{"id":28496,"date":"2018-04-20T03:47:22","date_gmt":"2018-04-20T10:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=28496"},"modified":"2018-04-18T16:05:05","modified_gmt":"2018-04-18T23:05:05","slug":"music-from-around-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2018\/04\/20\/music-from-around-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Music from around the world"},"content":{"rendered":"

Local group MNGWA helps open the World Music Festival on April 26. (photo from <\/em><\/strong>Vancouver World Music Festival)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Vancouver World Music Festival celebrates cultural diversity through music, and world-class musicians from Mexico, Brazil, Africa, Spain, the United States and Canada are participating in this year\u2019s festival, which runs April 26-29. Among them is local group MNGWA (pronounced Ming-Wah).<\/p>\n

The festival was founded in 2014 by Tom Landa and Robin Layne, both friends and members of the band Locarno. Their belief is that music can help heal, educate and transform society, leading to better cultural understanding.<\/p>\n

Rooted in Afro-Latin and cumbia rhythms, MNGWA mixes elements of psych rock, surf, salsa, reggae and hip-hop into one polyrhythmic pot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started the band about five years ago,\u201d band member Anton Ayzikovsky told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cToday, we have eight core members: five from the former USSR, two originally from Mexico, and one born Canadian. At first, we were nameless. Then we chose the name MNGWA. It is not an acronym. Mngwa<\/em> is a mythical African cat from Tanzanian legends. Nobody ever saw it, but everyone was afraid of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Descriptions on the internet compare a mngwa to a leopard, although the former is apparently much larger, the size of a donkey, with brindled grey fur and a ferocious temperament.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur music has African, as well as Latin rhythms, so we wanted to find a name that would emphasize that connection,\u201d fellow band member Boris Mandlis explained. \u201cOne of our players, our music director Nick Lagasse, is a radio host on CJSF radio. Once a week, he goes on air with his program, Wandering Rhythms<\/em>, selects a country and plays the native bands from that country. He suggested the name MNGWA, and we all loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ensemble draws inspiration for their music from many and varied folk traditions. They are well known on the local festival circuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe play at festivals and venues all around British Columbia,\u201d said Ayzikovsky. \u201cUsually, it is only during spring, summer and fall. We could have played more often, every week, if we wanted to, but, for all of us, the band and the music is a hobby, not a profession. We do it for fun. We like to see people dancing to our music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Professionally, Ayzikovsky is an engineer, while Mandlis is a web designer. Besides their university educations and high-tech jobs, there are other similarities between the two musicians. Both of them immigrated to Canada from Russia via Israel: Mandlis, 10 years ago; Ayzikovsky, 15. Both play percussion instruments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI play congas, a Latin American percussion,\u201d Mandlis said. \u201cI started learning it about 10 years ago, when I still lived in Israel. I played drums as a kid in Russia. As an adult, I liked listening to Latin music, especially when congas played. Finally I thought, why not learn to play it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ayzikovsky started playing drums as a child in Russia. \u201cMy mom is a piano teacher, but I never wanted to play piano,\u201d he said. \u201cI fell in love with percussions at school and have been playing drums as an amateur with many bands over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ayzikovsky and Mandlis met through their individual music, and the beginning of MNGWA was sparked by a strange coincidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had played together only once before that time,\u201d Mandlis recalled. \u201cOn that day, we played for awhile, then took a break. There were seven of us and, for some reason, we decided to play this children\u2019s game, Rock-Paper-Scissors. And we all threw scissors simultaneously. All seven of us. I\u2019d say that showed some kindred spirits.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group has been together ever since, and most of their projects \u2013 new music and lyrics \u2013 are collaborations.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone comes up with an idea or a tune,\u201d Ayzikovsky explained. \u201cOften it is Nick Lagasse. Then we jam together. Nick also writes lyrics, he or Blanca [Escobar] or some of the others.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of their songs on YouTube, \u201cLa Rumba de Kingsway,\u201d is a wonderful and funny tribute to the historic Vancouver thoroughfare. It is also indicative of the group\u2019s style, a blend of cultural influences from all over the world. \u201cWe call it cumbia, Vancouver-style,\u201d said Mandlis.<\/p>\n

Their unique and eclectic blend is well suited to the ideals of the World Music Festival.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year will be the first time we\u2019ll participate in this festival,\u201d said Mandlis, \u201cbut we know all the bands playing in it. We listened to them before and liked what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ayzikovsky and Mandlis also said the group believes, as do the festival organizers, that music has the power, in a small way, to bring about peaceful, needed change.<\/p>\n

The World Music Festival takes place at different venues around Vancouver. MNGWA helps launch the event on April 26, 7 p.m., at Guilt & Co. For the full schedule and tickets, visit worldmusicfest.ca. MNGWA\u2019s website is mngwa.ca.<\/p>\n

Olga Livshin<\/strong> is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at olgagodim@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Local group MNGWA helps open the World Music Festival on April 26. (photo from Vancouver World Music Festival) The Vancouver World Music Festival celebrates cultural diversity through music, and world-class musicians from Mexico, Brazil, Africa, Spain, the United States and Canada are participating in this year\u2019s festival, which runs April 26-29. Among them is local […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[788],"tags":[8067,8068,8066,4180],"class_list":["post-28496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-anton-ayzikovsky","tag-boris-mandlis","tag-mngwa","tag-world-music"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}