Your disability does not define you. That is the takeaway lesson I received when I attended a Birdsong Foundation show held at the Duke recently. This is a very unique event because the performers who grace the stage have been dealing with emotional and physical problems. All of the performers that took the stage did it with courage and conviction with the help of a special lady named Margaret Konopacki.

A short introduction

Back in 2017 she lost her son, David Martin. He was both struggling with mental and substance abuse. He was a musician with a talent of writing quality songs. I would know, I have a CD package called “Birdsong New Music Foundation- First Flight 101”.

What Margaret has done, is taken her grief and poured it into a foundation to help other artists who are dealing with these struggles. She knows that people with these challenges have the ability to manage them and be better artists with a richer life. Music does have the power to heal.

I will be totally honest with you, when I was walking into this event, I wasn’t really expecting a lot. I was hoping to see these artists go on stage and play something nice.

A change of perception

This evening, she brought eight artists from all over Ontario and even one artist from Winnipeg to perform their material on a new audience. For some of these artists, this is their opening forum to sharing their songs from a stage.

Margaret even brought in a couple of friends to help out with this cause. Robert Priest who is known to be an artist with many ways to express himself, sang a couple of songs. She also had Michael Williams formerly from Much Music to help out with hosting the show.

As each artist hit the stage, I was really surprised to see the level of their talent. These songs really hit home and sunk into your psyche rather quickly.

A Short Description

I watched all of these courageous artists get up on stage and handle themselves like a pro. They wanted to be heard as well as seen. I did not detect nor, did I think this person is struggling. They went up and played their hearts out and won over an audience.

Jordan Gow- I nicknamed him the guy with very intense acoustics. It was a man, a guitar, and a mission. The way he leaned into that mic, the look in his eyes when he sang, this man has something to say. He brought out a fierceness that could be seen as a Punk attitude as he spewed his message across to the room. He came all the way from Windsor to share that with us.

Robert Priest- A man usually known for his creative poetry took a different turn this evening and sang a couple of songs. He wasn’t as intense as Jordan, but he did take on a gentler humanitarian role and try to teach us a lesson in compassion. This man has poetry in his lyrics. You should see him sing live.

Ashley Bell- She was introduced with her background story of what she has been going through and what she continues to do. After I listened to this list of challenges, especially for a young person, I realized my hurdles were not as big or as many. The surprising thing was her country energy has a real innocence and strength at the same time. Her songs were strong, and she really knew how to connect with the audience beautifully. She came in from Hagersville just to entertain us.

Arif Jinha- Arif surprised us all, when he pulled out a Sitar and unfolded his song, “I am” to an unexpected audience. With all the different musical styles, this moment just fit right in and added a new quality in the Birdsong Family. In fact, he wrote a song called Birdsong Tribe, which turned into a very happy and joyful pop song to commemorate this makeshift family.

D.M.LaFortune- What can I say about a woman that does it all. She’s a fighter, a champion, an activist and a believer in guardian angels. She’s also a singer/songwriter whose varied life experience- from cab driver, to actor, photographer, near politician & constitutional appellate lawyer and most recently, professor- has provided a rich source for her powerful music. She is an indigenous maven. Her song called- Ghost Dance came off like a haunted waltz filled with the presence of spirits in the room.

Dionne “The Bird of Paradise” Samuels- came on and let all of know that we should all remember that we are still six feet above ground. Her song, “I am blessed to be me” is an urban poet’s cry to the street life to be resilient. It is powerful and stands face to face with being real. Her words came from the bowels of the earth and were raised to the endless sky above us. It was pretty powerful stuff.

Dustin “Prairie Soul” Harder- This man flew all the way in from Winnipeg and boy his arms were tired. Sorry, I have to throw in the odd bad joke. When this guy comes to Toronto, he becomes the hardest working musician in town. He will go out and look for any excuse to play live. I caught him last year playing three different shows, and each set was completely different. On this night he played a Spanish song that really woke up the crowd as we immediately started clapping. Then he played a song from the Birdsong CD called, “Voices travel the wing” where all the players got on stage and sang, Hey na na na nay. Dustin is a very determined singer that is breaking free of his past and creating a positive journey for himself and anyone else who would like to join him.

That is the message of this concert. These artists are walking away from their dark past and are relying on their true talent to show off to the world.  This is the mission of Birdsong.

I also wanted to give a fantastic shout out to Bryant Didier and the Birdsong Village Band for backing each of these artists at the Duke. I am sure this band did a lot of homework playing so many different styles of music from all these proficient artists.

If you are dealing with any of these issues or you know someone in a similar situation, this is an event you may want to attend. Hearing the stories of these artists and then seeing them perform high quality songs are an inspiration that we all need to hear now and again. There will be another show happening in December. Be sure to follow us so we can let you know more details about this up-and-coming show.

In the meantime, here is the website to learn more about this special cause. – Birdsong New Music Foundation

If you would like a copy of the double CD- “First Flight 101, here is the link to that CD- Birdsong New Music Foundation – Purchase Music