To read the article, please visit Winnipeg Free Press.

To read the entire article, please head to Classic 107.

With the SISF grant, we will expand the role of North American Fiddlers’ Hall of Fame member Patti Kusturok to that of DFOM Artist-in-Residence. As part of her role, Kusturok will be offering one-on-one fiddling lessons to DFOM students and to UM students outside of DFOM. She will also be teaching a 3 credit course in the Fall 2025 term titled MUSC 3830 (T49) Fiddling across the Country which will explore Canada’s diverse fiddling tradition by taking a look at the many fiddling styles practiced in Canada, listening to various fiddlers and discovering what makes them unique. In addition to using recordings, live fiddlers will be invited as guests in the course. 

In 2025-26, DFOM is also creating a fiddling outreach by connecting Patti Kusturok and some of our DFOM students with the Sistema program, run by Jeffrey Acosta for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. In addition to this link with middle school and high school members of the Sistema program, we will also host other outreach events, including a Fiddling Showcase at the Desautels Concert Hall on March 14, 2026, in partnership with the Red River Fiddle and Dance Society.

Complete registration information for Fiddling across the Country is below: 

MUSC 3830 (T49) – Fiddling across the Country 
3 credits 
CRN 26534 
Fall 2025 term 
Thursday 5:30-8:30  
Instructor – Patti Kusturok

Last September, as winner of the 2024 Aikins Memorial Trophy, Ari Hooker made his solo debut with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO), performing the first movement of his own Piano Concerto No. 1. One month later, he was back onstage with the WSO to play Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. “These performances were made even more meaningful by the fact that I got to perform alongside my dad, Yuri Hooker, who’s been principal cellist of the WSO for 25 years,” he explains.

Ari recently won the $3,000 first prize at the Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg’s scholarship competition. In August, his Piano Quartet will receive its premiere at the Rosamunde Summer Music Academy’s 2025 festival. He’ll be a soloist with the University of Manitoba Symphony Orchestra next season, and he dreams of one day composing a video game score.

To read the entire story, please follow the link to CBC Music.

Simpson-Litke’s current research explores rhythmic interactions between music and dance, focusing on the Latin social dances she has taught and performed for over 20 years. Her salsa research is published in Music Theory Spectrum, the Journal of Music Theory (for which she was awarded the 2020-21 David Kraehenbuehl Prize) and the forthcoming edited collection Making Music Together (Oxford University Press). She has also published on tango in The Cambridge Companion to Tango.

Simpson-Litke’s RITMO lecture is titled “Shifting Temporal Spaces: Exploring (Hyper)Metric Interactions Between Music and Dance in Salsa.” While salsa takes many forms within individual dancing communities, two fundamental styles have developed and spread worldwide—“On-1” and “On-2”—so-named after the metric location of changes in direction in the basic dance step. Practitioners note the differing movement qualities and debate the artistic merits of each style. Dr. Simpson-Litke’s lecture will address the question of why these styles produce such contrasting effects—a question that has not yet been sufficiently addressed.

The lecture will be streamed live, starting at 7:15am on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. See the following for more information: https://www.uio.no/ritmo/english/news-and-events/events/ritmo-seminar-series/2025/simpson-litke/

Central to Fey’s research last summer were the concepts of exoticism and nostalgia and how they manifest in City Pop. Fey analysed the complexities of exoticism and globalisation in music, showing how City Pop is part of a broader global conversation that challenges traditional notions of cultural otherness. As she points out, “City Pop incorporates Western musical styles such as jazz fusion and funk, reinterpreting them through a Japanese lens.” This fusion creates a form of musical exoticism where the genre is simultaneously familiar and distinct, offering Western listeners a taste of Japanese culture without presenting it as an entirely foreign or stereotypical “other.” For Western listeners, the exoticism of City Pop, with its blend of Western styles and Japanese aesthetics, offers an exoticized and nostalgic fantasy of Tokyo’s cosmopolitan lifestyle. This dynamic highlights how City Pop’s appeal extends beyond traditional notions of exoticism, embracing a more fluid and interconnected approach to cultural exchange.

Fey’s examination of the evocation of nostalgia in this genre involved a close reading of musical characteristics of Miki Matsubara’s 1979 hit Mayonaka no Door (Stay with Me), including elements of production, as well as the impact of modern technology on the global resurgence of City Pop, and this song in particular. The use of the internet and social media platforms such as YouTube and TikTok has played a crucial role in reintroducing City Pop to new audiences worldwide. Fey states, “The viral spread of Miki Matsubara’s Mayonaka no Door (Stay with Me) and other City Pop classics illustrates how these platforms facilitate cultural exchange and appreciation.” This resurgence reflects a broader trend of globalisation where cultural products are not merely exoticized but interpreted and integrated into a global musical landscape. Matsubara’s 1979 hit conveys a shared nostalgia that is not merely personal but collective, tied to a period of optimism and global engagement in Japan’s history.

Fey is currently expanding her research on City Pop into a longer Special Topics Paper as part of the requirements for her B.Mus. in Music History.

Interested in the URA? The deadline is February 17, 2025:

Students apply to be mentored for 16 weeks (full-time from May through August) by a professor of their choice. This is a competitive award. Some of the award highlights are as follows:

• Up to 205 URAs are available across all disciplines at UM, plus two (2) additional awards for community-based projects (supported by SSHRC).
• A minimum of 21 URAs are available for students who self-declare as Indigenous.
• The award carries a monetary value of $7000.
• The award is a recognized UM Co-Curricular Record activity.
• For more information please see: https://umanitoba.ca/research/opportunities-support/undergraduate-research-awards

Singing Back the Buffalo is part of Tasha Hubbard’s academic work to support Indigenous narrative sovereignty in North America and Indigenous efforts to return buffalo to the lands. She is a founding director of the International Buffalo Relations Institute and has worked to support the Buffalo Treaty for the past ten years. Making the film was a long journey across the plains for Hubbard. She speaks of following the path of the buffalo with other Indigenous women and an especially moving experience visiting a herd in Banff National Park when the herd matriarchs responded to the women’s songs and stayed with them on their journey. The return of the buffalo to the heart of the North American plains, as Hubbard explains, signals a turning point for Indigenous nations, the ecosystem, and our collective survival in a time of global uncertainty and environmental degradation.

Melody McKiver’s compelling music brings the story of Singing Back the Buffalo to life. McKiver is a well-known violist and composer whose musical work integrates electronics with classical music. A proud member of Obishikokaang Lac Seul First Nation, McKiver is also a member of the Mizi’iwe Aana Kwat (LGBTQ2S+ Council) within the Anishinaabe Nation of Treaty #3. In 2020 they received the Canada Council’s Robert Fleming Prize for a promising emergent Canadian composer. Two of their pieces for solo viola were featured on Marina Thibeault’s 2022 Juno-winning album Viola Borealis featuring l’Orchestra de l’Agora. These two pieces, Ningodwaaswi and Niizh, are part of a larger work entitled Reckoning, dedicated to the memory of McKiver’s grandmother, a residential school survivor. At the Faculty of Music, McKiver teaches Perspectives on Indigenous Music and courses in songwriting, production, digital composition, and contemporary performance practice.

Event details: Wednesday, February 12, 2025

• 11:30am to 12:30pm in 307 Tier Building: Tasha Hubbard in Conversation with Melody McKiver
• 6:15pm at the Winnipeg Art Gallery: food catered by Feast Bistro, followed by free screening of Singing Back the Buffalo at 7:00pm (part of the Decolonizing Lens film series)