Funkasia returns, ABBA never
leaves
Zahra Dhananis hugely successful South Asian-themed
queer dance night, Funkasia, ended four years ago at the height
of its success: known internationally as one of the biggest queer
South Asian nights in the world. Now the sexy immigration lawyer
by day and DJ by night is returning to her club roots with a revamped
new monthly held the third Friday of the month at Buddies that
began just this month. fab asked DJ Zahra for five reasons
why shes bringing sexy back.
Top five reasons for the return of Funkasia
1. There is a circus in my head and I need to let it out.
2. So we dont have to wait til Halloween, its an opportunity
to dress up monthly.
3. The campy people of Toronto want it back.
4. Avant garde progressive South Asian queers and their friends
have been lost without it.
5. Its a completely unique and creative event where you can dance
your heart out.
Mark Knight Toolroom Knights
Billed as a journey through the worlds finest house music Toolroom
Knights succeeds as that and is one of the best dance compilation
albums of the year so far. Mark Knight is becoming
a household name in Europe with numerous tracks and remixes from
his own label topping the charts including Kylie Minogue,
Natasha Bedingfield and Steve Lawler.
Hes the resident DJ at Londons Ministry of Sound, as well as
headlining a tour coming to Torontos Guvernment on Sun. Aug.
31. This double disc, out Tues. Sept. 9, is filled with exclusive
tracks, re-edits of some of Knights own music and some really
interesting underground songs that gays will love (think Roger
Sanchez meets Deep Dish). His style
starts off very deep house then ventures into progressive and
techno, but its his mixes that are outstanding. Rating:
8/10
Music News
A new Whitney Houston track called "Like
I Never Left" featuring Akon was leaked
last week. It's classic Whitney with no surprises and it sounds
decent but not brilliant. Legendary freak Grace Jones'
first new single on a major label in two decades called Corporate
Cannibal is out now and it's totally brilliant it's exactly
where you'd expect her to be after all this time, using producers
like Tricky and Massive Attack
for a dark electro style that has the internet buzzing. Annie
Lennox releases two new singles next month as part of
her new Annie Lennox Collection of greatest solo hits.
The Scottish lass, born on Christmas Day, has sold 78 million
albums in her 26 year career and this diva ainft going nowhere.
She's been very busy this year as an AIDS activist and recently
received the Red Cross Services to Humanity Award. 40-year-old
Sarah McLachlan who appeared on Lennox's last
album is also releasing two new tracks this fall as part of Closer,
a greatest hits package. It's been five years since her last
studio album of all original material. Her last performance was
in November in Montreal for a massive UNICEF AIDS benefit just
months after having her second child Taja Summer Sood. Fans
of Metallica have waited five years for their
next studio release now coming in September. Expect a massive
promo blitz for this disc . it will fly off the shelves and sell
gazillions as Canadians in particular love this metal band.
Abba mania is with us all over again in Canada:
will it ever end? The movie musical Mamma Mia has become
a global hit which, of course, increased sales of Abba music.
The movie soundtrack is #2 in Canada and Abba Gold just
reappeared at #13 here and #1 in the UK to become one of the 40
biggest selling albums of all time. They've now sold over 400
million records and could surpass The Beatles as the biggest selling
group of all time. It was very sweet to see the YouTube video
of the Swedish premiere of the movie. Especially seeing Abba's
Agnetha and Anni-Frid along
with Meryl Streep dancing in the street as if
no one was watching. Thousands of fans were present to witness
the first time all four ABBA members were together in public at
a media event in 22 years.
