“Masterful and amazing!” ~ Tampa Acoustic Music Exchange
Ken Whiteley has been playing folk, blues, gospel and other roots traditions at the highest level for well over fifty years. He has received many awards including a Canadian Folk Music Award, 7 Juno nominations, 18 Maple Blues nominations, a Genie Award (for Best Song in a Canadian Film) and Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Mariposa Folk Festival, The Maple Blues Awards and Folk Music Ontario but ultimately for Ken his music is all about making connection. He loves to get people singing with him whether he’s on a concert stage, a folk festival, a church service or a yoga ashram.
Ken has made over 32 albums and his most recent one, “Long Time Travelling” was just nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award as Best Traditional Album this year. He has written over 400 songs that have won numerous awards and been covered by more than a dozen artists. Ken is a living link to the traditions of people he has sung and played with including Pete Seeger, The Georgia Sea Island Singers, Tom Paxton, John Hammond Jr., Blind John Davis and many others. He brings this vast experience to each performance as a way to allow all of us to come together through the power of song.
The new recording which started as a collaboration with Sufi musician, Davod Azad and bassist George Koller is finally available! You can purchase physical copies or downloads right here. I’m excited by how the album has grown with the additions of a select number of additional singers and musicians. Watch for it wherever else you get your music. It’s making its way through the various streaming and download systems.
I’m also excited about a brand new single, an edited down version of “There’s A Candle” from the new album. The song was inspired by words of the 13th century Persian poet, Rumi. It invites us to ignite the flame of love in our hearts and let the light fill our soul. Clearly a needed message in these troubled and troubling times. It is my free download of the month at the bottom of this post! There is also a lyric video for the song you can veiw here.
We had a fabulous time at the first Sunday Gospel Matinee, Nov. 12, 2 p.m., at the new Hugh’s Room Live, 296 Broadview Ave., north of Dundas. The visionary world music ensemble Jaffa Road, incredible bassist George Koller and the wonderful Sharon Riley were all fantastic. I would love another opportunity to do this again!
Here is the single version of There’s A Candle from the album So Glad I’m Here. This version is only available here. You can download it by clicking on the three little buttons to the right of the speaker symbol.
“There’s A Candle”, based on a poem by Rumi, composed and performed by Ken Whiteley, with Davod Azad, tar, George Koller, string bass, Nagmah Farahmand, percussion
