Manitoba Music
Manitoba Music and WAG-Qaumajuq Celebrate Black Music Makers with Concert & Mixer
BPM X WAG-Qaumajuq returns with a new edition on Friday, September 13! A partnership between Manitoba Music and Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG)-Qaumajuq, the series celebrates Black music makers through quarterly free concerts and mixers in the iconic gallery through the BPM | Black Professionals in Music program at Manitoba Music. The project was made possible by the financial support of FACTOR, the Government of Canada and Canada’s private radio broadcasters, The Manitoba Government, Downtown Winnipeg BIZ, and Manitoba Film & Music.
BPM X WAG-Qaumajuq
Friday, September 13, 2024
Featuring YBK Shakur, Rayel, DJ Riski
Free / Doors 6 PM / Music & Mixer 7 - 9 PM
Jamaican patties by Pretty Baked
Winnipeg Art Gallery, 300 Memorial Blvd
The concert will feature sets by hip hop artist YBK Shakur, pop/soul/jazz singer/songwriter Rayel, and DJ Riski. The intimate setting allows the artists to express themselves through stripped-down, visceral performances that address identity and community, and celebrate the African Diaspora.
There'll be a mixer throughout the night for Black music makers as well as local music companies, labels, venues, and festivals looking to make deeper connections with the Black music community in Manitoba. Meetups for artists and music entrepreneurs are core to BPM’s community-building focus, offering an opportunity to share ideas, professional needs, and barriers, and make vital career connections.
BPM’s programming will expand to include critical training opportunities on the afternoon following the WAG-Qaumajuq events. For this edition, lawyer Mike Badejo from Fillmore Riley LLP and Polaris Music Prize listed singer/songwriter and Heart Lake Records Inc. president Witch Prophet will explore copyrights and music law on September 14, 1 - 3 PM at the Manitoba Music office for Rights & Rhythms: Navigating Music Law and Copyright. This session is free and open to all, pre-registration via Eventbrite is required.
Most recently, BPM programming included a three-day event, BPM X CCFM, which included a music supervision workshop and demo listening session. Earlier this year, BPM performers participated in a live performance coaching session. Creating new avenues for specialized professional development is an increasingly key component of BPM planning.
About the Artists / Mentors / Coordinator
BPM | Black Professionals in Music
Launched in February 2021 and facilitated by Tomiwa Omolayo, BPM | Black Professionals in Music is a program via Manitoba Music that supports Black music professionals in Manitoba. BPM presents quarterly mixers for participants to meet and build their community and networks, followed by live performances, as well as other programming throughout the year. Participants can bring ideas, share their professional needs and barriers, and influence the future direction of the program. To get involved, please email bpm@manitobamusic.com. Participants must be residents of Manitoba and identify as Black musicians or music industry professionals.
WAG-Qaumajuq has grown into one of the country’s leading visual art museums with an international reputation! Founded in 1912, the WAG is one of Canada’s first civic art galleries, housed in an iconic modernist building in the heart of downtown Winnipeg. Opened in 2021, Qaumajuq is a contemporary architectural landmark that connects to the WAG building on all four levels.
www.wag.ca/events/event-calendar
YBK Shakur is a Hip/Hop artist and live performer. He describes his music as poetry in motion, trailblazing a subgenre of Hip/Rock or Rock/Rap with his live band. With his incredible storytelling, mixed with influences from his African culture and upbringing in North America. YBK has the ability to capture his audience with his deep resounding voice, entrancing its listener and taking them with him on a thrilling journey; painting beautiful pictures with his spoken word. YBK Shakur defines the YBK in his name as a euphemism that has many meanings. Firstly, YBK stands for “Young Black King/Kween”. and secondly, YBK stands for “You Born King/Kween”.
Rayel is a 24 year old Winnipeg- based black female artist. Her singing style is captivating as it encompasses all the influences from pop to soul to jazz, creating her unique sound. Rayel is a singer/songwriter who specializes in bluesy emotional ballads that reach deep into the soul, exploring the depths of heartbreak and love. In 2020 she released her first single called, “A Stroke of Colour” that dives into the topic of racial injustice and inequality. She then went onto release her next single called, “Scars” in February of 2023, that fully leans into her experiences with her faith and spiritual journey. Rayel has been passionate about music and bringing people together through it, ever since she was a young girl and that excitement and love for the craft has never gone away. She is now working on her next up coming releases that stay on the theme of heartbreak and love, as she is transparent about the questions, answers and deep reflections she has found in experiencing it this far.
DJ Riski is an international DJ with over seven years of experience, known for electrifying audiences with a unique fusion of Afro sounds, hip hop, RnB, and dancehall. With a passion for blending existing tracks into fresh, innovative sounds, Riski has rocked major stages alongside top Afrobeats and Amapiano artists like Ruger, BNXN, and the Major League DJs. Whether it's a club night or a festival, Riski brings an unstoppable vibe that keeps the crowd moving all night long.
Tomiwa Omolayo
BPM Coordinator
TOMMYPHYLL is an AFRODIEM artist and producer from Lagos Nigeria and has called Winnipeg home for the past 9 years. After releasing his debut self-produced album “Art of DREAMS” in 2020 he’s had his foot on the pedal and hasn’t taken it off since. Having Graced multiple stages with big names in AFROBEATS and more, he continues to deliver electrifying performances with every appearance he makes. He strongly believes that you’ll be a fan once you’re three songs into his discography. When he isn’t working on music, TOMMYPHYLL is working in music and Fashion under the code name “TOMIWA” He has done work with the St Norbert Arts Center, Folk Music Ontario, IRAEDAY and on occasion provides artist consultation.
Ayo Leilani
Witch Prophet
Ayo Leilani aka Witch Prophet is a queer, East African, nerodivergant, singersongwriter, as well as the President and CEO of Heart Lake Records Inc.
As Witch Prophet, she provides her fans with a soundscape of vocal layers, loops, raps, and harmonies on a bed of hip-hop, jazz, and soul-inspired beats produced by her wife and business partner SUN SUN.
File next to Erykah Badu, Greentea Peng, Lauryn Hill and Portishead.
Her music carries a powerful message of self care and love, one that is especially important for marginalized communities to hear. It touches on both ancestral history and Afro-Futurism to encompass a variety of perspectives, themes and honours the women in her life that inspire her. In this sense, her work centralizes the strength, resiliency, and beauty of the Black woman. She finds depth and connection in creating music as a portal for self-growth and discovery, as she navigates and better understands her cultural and queer identity. She has shared the stage with and opened for acts like Sudan Archives, Tash Sultana, JPEGMAFIA, CLIPPING, JELEEL!, Shabazz Palaces, Pierre Kwenders, Begonia, Snotty Nose Rez Kids and Lido Pimienta to name a few.
She has toured Europe independently twice; playing shows in Paris, Amsterdam, London, and Berlin, as well as performed at North American and European music festivals like: Montreal Jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz Festival, Winnipeg Jazz Festival, Guelph Jazz Festival, SXSW (Austin, Texas), School Night L.A (Toronto Edition), Beloved Festival (Portland), Soul of Brooklyn (New York), Vancouver Folk Festival, Winnipeg Folk Festival, PRIDE (Toronto), New Skool Rules (Rotterdam), MaMA Festival (Paris), The Great Escape (UK) and more.
In March of 2020, Witch Prophet released her Ontario Arts Council funded sophomore LP “D.N.A Activation”. An ode to her Ethiopian and Eritrean ancestral roots, fusing Jazz, Hip-Hop, Soul and RnB with songs sung in English, Amharic, and Tigrinya. Praised by press and music lovers alike, DNA Activation was shortlisted for the 2020 Polaris Music Prize. She has since released a deluxe edition of DNA Activation featuring remix tracks with rappers Stas THEE Boss and LATASHÁ.
The video for her song Tesfay directed by Leah Vlemmiks was nominated for the 2021 Prism Prize and was an official selection at the 2021 Rhode Island International Film Festival as well as the 2021 SXSW Music Video awards. Tesfay was also nominated in the UKMVA’s Best International RnB/Soul video category alongside Beyoncé, Cardi B, Normani, The Weeknd, and Bryson Tiller.
In the winter of 2021 she was featured on limited edition wine bottles by Ontario winery ‘Jackson Triggs’ through their ‘Local Artist Series’ initiative highlighting amazing up and coming artists from coast to coast. This wine was sold across Canada. She was also a part of FIDO’s ‘With Care’ initiative ‘Off Mute’. An intimate 1 on 1 , artist to artist interview and performance series alongside Lido Pimienta.
On May 1st 2023, Witch Prophet released her deeply personal and intimate 3rd studio album ‘Gateway Experience’. Funded by Ontario Creates, Canada Council for the Arts and Radio Starmaker, ‘Gateway Experience’ is an 11 track, neo-soul/ alternative r&b/ trip hop vibe with songs focusing on the connection between the human brain, dreams, seizures, god, and other worldly abilities. Gateway Experience was long listed for the 2023 Polaris Music Prize.
Coinciding with the release of ‘Gateway Experience’, Witch Prophet was also the subject of Loveleen Kaur’s 2023 feature length documentary film ‘Leilani’s Fortune’. A film documenting the singer's rise and evolution as an artist, as well as detailing the unique challenges the Toronto-based alt-R&B singer has overcome. ‘Leilani’s Fortune’ won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Film at the 2023 InsideOut Film Festival.
Most recently, Witch Prophet was the recipient of the 2024 Women In Music Canada ‘Rising Leaders Award’. She is currently working on her 4th studio album.
Michael Badejo
Fillmore Riley LLP
Michael is an associate in the firm’s litigation and intellectual property practice groups.
Michael advises on a range of matters in intellectual property and civil litigation but is focused on the areas of trademark law, entertainment law, competition law, and commercial litigation.
Michael has advised and managed IP cases for a range of corporations, creative professionals, and startup organizations. His litigation experience includes advising and representing clients in cases involving breach of contract, business torts, and regulatory IP matters. His expertise also extends to conducting IP audits, drafting trademark coexistence agreements, advising on IP portfolio management, and protecting artist or organizational IP rights.
Michael helps clients navigate both IP landscape and civil litigation challenges. He is known for his clear communication and strategic insights and comes to the firm with a background in media and corporate public relations. Michael is a graduate of the University of Manitoba Faculty of Law.
Michael is a Council Member of the Manitoba Bar Association (MBA), receiving the MBA’s President’s Award of Excellence for extraordinary contributions to the MBA and its goals.
Michael is also a member of the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada’s Communications Committee, and the International Trademark Association’s Trademark Office Practices Committee for Canada.