Workshop:
Navigating Identity Through Transcultural Blending: Music Spaces in Toronto
From Who We Were to Who We Are Becoming
Date & Time:
Saturday, May 10, 2025 | 1:00 – 4:00 PM
Location: York University, Kaneff Tower, Room 519
Convened by:
- Alexandra Mourgou (MITACS Postdoctoral Fellow, YorkU, Dept. of History)
- Matias Recharte (musician, educator, researcher; PhD, University of Toronto)
Moderated by:
- Alexandra Mourgou
- Effrosyni Rantou (PhD candidate, YorkU, Dept. of Anthropology)
Speakers:
- Athina Malli – musician & singer
- Sylvia Mittler – Professor of French, University of Toronto; musician
- Aline Morales – singer & percussionist; member of KUNE
- Waleed Abdulhamid – bass player; Faculty of Music, University of Toronto
- Yehia El Besher – singer & music maker
Description:
This interactive workshop explores how diasporic identities are constructed and re-enunciated through music, with a focus on the transcultural places of Toronto. Moving beyond theory, we center the lived experiences of musicians, venue creators, educators, and cultural participants—those actively shaping urban music places. Guided by three interconnected axes—places of origin, influential networks, and the evolving music places of Toronto—we reflect on how identity is negotiated through sound, space, and community. From homes and basements to imagined homelands and public stages, music becomes a vehicle for memory, belonging, and transformation. Through storytelling, conversation and music-making, participants will be invited to reflect on their musical identities and how they are shaped by being in, moving through and creating space. Together, we’ll explore how music acts as a site of both continuity and change—where ‘who we were’ meets ‘who we’re becoming’.
Note: This event is open to anyone willing and interested in sharing their experiences; the format is an open conversation rather than a conventional “panel.”
Please join us, bring your instruments, and spread the word!
This workshop is presented as part of the 4th Greek Canadian Studies Conference: Bridging Identity and Heritage: Greek Canadian Stories in the Digital Age,
taking place at York University, and is co-organized by the Hellenic Heritage Foundation - Greek Canadian Archives and the KUNE.
We look forward to welcoming you for an afternoon of music, dialogue, and exploration of transcultural identity in one of the most diverse musical cities in the world.
Warm regards,
Alexandra Mourgou & Matias Recharte
Workshop Convenors
Zoom link available for those who are not in town:
https://yorku.zoom.us/j/98817460280?pwd=9OtHavXZMkevzro3I9r9k0GKaWLXXi.1
Meeting ID: 988 1746 0280
Passcode: 064893