Healing Garden Benefit Concert

Founded and fronted by émigré Trinidadian songwriter Drew Gonsalves, Kobo Town’s music has been variously described as “an intoxicating blend of lilting calypsonian wit, dancehall reggae and trombone-heavy brass” (Guardian) and a “unique, transnational composite of rhythm, poetry and activist journalism.”(Exclaim!) From their home in Toronto, the JUNO-nominated group has brought their distinct calypso-inspired sound to audiences across the world, from Port-of-Spain to Paris and from Montreal to Malaysia.

At once brooding and joyous, intensely poetic and highly danceable, Gonsalves' songs betray deep roots in Caribbean folk music, while the band delivers them with an indomitable energy that has earned them a considerable following far beyond the niche of world music enthusiasts and calypso fans.

Kobo Town is named after the historic neighborhood in Port-of-Spain where calypso was born amid the boastful, humorous and militant chants of roaming stick-fighters. Situated near the fishermen's wharf, the area was a site of constant defiance and conflict, a place where sticks and stones, songs and verses clashed with the bayonets and batons of colonial rule

Marla and David’s first meeting was at a festival in Germany. The chemistry was incandescent - and they soon discovered their musical harmonies glowed as brilliantly as their fresh romance. But with Marla hailing from Heidelberg and David calling Mississauga home, how could this musical partnership flourish? Their intercontinental relationship was solidified in Toronto when David produced Marla’s debut album "Madawaska Valley” in the summer of 2016 - released on Melting Pot Music.

David Celia is a musical renegade, a troubadour, a musician’s musician. He’s been recording and playing music for over two decades and tours regularly across Canada, Germany, the UK and other parts of Europe. Songs from his four solo albums are played on radio and TV around Europe and North America. David is a true triple threat - a wizard on the guitar, a dynamic sideman, and a tasteful producer.

Being both German and Spanish, Marla combines an exuberant flare with youthful frankness. Her honest voice is both husky and lush, depending on what she is expressing. Cello was her first musical love. Later, she gained stage experience performing in musicals, theatre and opera.

Together, David and Marla are as likely to make you laugh with their absurd banter as bring you to tears with their tender harmonies. They recently did an extensive European tour - initially opening for each other - but later combining their sets and becoming one act. The duo finalized the songs on this new album while touring Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Returning to Toronto, David and Marla took their colourful collection of songs to Don Kerr’s studio The Rooster.

As Ron Sexsmith’s drummer and a seasoned producer, Kerr not only played the drums but also set the ambience for the bed tracks. Later at Organica, David’s home studio, the magical intimacy that surrounds every song on this album, continued evolving.

Daydreamers will inspire you to fly to all the places in the world where Marla and David have shared their music and left their mark. The warm and vulnerable songs act as both windows into their lives and mirrors into your own.

Meg Tennant’s love of song was awakened early. Her childhood home in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario was filled with music, and after the obligatory piano-lesson foundation, she acquired her first guitar at age sixteen. The song-writing began in earnest then, and within two years she was frequenting the open mic stages in Toronto, while living in a home-made houseboat on the Island. 

A subsequent move to B.C. opened a new chapter in her life.  While reveling in new motherhood, she performed at festivals and showcases and provided backing vocals for other singers’ projects. She played in the duo Lingo Sisters, opened at the Rogue Folk Club in Vancouver for well-known songwriters like Eliza Gilkyson and Tom Russell, and eventually toured BC in the band, AUGUST.  In 2001 she released “Driving With You”, her first album of originals and in 2007, followed up with the collaborative collection, “The Sweetest Day”, with AUGUST. 

Since returning to Toronto, Meg’s sweet vocals and soulful lyrics have continued to charm audiences at venues like Acoustic Harvest, Winterfolk, Musideum, and Nashville North at the Free Times Café. Her long-awaited second solo CD, “Echoed Light” is already garnering high praise from early listeners.