DARKNESS AND LIGHT AT POP MONTREAL
While very different, Pimienta, Backxwash both nominated for Polaris Music Prize
One is inspired by beauty, the other by despair. Both make defiantly personal music that speaks to their truth, and are changing the Canadian music landscape.
Colombian-canadian singer-songwriter Lido Pimienta and Zambian-canadian metal-rapper Backxwash are finalists for this year's Polaris Music Prize. And both are playing POP Montreal.
Pimienta won the Polaris Music Prize in 2017, for her breakthrough album La Papessa. She's back with Miss Colombia, a swirling mix of cumbia, electronics and lush orchestration. But don't be fooled by her dazzlingly pretty, deftly fluttering voice, or the entrancing musicality of the songs.
“It is really beautiful, this album,” Pimienta acknowledged, on the phone from her Toronto home.
“But it's also heartbreaking. Miss Colombia is my `I have arrived' card. It's a story I've been writing all my life. It's this nostalgic, painful wound that people are able to see now, that I'm still in the process of healing. The things I'm singing about now are still happening in Colombia, and still resonate for me.”
She points to Eso Que Tu Haces, a sparkling hymn riding a gently chugging cumbia beat, which opens into an expansive chorus in which her vocals soar over anthemic horns.
“In the lyrics, I'm saying, `That thing you're doing is not love,' ” she explained. “It's very much a direct message to governments, specifically the Colombian government, when they're displaying culture for their benefit but not investing in culture, they're segregating communities and doing anything in their power to exploit resources.
“Yet when there's a celebration or carnival or any cultural event, they're like, `Yes, here, beautiful
Black people and Indigenous people,' much like what happens in Canada. When the Queen of England comes to visit, they bring out the Indians. That's not pride; that's humiliation.”
Pimienta will make the trip from Toronto to play a socially distanced, limited-capacity headlining show for POP Montreal, Sept. 26 at 9 p.m. at the Rialto Theatre. (Like all this year's POP shows, it will also be streamed live online.)
For the singer-songwriter, who identifies as queer and is of Afro-colombian and Wayuu descent, protest is a way of life.
“I'm an artist who comes from exploited communities on my mother and father's side,” she said. “All I know is to make something beautiful out of something horrific. That's the way I'm able to resist. When I see people uprising, I think it's wonderful, beautiful.”
Backxwash embraces the dark side full-on. The Montreal-based trans artist, whose real name is Ashanti Mutinta, shocked listeners awake with her second album, God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out of It.
It's a blistering mix of aggro rap, lugubrious heavy metal and industrial sounds. The opening track samples Ozzy Osbourne (moaning, “Oh no, no, please God help me”), and finds Mutinta rhyming about dark thoughts and suicidal tendencies.
The lyrics, like the music, are a pure form of honest expression. Mutinta is surprised that her outburst of candour made her a contender for Canada's most prestigious music prize. (This year's Polaris prize will be handed out on Oct. 19.)
“I was just putting out music, without a solid plan,” she said. “I didn't expect it to go this far. It came out at the right moment; it was a time where I thought I should try to be as honest as possible . ... It was also a harsh time. (I was having) thoughts of depression, suicidal thoughts, dysphoria and just feeling really down, trapped and really, really messed up.
“I think it's something I always struggled with, and for the first time it came out in the music. These are thoughts I always have, so being able to hear them out of my mouth for the first time through raps is a bit weird. It's like, `Wow, this is exactly how you think. You should probably get help for that.' ”
Mutinta performs a sold-out show Sept. 26 at 6:30 p.m. on the Rialto rooftop, which will also be streamed live at popmontreal. com.
God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out of It is available on Bandcamp, but was recently removed from Spotify, leaving some to wonder if sample clearances were an issue.
“I prefer not to comment for now,” Mutinta said with a chuckle when asked about it.
While she is challenging the status quo just by her very presence, she hopes to continue to do so through her music as well. The darker, the better.
“I just want to express everything that's on my mind, to be able to make sounds to bring new narratives that have never been brought before. Horror is just a really dope genre, and a perfect medium for discussing topics that people might deem uncomfortable.”
THREE OTHER SHOWS TO SEE AT POP MONTREAL
■ Jeremy Dutcher (Thursday, Sept. 24, 6:30 p.m., Rialto rooftop). An operatic tenor and member of the Wolastoq First Nation, the formerly Toronto-based singer-songwriter-pianist has called Montreal home for the past year. Winner of the 2018 Polaris Music Prize, Dutcher identifies as two-spirit. His music mixes archival recordings of traditional Maliseet songs with classical, electronic and pop elements. The show is sold out, but — as with all POP performances this year — will be streamed live.
■ Land of Talk (Thursday, Sept. 24, 9 p.m., Rialto Theatre, $10). Elizabeth Powell is a Montrealer again — amen to that! The new Land of Talk album, Indistinct Conversations, finds the singer-songwriter-guitarist exploring the ethereal realms of indie rock, her nimble voice imbued with stirring layers of emotion.
■ Thanya Iyer (Friday, Sept. 25, 5 p.m., Rialto Theatre, $5). Singer-songwriter-violinist Iyer mixes baroque pop, jazz improv and electronic textures on her second album, KIND. It's a dreamy, introspective affair that drifts through lyrical themes of healing, racism and living with disability.