ARTS EAST

Multi award-winning Canadian jazz singer-songwriter, pianist and radio host Laila Biali tours Atlantic Canada from May 12 to May 21. Recently we spoke with Biali about her past, present and future. What are your roots? In terms of my heritage, Dad comes from Egypt and Mom is from Germany. They met on a beach in Vancouver and raised me and my three older sisters there.  When and why did you start playing music? My Mom tells the story of how I climbed up onto the piano bench to plunk out the melody to Sesame Street by ear when I was just 3.5 years old. It was then that she decided to enroll me in piano lessons rather than gymnastics classes. (I was a bouncy, energetic child, so that was the next logical choice!) Once I had begun formal classical lessons, I truly fell in love with the piano. My teacher, Juanita Ryan, who sadly passed away earlier this year, would loan me stacks of CDs to bring home and study. I listened obsessively, even while going to bed at night, ...

Lori McCarthy describes herself as an educator, a storyteller, and a cultural food ambassador. A fircly proud resident of St. John’s, Newfoundland, and of Irish and English heritage, she has been dedicated to the culinary arts for as long as she can remember. “I have spent years in th e food world,” she shares via email. “I went to work in the kitchen of a private country club when I was 15. After that, I worked in the tourism sector in the summers, and in kitchens each fall and winter. I left the restaurants 12 years ago to open a personal chef business and, later, my Culinary Excursion company, Cod Sounds.” Cod Sounds isn’t just a tour, notes McCarthy. Instead, she and her small but dedicated team provide a unique culinary education through workshops, online blog posts, and bespoke food experiences. “Intimate experiences create the environment to have real conversations with people. Guests will open-up more and ask questions about life here and the culture here that they may no...

North Preston’s own Keonté Beals is a multi-talented, multi-award-winning rising star who performs “passionate R&B with a personal message”. With his powerful voice, vivid songwriting, and thoughtful, current commentary, he’s built an enthusiastic audience across Atlantic Canada, and a reputation as a creative, ground-breaking artist for our times. Recently we spoke with Beals about is past, present and future. When and why did you start playing music? I started singing at the age of 6. I joined the junior choir at my local church around that age. Music was always a key element of my church. North Preston itself is a community filled with talented musicians and singers so the love for music was natural for me growing up. Are they the same reasons you do it today? That same love I had as a kid for performing, I have still. Probably even more so at this age now that I have expanded outside of just my community and have full creative control over what happens on my stage. ...

New Brunswick native Kylie Fox has had a busy 2021, writing and recording her latest album Green, which will be launched this weekend. Recently we spoke with Fox about her passion and her vocation. What are your roots? My dad started drilling Joni Mitchell songs into my head as an infant. Our musical roots are so dependent on our parents, and Dad was big on the storytellers; Gordan Lightfoot, Stan Rogers, John Prine, and queen Joni. Fox family parties involved lots of instruments, Mooselights, (I’m a Saint Johner) and the first two verses of all our favourite songs. That circle was my first stage. Alternatively, my mom signed me up for theatre school when I was seven, and I was in plays and musicals every year until graduating university. Theatre holds a huge part of my heart still, and I don’t know who I would be without growing up valuing the art of play and self-expression learned through studying theatre. Where do you currently reside? I live in Fredericton, NB. When and ...

The December Man by Coleen Murphy won the Governor General’s Award for Drama in 2007 and is inspired by one of the most tragic and significant incidents in our country’s history, the École Polytechnique Massacre on Dec 6th, 1989. Recently we spoke with Director Mary Vingoe of Homefirst Theatre about the production, which runs from November 25 - December 5 at the Bus Stop Theatre in Halifax. When and why did you first become interested in theatre? I fell in love with theatre as a kid when my parents took me to NYC and we saw see Raisin in The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry in Central Park. I took theatre at Dal and then my master’s at U of T. At that point I wanted to be an actor, I had some good roles with theatres like Passe Muraille and the Shaw Festival but after a few years I became more interested in writing and directing. I became more aware of the gender and racial disparities in theatre. I co-founded Nightwood theatre with a group of friends. This was the firs...

Halifax author Donna Morrissey travels back in time with her newly released memoir Pluck. Recently we spoke with her about her past, present, and future. What are your roots? My roots are in a small outport on the northwest coast of Nfld. Place called Beaches.  About 15 houses and with a dead-end road.   Why and when did you start writing? I was in my early forties when I started writing. It was something I started at a friend’s prompting, and it took flight with each and every word I wrote. I wrote for no particular reason except the glory of linking words together and creating images and telling stories from my past. It is the same today, 25 years later - I write for the pleasure of creating stories.   How have you evolved as a writer over that time? It is difficult to judge how one has grown as a writer over the years. I know that I have – it is sometimes painful to read my earlier stuff. On one hand I can’t believe those stories came out of me, I would never be able t...