Toronto Elementary Teachers Choir Album Launch
Photos by Oswald Phills Faith Nolan and The Elementary teachers of Toronto with Martin Long at CD Launch Review: The Power of Faith
by Oswald Phills
Faith Nolan got power! Yes she does. And charisma and drive! A triple threat as singer, songwriter, activist, she had a CD launch at Trinity St. Pauls up on Bloor and Spadina recently. It represented the culmination of the work she had been doing with the Elementary Teachers of Toronto (ETT). She's led someof these teachers to sing and record a number of songsfrom different cultural traditions for a CD called DayDone Broke.
Pre performance, I found Faith in a powder blue room in the basement labyrinth of Trinity St. Paul's. She was setting up a tray of cold cuts and cheese hunks for the gathering that would happen after the show.
Right off the bat she is high energy. Quick on her feet. She moves. She talks. She laughs. She jokes. She hugs. She bobs. She .@ weaves. She's in your face, but in a nice way. In another life she'd have made a pretty
good light weight. But in this life she's a still a fighter. She fights for social justice. Her sympathies
are always with the underdog, the outsider. This has to do with coming out of the Afro Scotian experience
of Africville, growing up poor, and being a Queer black woman. It makes sense that she has helped bring
out music that's about inclusion, acceptance, and respect.
Faith Nolan and the Elementary Teachers of Toronto entered the rented room where they would performance
some songs from their new CD at the same time as the audience. There seemed absolutely no separation
between audience and performers. Faith, the teachers, and accompanying musicians, wore dark green tee shirts
over their civilian clothes. They took their .&place on a low rise stage at the front of the room. Carrying a
banjo, Faith kibbitzed with the small admiring audience like the long time performer that she is. The
teachers, almost all women, lined up, each clutching their songs, faced the audience ready to perform
se
by Oswald Phills
Faith Nolan got power! Yes she does. And charisma and drive! A triple threat as singer, songwriter, activist, she had a CD launch at Trinity St. Pauls up on Bloor and Spadina recently. It represented the culmination of the work she had been doing with the Elementary Teachers of Toronto (ETT). She's led someof these teachers to sing and record a number of songsfrom different cultural traditions for a CD called DayDone Broke.
Pre performance, I found Faith in a powder blue room in the basement labyrinth of Trinity St. Paul's. She was setting up a tray of cold cuts and cheese hunks for the gathering that would happen after the show.
Right off the bat she is high energy. Quick on her feet. She moves. She talks. She laughs. She jokes. She hugs. She bobs. She .@ weaves. She's in your face, but in a nice way. In another life she'd have made a pretty
good light weight. But in this life she's a still a fighter. She fights for social justice. Her sympathies
are always with the underdog, the outsider. This has to do with coming out of the Afro Scotian experience
of Africville, growing up poor, and being a Queer black woman. It makes sense that she has helped bring
out music that's about inclusion, acceptance, and respect.
Faith Nolan and the Elementary Teachers of Toronto entered the rented room where they would performance
some songs from their new CD at the same time as the audience. There seemed absolutely no separation
between audience and performers. Faith, the teachers, and accompanying musicians, wore dark green tee shirts
over their civilian clothes. They took their .&place on a low rise stage at the front of the room. Carrying a
banjo, Faith kibbitzed with the small admiring audience like the long time performer that she is. The
teachers, almost all women, lined up, each clutching their songs, faced the audience ready to perform
se
