches the form. "Train" and "Tow The Line," on the new CD, are straight-ahead blues, "Rockin' Nubian" is rockin' blues, "Fallin' Rain" is rooted in spirituals, "Groovy" is funky and jazzy and "Blues Dance," a tribute to the giants of the blues, incorporates African rhythms.
Braithwaite's two previous recordings, Carry My Name and In This Time, are solo efforts in the singer/songwriter vein that include traditional music, folk and originals, many of which focus on social issues. "I've always tried not to limit myself as an artist and that way I found what I'm good at," she says. "All that work brought great integrity to my work now."
A powerful singer who's featured at the Women's Blues Revue at the Danforth Music Hall on November 23, Braithwaite has performed at prestigious festivals and clubs around the world and has shared bills with John Lee Hooker, Jeff Healey, Albert Collins and Robert Cray.
In 1999, she sang for a crowd of 18,000, her largest audience to date, at Toronto's Molson Amphitheatre, as part of Lilith Fair. "I was very surprised that I won that opening spot as I was older than most of the women there," she says. "The feedback from the jury was that they were really impressed with my tape and competitive performance."
Braithwaite started singing gospel and country blues at the age of five, performing at churches and hospitals in a trio with her two older brothers Victor and Cecil. As a child, she studied piano, which she played for her appreciative grandmother. Her brothers grew up to become musicians and recently her mother, Rella, taught herself piano and now sings and plays. "Music is a big part of our family," Braithwaite says.
Braithwaite's ancestors are originally from the Southern United States. Four generations ago, through the Underground Railroad, they made their way north to North Carolina and Pennsylvania and from there they came to Canada, settling in Southern Ontario.
A Torontonian by birth, Braithwaite has often travelled to places in the U.S. and Africa, in search of her roots and, most recently, visited Listowel, Ontario, her mother's birthplace. "History has been a lifelong thing for me," she says. "I've discovered my roots. I'm always learning more about my own past."
Braithwaite says she got a chance to research her roots while working on two books, Some Black Women and Some Black Men, with her mother who is a writer.
Following in her mother's footsteps, Braithwaite has written for theatre and film. Her script for the film Gracie won a Gemini Award. She's been able to devote herself to music recently as her three children are grown and she's able to go on tour.
Braithwaite sees a parallel between scriptwriting and songwriting. "Once you're a writer, whatever medium you choose, you're always doing the same thing. From songwriting it was easy to go to scriptwriting, she says. "It's about telling a good story. You can do it with a song or you can do it with a play."
She considers the creation of a song, from the first bits of melody and lyrics that come to her, to the final result, with the instrumentals and vocal in place, a spiritual process.
A perfectionist, Braithwaite "put in a lot of time and patience to make her songs "entertaining and reflective of the blues," she says.
"Blues is important music and I hope that I'm making a contribution by telling my story through a music that has been with us for generations."
- Ruth Schweitzer
Blues dance can be purchased through Brathwaite's Web site: www.geocities.com/dianabraithwaite