Announcing An Evening for Bazou 5 - May 3, 2014!

It's hard to believe it, but this is the fifth and final year of our partnership with École St. Albert Le Grand in Bazou, Cameroon. As such, this will be our fifth and final fundraiser, and we would love to have you all come out for this grand finale! There are two events on Saturday May 3: Afternoon Family Fun and An Evening For Bazou 5.

The Gladstone Hotel is graciously hosting our fundraiser again this year. They have supported each and every fundraiser and we really appreciate it. Thank you Gladstone!

The funds raised at this year's events will be used to expand the small business that was started last year as a result of our successful Indiegogo Campaign. The business - renting out equipment for celebrations in the village - was launched in December 2013 and is already off to a great start. The Indiegogo Campaign was about 50% funded, so the remaining items to be purchased for the business are tents and generators. If enough funds are raised, the school may also choose to purchase duplicate equipment and and/or set some funds aside in their bank account for business expenses and school operation/maintenance. The school has already done some improvements using money raised from their business!

Tickets can be purchased in advance from African Drums and Art Crafts located at 618 Dundas St. W. in Kensington Market.

An Evening For Bazou 5 

When: May 3, doors at 8pm, show at 8:30pm
Where: The Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, 1214 Queen St. W.
Tickets: $20 or pay what you can; cash bar

The evening will start promptly at 8:30pm with a presentation of all that has been accomplished over the past four years at École St. Albert Le Grand. You will be amazed by the transformation that has taken just four years! Njacko Backo will then open the evening with kalimba music, followed by some global beats by DRUMHAND that will certainly get you out of your seat. Afrafranto will close out the evening with some sweet palm wine and highlife music that will keep you dancing the rest of the evening. We are pleased to welcome back our talented MC's Luther Hansraj (English) and Jacques Yams (français) who will be your hosts for the evening. This is an all-ages show.

Afrafranto - Afrafranto ('Butterfly' in the Akan language of Ghana) performs authentic acoustic palm wine and highlife music. Afrafranto is a dynamic group that has entertained audiences over the past few years with their dance-driven music and electric performances.

Afrafranto features four members of the JUNO award winning African Guitar Summit - Theo Yaw Boakye on lead vocals and shakers, Pa Joe on guitar and vocals, Kofi Ackah on percussion and vocals, and Ebenezer Agyekum on bass guitar - along with Sam Donkor on balafon, and Marshall Nketiah on congas.

DRUMHAND - Hands, sticks and mallets pound out old and new rhythms on weathered skins: evoking ancient forms of ‘messaging’ via global beats for dancing bodies and curious ears! The Toronto ensemble was founded by percussionists David Chan, Larry Graves and Steve Mancuso in 2008 in an effort to combine the circuitous rhythms of West Africa, Cuba, India and Brazil with the jazz-imbued horn work in the spirit of New Orleans parade bands and the uplifting spirit of American Roots Music.

Njacko Backo - Born in rural Cameroon and raised in the hills in a small village called Bazou, Njacko has spent his life writing and performing music in Africa, Europe and North America. He began playing percussion and making instruments at the tender age three. Nicknamed the King of Kalimba, Njacko will open the evening with some sweet melodies on kalimba so you can shake off the stresses of your week and get ready for an evening of dancing and merry making!

Afternoon Family Fun

When: May 3, 3-5pm
Where: The Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, 1214 Queen St. W. 
Tickets: $10 per child, or pay what you can

Bring the whole family down for our popular child-friendly shindig. We are pleased to welcome back Soli and Rob as well as Marni Levitt who have all supported our fundraisers in the past. The Gladstone's café will be open right next to the Ballroom so that you can grab a drink or a snack while your little ones enjoy the show. The afternoon will be full of songs, dancing and stories!

Soli and Rob - Soli & Rob share a passion for performing to young audiences. The creative collaboration, now spanning over 12 years, came about as the duo, also a couple, combined Rob’s experience in songwriting with Soli’s background in theatre and puppetry. The result is a rare live show that mixes music, humour and puppetry in a way that is truly mesmerizing to children and their families.

"Toronto's #1 Children's Entertainers" - City Parent Magazine

Marni's Move-N-Music - Songwriter and holistic artist-educator, Marni Levitt nurtures a lifelong passion for expression and transformation through performance and teaching.  Move-N-Music provides interactive performances and workshops for all ages and abilities through yoga and holistic music (singing, dancing, drumming).

Njacko Backo - Njacko Backo is a percussionist, singer, storyteller, choreographer, songwriter/composer who has been performing for children and adults since his childhood in Cameroon. He has a lifetime of practice in capturing the subtlety of dance and storytelling with his music – an essential part of the African performing arts. 

Below you will find the posters (French and English) - please share with your friends and family!

  

May 11 Fundraiser Details

Hello everyone!

We have finalized the lineup for the fundraiser on May 11th, and are excited to share it with you. The Gladstone Hotel has graciously offered to host the fundraiser again this year - thank you Gladstone!

An Evening For Bazou will start at 8:30pm, will be hosted by our talented MC's Luther Hansraj and Jacques Yams and will include the following fabulous performers:

Mother Tongue - Musical influences from around the globe are fused into the inspired sounds of the band Mother Tongue, the recipients of "Music Africa" awards as "Best Pan African Band" in 1994 and "Best African Band" in 1995 and nominated for a Juno Award in 1994 for their album Enat.  Get ready to dance to the infectious rhythms of Mother Tongue! The band is represented by Celina Carroll, Carlo Cesta, Rachel Melas, Conny Nowe, Yared Tesfaye, Maryem Hassan-Tollar and Chip Yarwood.

Eh?! - A new collaborative fiddle-based trio of Emilyn Stam, Anne Lederman and James Stephens. Eh?! combines an unparalleled depth of knowledge of traditional Canadian music from throughout the country with innovative original expression. Dedicated to exploring the myriad pathways between the old and the new, EH?! brings together veteran and young musicians in creative exploration. All three core members of Eh?! sing and play several instruments: voices, piano, mandolin, guitar, feet, percussion and accordion all weave their way through an Eh?! experience. 

The Reel Bulgars - The Reel Bulgars started in 2011 as the brain child of a small group of parents with musical kids who wanted to provide a musical outlet outside of school ensembles and education programs. The group meets weekly and all the musicians are encouraged to contribute repertoire. Arrangements are created sometimes as written out pieces and sometimes as a group effort in rehearsal. The current repertoire includes traditional Irish, French and Klezmer tunes. 

Afternoon Family Fun will take place between 3-5pm and will feature children's performances by the following talented artists:

Soli & Rob - Touted by Amy Verner in TORONTO LIFE magazine as one of the “biggest names in pint-sized entertainment,” Soli & Rob have written & performed 4 Alistair Ant shows, each one a captivating blend of puppetry, acting, dancing & original music. “Bigger the Better, said Alistair Ant!”, in which Alistair laments his smallness, broke KidsVenue audience attendance records at the 2002 TORONTO FRINGE FESTIVAL. Soli & Rob’s entry in the 2004 Fringe Fest, “Double Trouble for Alistair Ant” was selected as a critic’s pick by the TORONTO STAR.

Naomi Tyrrell - Naomi Tyrrell has performed in very cool places like China, Japan, Yugoslavia and off Broadway New York.
She plans to help Njacko teach story telling through Mime, Mask and Music to folks in his home town in Africa.
 For this special fundraiser Naomi is bringing her most favourite wild and wonderful characters. Get ready to sing, sign and laugh your way through a world of fun.
Howl with Gramps, yodel with Gretchen and wrap it all up with Red Dog Rapper.

Njacko Backo - Story and music time with the energetic and engaging Njacko Backo!

Below you will find the posters (French and English) - please share with your friends and family!

 

May 12th fundraiser a success!!

Hello everyone! We are still floating on air since the two fundraising events held on May 12th at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto! We raised $4500 at the fundraiser, including a donation of $200 from Glenn Street PS from a bake sale that they held for the project! We would like to thank everyone for their generous support - and thank those of you who are still sending in donations.

We would also like to thank Upper Canada College who has contacted us to let us that they have raised an additional $420 from their casual day held last week! Thank you UCC!

If you would like to contribute, we have a couple of options for you:

- you may mail a cheque made payable to Valery Woloshyn to PO Box 632, 31 Adelaide St. E, Toronto, ON  M5C 2J8
- you may send us an email transfer to Love@NjackoBacko.com. Please use the question: Where is the school? And the answer: Bazou

We had a wonderful audience for the afternoon family show. The children (and parents!) were singing, dancing, and playing along for all three performances! Here are a few photos:

Soli & Rob - alistairant.com

Charlie Kert - www.littlefingersmusic.com
You can catch Charlie and the ROCKgarden Party at Fringe!

Njacko Backo presenting African Voyages

Later the same day, we welcomed a full house for the evening concert. There were people who came from near and far...some all the way from Kingston, Maynooth, Brampton, Chatham, Prince Edward County, Montreal, Georgina, Bolton, Mississauga, Oshawa...

The energy for the whole concert was incredible. The audience was dancing right off the bat thanks to the grooves put down by Kome Manu (and Fojeba). When Sahara Sloan took the stage with Justin, she had us all captivated with her angelic voice. Finally, when Afroteque took the stage, the energy shot through the roof and the dancers took to the floor. We will have video footage of the performance in the next few weeks to share, however in the mean time, we hope that you enjoy these few photos:

Val and Njacko welcoming the room full of beautiful supporters

The beautiful supporters!  

Kome Manu - his new CD is available online at CD Baby

Sahara Sloan with Justin

Afroteque with Jane Bunnett

Ngasseu Kamga Sylvie - a HUGE supporter of the project
(she sold $880 of advance tickets for the fundraiser!)

June 15 @ 7pm Celina Carroll will be performing for a music meditation with Shakuhachi (bamboo flute) Master Debbie Danbrook at The Inner Garden at 401 Richmond St. W. Celina will be playing Berimbau and Kalimba. Website

The one and only Jane Bunnett! www.JaneBunnett.com

We will be in touch with the school in the next couple of weeks to finalize plans for this summer's work. We will be constructing and handwashing station and rehabilitating another portion of the school which is shown in the photos below.

May 7th Fundraiser a BIG Success! Thank you for your support!

We'd like to thank everyone who came out on May 7th to the Gladstone Hotel to support our new project with École Saint Albert Le Grand in Bazou, Cameroon. We would also like to thank the Gladstone Hotel for their generous support. With everyone's help, we were able to raise $1,972.36 and more pledges are trickling in! If we add this to the $1000 that we raised in December 2009 at our holiday party/plant sale, we have a great start for our first project with École Saint Albert Le Grand.

We are still accepting contributions to support our project (see description below). Please contact us at:
email: nbacko1121@rogers.com
phone: 416.836.8951
mail: PO Box 632, 31 Adealide St. E., Toronto, ON M5C 2J8, Canada


Cheques can be made out to Valery Woloshyn or Njacko Backo.

A special thank you goes out to all of the artists who generously donated their time on May 7th:
Muhtadi
Marni Levitt
Jacques Yams
Toumkak
Diana Braithwaite & Chris Whiteley - June 9 CD release
Amara Kanté
Amadou Kienou
Steafan Hannigan & Saskia Tomkins
Njacko Backo & Kalimba Kalimba




More about our project...

In January 2009, Njacko Backo and Valery Woloshyn travelled to Bazou, Cameroon, to celebrate the lives of Njacko’s late parents, Tchoumi Christine and Nana Mathieu. While in Cameroon, Njacko and Val visited École Saint Albert Le Grand, the school that Njacko attended as a child, to deliver some school supplies that were donated by friends and family in Canada. During the visit, the couple was inspired to do more to help improve the education of the youngest members of the community. At the time, the school was missing a roof on about 30% of the buildings which meant that their classes were crowded into the parts of the school with the roof still intact. The latrines behind the school were falling apart, and the buildings in general were not in good condition.

Late in 2009, the school and the community worked together to replace the missing sections of roof on their own. This was an important first step to protect the mud bricks of the building from further weather damage, and demonstrated the commitment of the community to the school. However these newly covered rooms are still not ready for the students.

Our first project will be to repair these rooms so that the students can return to these parts of the school. Following that, we will work with the school to prioritize the next projects to be completed over the next five years. Future potential projects include: repaired or new latrines; providing water supply and hand washing stations; drinking water system; rebuilding the school as the original construction has started to fall apart.

Currently we have no plans to become a registered charity. 100% of the donations we received at the recent fundraiser and future fundraising initiatives will be going to support the construction of room repairs and future projects. We thank you for your understanding that we cannot issue tax receipts. We also thank you for your trust that we will use the donations to the best of our ability to support the children in Bazou. We will not be using the funds to travel to visit the school. We will have a family member monitoring the work and progress, and will use this blog to share updates as they are available.



Thank you again for your interest and support. Please do feel free to ask any and all questions you may have about our project!