Black Music and the ECMA

Ed Matwawana has a lot to say.

A gentle giant, Matwawana speaks softly, consonants eroded by the remnants of his native tongue.

A good thing, because what he says is not easy to hear.

“It’s almost like married life,” says Matwawana, “sometimes things are good, sometimes they are bad, and when they’re bad they are very bad.”

Matwawana is referring to the racial divide in Nova Scotia’s music community; a divide that while not unnoticed, often goes unsaid.

“People refuse to discuss this topic.”

Matwawana is a veteran of the East Coast music scene. Arriving in Canada in 1983, he came here to join his parents who fled their home in Northern Angola during political unrest in the 1970s.

By 1988 he had settled in Halifax, and for 19 years he’s been a fixture in Nova Scotia’s African music community.

But for black artists, finding support and recognition outside their community is often the challenge.

If you’re involved in the East Coast music industry the place to be, and be seen, is the East Coast Music Awards. The event, run by the East Coast Music Association, showcases the crème of Atlantic Canada’s musical crop. But for some the artists that rise to the top don’t accurately represent the diverse talent the East Coast offers.

“The East Coast Music Awards always strives to represent the musical diversity of the region,” says Steve Horne, the Executive Director of the Association.

“That’s been on-going for its 19 year history, and improving as we move to different markets and as we grow as an organization.”

To strive is one thing, to succeed is another. It’s getting from A to B that’s the issue.

“There’s countless amounts of talent that is not getting their deserving share of exposure,” says Paul Simmonds of Homiez Productions, “ the ECMA may be really trying to make a difference as far as being inclusive but I don’t think the effort they’re putting forward is doing that.”

The struggle for access to programming, awards and industry consideration has historically been a problem for African Canadians in the East Coast scene, but the reasons for the obstacles are not necessarily black and white.

“It’s not conclusively over racism,” says Waye Mason, Executive Director of the Halifax Pop Explosion Association, “15 years ago the indie rock music scene couldn’t get any exposure through the ECMA when it was all about Celtic music.”

But the ECMA is not just about Celtic music anymore. The diversity is there; it just can’t always be seen. And black artists, like any artist, want to be represented in the larger community.

At this year’s ECMA Awards and Conference in Halifax there were a few bright spots.

Legendary black songstress, Portia White, was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the East Coast Music Association this year, more than 30 years after her death. A native Nova Scotian, she achieved international acclaim in the 1940s and 50s, now finally she’s been recognized at home.

The ECMA also focused it’s attention on promoting the region’s strong urban music scene. Under the umbrella of the Urban Music Series ECMA offered a veritable buffet of urban fare.

On the Grind, a hip-hop showcase and panel discussion, brought urban artists and industry players together.

Black Vibes, a show produced by the African Nova Scotia Music Association (ANSMA) in partnership with the ECMA organization, showcased ANSMA’s members.

But neither effort escaped controversy.

The On the Grind stage was overwhelmingly white, populated by artists such as Jesse Dangerously, Spesh K, Ghettosocks, and Classified. Muzz Marshall was the token performer from the black community, and R&B at that, although she brought rapper Trobiz along for the ride.

The line-up raises a question about what the word urban really means.

“Urban music is not a style of music – urban is a movement. A movement that started in order to put music that had black roots into the forefront of the mainstream,” says Matwawana, a past President of ANSMA, “urban covers all kinds of music styles, all kinds of genres.”

As the popularity of urban music soared, the community the ‘urban’ tag used to serve has changed. From roots in the inner city urban music now flows from the suburbs. The genre once dominated by black artists is no longer so easily profiled.

“More and more white people are making urban music and more and more black people are making non-urban music, and there still aren’t that many black people involved with the ECMA, Music Nova Scotia or the Pop Explosion,” says Mason.

“It’s been very hard these last 18 months as this kind of awareness grows in our industry, in the community, and with government, to stop using genre labels and start using race labels because we all like not to talk about it.”

So while the visibility of urban artists is increasing at the ECMA the proportion of black artists is not necessarily growing at the same rate. And places black artists do appear seem to contribute to the racial divide.

Some think using race as the common denominator on the Black Vibes stage is more harmful in the end.

Halifax based musician Tremayne Howe, known in music circles as Trobiz, agrees.

“We should all, including the people inside the organizations, work harder on integrating and less on separating,” he says.

“Both sides should work more on integrating our stages, integrating our performances, I think that will make people more aware of what’s going on in the whole music scene, rather than separating the music scenes.”

At this stage though Matwawana believes Black Vibes is necessary.

“Normally there should not be a need for Black Vibes,” says Matwawana, who resigned from the ANSMA and Music Nova Scotia boards since this interview, “if there was not what you call injustice.”

But based on his experience with the Pop Explosion Mason thinks integration is key.

“They don’t want the Pop Explosion just to be able to check a box (we’ve got black folk), then just keep doing what we’ve always been doing,” he says of the new African Caucus involved in programming this years’ festival.

“They want black people to be involved at the conference, they want people who are black at the zine fair, they want people who are black playing shows.”

A feeling that resonates for the people concerned about racial integration at the ECMA.

“I think that we would receive a lot more recognition for the great music that we’re doing here, if we work on getting back into the mainstream that’s out there,” says Trobiz.

“With that will come I think will more recognition…As long as we (in the Black community) continue to support separate stages then we are going to end up not being recognized by the majority.”

Working together is beneficial and necessary, says Matwawana, but improving the working relationship should be the first priority.

“ECMA has so far been a beneficial partner, But there are many areas that still need plenty of work and mutual understanding,” he says.

“ECMA must be convinced that they have an obligation to properly service and promote black artists…hopefully in collaboration with ANSMA.”

The ECMA sees this as natural progression.

“There’s still a long term strategy we need to come up with,” says Horne of the future for the ECMA, “but we can only do it through the tools that are available to us; the award show, the conference, the festival.”

But natural progression requires time, and Matwawana thinks we need to pick up the pace.

“Equality is not always fairness. I find that sometimes these bodies hide behind policies,” he says, “ECMA needs to be quicker than this in terms of adapting to what’s happening in the world of music, because they are very much behind.”