Don Barbarino and Rise Ashen met at the Mercury Lounge in Ottawa around 2012 when Don came to play at MELO-T’s Afropolitan series. The pair kept in touch and Don brought Rise to play his night at Au Pied Du Courant in Montreal. Then Don came to play at Capital Sessions and the pair kept chatting about making some music together. Last year, Rise sent Don a performance on an mbira, a beautiful Thumb Piano that his friend Lainie had gifted him. The music resonated with Don, who added some drums, synths and a mixed-bag of wild sounds, a BRIC A BRAC (a mixed bag, or a motley collection in French) and the Mbirabrac was born! The thumb piano calls to the listener mysteriously as it evolves and becomes more intense, haunting flutes call you to the dance, the deep pulsating rhythm and drones set the mood while the flute performance evolves and transports you to a borderless ancestral world of sound…
Don Barbarino:
Don Barbarino aka Godfather D is a DJ and music producer from Montreal, Canada that will tell you he is representing Haiti everyday all day. His Disc Jockey life started back in the mid 90’s where he gave birth to his first DJ residency on Fridays called ‘Chillincypherizm’ under the DJ name Godfather D. Inspired from the movie ‘The Godfather’, he decided to go by the name of ‘Don Barbarino’ whenever he got to play house music. Three decades later, he has been responsible for Montreal’s best residencies such as ‘Rebirth of Cool’ @ W Hotel, SNS @ Piano Rouge, Anbyansss @ Ti Agrikol, Oasis mtl @ Salon Daome just to name a few. Don has also travelled the world and played in clubs and festivals in the United States, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Mexico and Jamaica. He has blessed the turntables with your favorite DJ such as ‘Funkbox’ with Tony Touch, Scratch Bastid, Ian Friday, Dj Maseo from the legendary group ‘De La Soul’, Dj Spinna, Rich Medina and the list goes on. Lookout for the music production as well under ‘Pronto Music’, ‘Open Bar Music’ and ‘Bush Doctor Recordings’.
Rise Ashen:
Ottawa-based Rise Ashen has devoted his life to the study of sound and movement. From his early years as a B-Boy in Montreal in the 80s to his studies at Fanshawe College (North America’s Oldest Recording School) and the Banff Centre for the Arts, to his evolution as a Global Grooves and House Music DJ, his focus has been on applying hi-fi knowhow to underground music. His record collection spans the 4 corners of the world with house and club music of all tempos as his primary focus. As a DJ and live looper/finger drummer, he blends it all in a worldy mash and is always the sweaty and dynamic life of the party.
Check out his video bio here: https://youtu.be/iMrmg1MkC40
