A simple message

Margaret or Maggie depending on how you know her, has a simple but powerful message for everyone out there. Many people today live in hiding with their mental illness or even addiction. They do not talk about it because of shame and fear.

What Birdsong is doing is helping artists with these issues in their life and working to get through them by openly talking about it. Let’s just normalize this conversation instead of judging it. Just by having that attitude will feel like you are helping somebody walk out of a dark place and give them the safety to heal whatever wounds need tending.

Birdsong goes even further by offering to help artists record their music, so you begin to gather other people to help you in your healing journey.

Lula Lounge

When I walked into Lula Lounge, I began to do short interviews about the purpose of Birdsong. Everyone I interviewed opened up and let me know that they are struggling or they are on their healing journey and Birdsong is a safe place to be when you are, trying to move forward.

I began talking to everyone else, not on camera, and it felt like everyone in the room has a similar story. So now I am beginning to understand that this event is more powerful than I imagined. It was like sitting around a campfire with indigenous people and just telling stories to keep the tribe connected.

This room had every kind of ethnicity and different background with one common thread. This room was safe haven for people to open up and let go of their dark past.

The Show

The actor/comedian and now stage musician, Mae Martin was the host of this important event. Mae is a longtime friend of Maggie and her late son, David, who passed away back in 2017. Mae is a perfect choice to host this show because of the family ties and that they are used to being onstage with an attentive audience. It was all that comedic training over the years.

What surprised me the most about this event was the amount of travelling people did just to be here to support the cause.

I spoke to people who came in from, Hagersville,On, Winnipeg, Los Angeles, and even Europe. The global village all descended for this cause.

This show also brought in some great Toronto names to help open up this cause even further. In the audience I caught a glimpse of people like Jaymz Bee, Michael Williams, and Vezi, Owner of Kensington Sound, and Lily Frost

Hitting the stage to make their mark was Liberty Silver, who looked like she was having too much fun bantering with an audience member.

There was Robert Priest who began by reading one of his poems before singing his songs. I love his perspective about love and orgasms in his poem- “Ideas for Genetic Engineering”.

Of course, we had plenty of the artists who performed their songs on the Birdsong Foundation CD. Look out for these names, because these artists are working hard to make their name in this industry. We had on stage:

Dustin Harder AKA: Prairie Soul

D.M.LaFortune- Best hat of the Evening! Made with birds…

Allan Kinney

Nicole McCafferty

Armand Antony

And the support band

Bryant Didler- Music Producer and director

Micael Kavalerchik-Guitar

Aaron Caten- Drums

Allan Kinney- Keyboards

Shelley Coopersmith- Violin

Dr Tanzy Etro-Becho- Vocals

Dionne Samuels- Vocals

Wendy Medeiros- Vocals

Newcomers- Broadtree who now hails from Toronto, got to showcase a couple of their new songs. They even threw in a Christmas song. Here is a link to their music. Go Discover! Music | Broadtree

DM LaFortune or Mama D if you know her, she plays raw and honest songs about justice. She should, this outspoken artist is a lawyer as well. So don’t try and mess with MAMA!

Prairie Soul hit the stage with three women and played what I think is a hit song- “Hey Na Na Na Nay”. It is a wonderful mix of smooth Country, pop and indigenous energy. By the end of the song, he had the crowd singing his catchy chorus, which connects us all.

Allan Kinney has a very unique approach to his music which hands you a particular perspective that you would never have thought on your own. It was very apparent with his descriptive song- “Spiritual Drink Machine”.

Lori Yates finalized the evening with two of her songs from a deep catalog of songs. “What a Life” was a great opener because of the reflective nature of the song. When she was preparing to finish off the evening she played the classic Ben E King song- “Stand by me”. I watched as artists and special guests were running on the stage just to be a part of this moment. That is how a community should get together and celebrate our accomplishments…through music.

One Story

One of the stories I will now carry with me is hearing of the tragic moment Ashley Bell was in a car accident. She is a young mother who acquired a brain injury in the accident. She also had severe damage to her arm so she could never play guitar again. She was a single mom raising children. She battled depression due to this moment in time and finally put her guitar down never to play again. Along comes Birdsong with the opportunity for her to revisit music again. She actually picked up her guitar again and painfully taught herself to use this instrument again on her terms. She got to record a single for the Birdsong CD.

I own a copy of this CD, and before I put it on, my prejudice attitude was that I was going to be hearing a bunch of amateurs singing sad little songs. I could not have been more wrong. I have this Cd playing in heavy rotation in my car or at home. Any of these songs could be on the radio and getting much more attention. All these songs have the potential of being a hit.

Try to prove me wrong and buy your own copy of this CD. If you don’t like it, I will buy it back from you.

Here is the link- Birdsong New Music Foundation – Purchase Music

If you don’t buy the full CD, you can still purchase your favourite song from your favourite artist. Half of the money goes straight into the pockets of the artists. This is such a simple way of supporting local artist for a powerful cause.

Highlights from The Birdsong Concert: