KOBO TOWN as part of Island Soul fest at Harbourfront Centre (235 Queens Quay West), Friday (August 2), 7:45 pm. Free.
What exactly does world music mean in Toronto, where sights and sounds of cultures from all over the globe collide?
In the case of Kobo Town, founder and frontman Drew Gonsalves draws on his Trinidadian roots while weaving in influences from his Canadian home into the band’s unique take on a warm island vibe, a sound he laughingly dubs “bastardized calypso.”
After moving to Canada as a teen, the guitarist and singer absorbed everything he could about the history of calypso, forming Kobo Town in 2004.
“I was really blown away by the cleverness and humour of the music,” Gonsalves recalls from a tour stop in Victoria. “It’s definitely very colourful – our version of it pulls together old-school 80s dancehall influences and different folk musics from the Caribbean. A lot of different influences that were found here in Canada combined very naturally.”
Now Gonsalves finds himself taking his band (named after the historic neighbourhood in Port-of-Spain where calypso was born) far beyond Toronto thanks to the acclaim their second album, Jumbie In The Jukebox (Stonetree/Cumbancha), is receiving from the press and audiences.
The record, which slyly juxtaposes thoughtful commentary (as on the single Postcard Poverty) with danceable rhythms, hit number one on the world music charts in Europe and was long-listed for the Polaris Music Prize.
“I felt very honoured by that,” Gonsalves says of the latter. “Of all of the music produced in this country, ours was one they chose to include. When you’re so close to something, you can’t always look at it the way most people would, so I’ve been very encouraged by the response so far.”
The album was four years in the making, recorded in Canada, Trinidad and Belize with producer Ivan Duran. Gonsalves envisioned a “jumbie,” or traditional spirit, haunting a jukebox and making it spit out a myriad of sounds.
Once Kobo Town get off the road, Gonsalves hopes to record a new album in the fall and explore some of the opportunities suddenly coming his way, such as producing a record for septuagenarian legend Calypso Rose – who happens to be playing Island Soul the same night.
“She’s a force of nature – wonderful and warm and quarrelsome,” he says, chuckling. “Not sure yet exactly when it will come out. You get a Caribbean artist and a Caribbean producer and they’re gonna slide past a few deadlines.”
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