Inclusivity is one of Sistema Toronto’s foundational principles. At the heart of everything we do is a commitment to our students that they will be seen, heard, and valued, and that our programming will reflect diverse perspectives and experiences. We want every student to see themselves and their community reflected in the work we do, and to know that there is a place for them at the table.
An important part of ensuring our programming is relevant and enriching to the students and communities we serve is celebrating Black musical history and excellence. More than 72% of our students identify as Black, Indigenous, or people of colour (BIPOC), and making sure that their identities are reflected in our repertoire, workshops, staff, and leadership can boost their self-esteem and affirm for them that they belong. The western classical works of white, male musicians are often overrepresented in orchestral music programs; challenging this by prioritizing music by Black, Indigenous, and people of colour (BIPOC), women, trans and non-binary artists is foundational to fulfilling Sistema Toronto’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Over the last few years, we’ve partnered with various Black musicians and engaged with organizations who share our goal of bringing music by Black artists to young musicians:
- Sistema Toronto has an ongoing relationship with the makers of the repertoire volumes Music By Black Composers, who have given us permission to adapt songs from their volumes to be played on viola and cello. As a result, we have built up a repertoire that includes student favourites like Fairytales, by Ignatius Sancho and Balada, by Francisca “Chiquinha” Gonzaga
- In the 2022/23 year, students at Sistema Toronto – Scarborough had the chance to work with Canadian vocalist and songwriter SATE, who taught them songs from the opera Treemonisha and spoke to them about the opera, its history, context, and composer Scott Joplin. Students then had the chance to travel to the St Lawrence Centre for the Performing Arts to watch a preview of the opera and sing along with the cast. Later that year, students at Sistema Toronto – Parkdale had the opportunity to work with Toronto-based rap legend Saukrates alongside Indigenous-Irish musician Cody Coyote in a multi-part workshop to write, rehearse, and record the lyrics and instrumentals for their own original song, entitled W.A.Y: We Are Young. The workshop culminated in the creation of a music video with professional videographer Zac Facts, and students had the opportunity to perform the song live at their year-end concert.**
- In the 2023/24 year, students at Sistema Toronto – Yorkwoods had the chance to work with Toronto-based hip-hop artist Aaron Manswell, who taught them about the history and significance of hip-hop music and guided them in writing their own hip-hop songs. He also composed an original piece for Sistema Toronto students, titled Race Car, which has since been added to our benchmark repertoire and will be played by students every year.*** In January and February, students at the Africentric Alternative School spent time learning I Am The Dream, a song by Mr. Pete’s Playhouse about influential Black role models. The students enjoyed classroom discussions about their own Black heroes, and then worked together to adapt I Am The Dream to include the people they were inspired by. Later in February, students performed this song as part of their Black History Month celebration. In June, Sistema Toronto accepted the donation of the Aportia Chryptych Suite, a set of three pieces arranged for student performers from the opera Aportia Chryptych: A Black Opera for Portia White, by composer Sean Mayes and librettist HAUI.
- In our current school year, students at Sistema Toronto – Parkdale had the opportunity to work with newchoir, a Toronto-based singing group whose choir leader, Scott Pietrangelo, adapted songs for the groups to sing together. Students performed alongside newchoir members in a rendition of Ever New by Beverly Glenn-Copeland: a Black, transgender singer and songwriter.
Most recently, in January and February of this year, students at Sistema Toronto – Jane Finch were introduced to Jamaican-Canadian reggae artist Jah’Mila, who visited their centre at the beginning of March to guide them through Reggae Roots: a four-day learning series residency reflecting on the historical, social, cultural, and spiritual importance of reggae music.****
Jah’Mila is a Juno-nominated reggae singer from Kingston, Jamaica, who now lives in Nova Scotia. A beacon for Jamaican music and culture in Atlantic Canada, Jah’Mila‘s music embodies the spirit of traditional Jamaican roots reggae music, infused with light elements of jazz and soul. Her music not only honors her cultural roots, but also serves as a platform for social advocacy: she champions a vision of a more inclusive, diverse, and supported arts community, and works with young musicians to encourage them to stand firmly in their roots as they develop as artists.
The Reggae Roots learning series was created by Jah’Mila, alongside Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, and Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, Barrett Principal Education Conductor & Community Ambassador for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. The series was a particularly good fit for Sistema Toronto – Jane Finch, where a large portion of the population is Jamaican and many have deep connections to reggae music. While the series has been presented to students before, this was the first time that participants were invited to use their instruments to contribute to the lively fusion of sound.
Our students spent January rehearsing two songs by Jah’Mila – Sugar and Spice and Rise, and preparing orchestral arrangements of three classic reggae songs: Bob Marley’s Redemption Song, Sister Nancy’s Bam Bam, and Beres Hammond’s Feel Good. When Jah’Mila arrived, they were ready to enthusiastically engage in four days of workshops that deepened their understanding of reggae music, its history, and its cultural significance. On the first day, Jah’Mila spoke with Junior and Intermediate students, teaching them the fundamentals of reggae: a musical genre that originated in Jamaica in the 1960s, at a time when Jamaica’s recently-won independence from Britain had left the country struggling economically. In a journey through the sub-genres of reggae, students were introduced to artists such as Beres Hammond, Burning Spear, Sister Nancy, and Bob Marley; taught about the Rastafarian culture that so heavily influenced this music; and shown videos depicting dancehall culture and the soundclashes that pushed early reggae music into the public sphere.
When she returned on day 2, Jah’Mila worked with senior students, guiding them through the same fundamental introduction to reggae music and singing along as they accompanied her on their violins, violas, cellos, and clarinets. On day 3, the junior and intermediate students joined the seniors in a final workshop, where students were quizzed on their knowledge of reggae, taught how to dance to reggae music (run on the spot; now run on the spot backwards; now run on the spot backwards very slowly and in time with the music!), and rehearsed their music for the big finale of Reggae Roots: a collaborative performance at the York Woods Library Theatre.
Veronica Xavier, a Teaching Artist at Sistema Toronto – Yorkwoods, worked diligently with her choir students to learn the music ahead of Jah’Mila’s arrival. She described the workshops:
Our students absolutely loved learning these songs—so many of them connected the music to what they hear at home. But what made this experience truly special wasn’t just the performance at TPL; it was the process. Learning about Reggae Roots and its history gave them a deeper appreciation for the songs they were learning. I remember them lighting up in class, saying this music reminded them of what their grandparents played at home. They were drawing connections between their personal histories and what they were learning in the music room! These are the moments that turn into core memories. Years from now, they’ll look back and remember that they got to sing with someone as incredible as Jah’Mila—someone so accomplished, yet so warm, grounded, and present with them. I could tell many saw Jah’Mila as a role model and were now seeing new possibilities for themselves and imagining dreams they hadn’t before.
The Friday evening performance was a testament not only to the learning the students had accomplished, but their sheer joy at having worked with Jah’Mila. Our students sang alongside her in a performance of Sugar and Spice and Rise, accompanied her on their instruments as she sang Redemption Song, Bam Bam, and Feel Good, and danced with her to Move Yuh Feet, by Runkus. The students also performed on their own, showcasing their work on Aaron Manswell’s Race Car, and La Pencarosa and Crystal Stair by Sean Mayes and HAUI.
We had the chance to speak with Jah’Mila about her career, the Reggae Roots series, and her vision for reggae for social change:
How were you first introduced to reggae music?
I don’t know a time in my life when I wasn’t around reggae music. Reggae music is pretty much ubiquitous, right across Jamaica. It’s always on the radio, always on the airwaves. Especially in the period around when I was born, there was a big roots and dub and early dancehall energy, and so everywhere you went, all the cars and taxis and buses, everyone would be playing reggae music. Plus my dad was a reggae musician which gave me a glimpse into the production of it, not just the consumption.
Tell us about Reggae Roots: how it came about, and what the students will learn
Reggae Roots: a blessing that I did not anticipate but that I am so grateful for! I had met Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser for the first time doing a Music Nova Scotia initiative. The initiative put together people of different musical backgrounds, so I collaborated with a guy who was a beat maker, as well as an Indigenous rapper and a string quartet to create one song as part of this compilation.
So here comes Daniel [Bartholomew-Poyser] into my life! He had me in mind for another project, so he approached me and he’s like “you do reggae music, you know I have Jamaican and Trinidadian background.” He’s operating at a high level in the classical world now, and he always wants to find a way to bring his culture into his practice. So there was this one project, right before the pandemic: Symphony Nova Scotia invited me to do one song as part of a Black History Month event. Of course a lot of programming, educational and otherwise shifted to virtual after the pandemic so people could access them, so Symphony Nova Scotia did a fusion series that had podcasts and performances, and that was the first time my original music got fused with the orchestra. The National Arts Centre got wind of this because it was very successful, they took it up, and we had three or four months of planning. I’d never written a pedagogy before, but I do know I have my experiences of sitting around these rastafarian elders, these reggae music producers and musicians, and learning and touring with them as a backing vocalist and just soaking it up like a sponge.
What did you learn by giving these workshops to so many students?
I’ve learned so much. I’m a part of this incredible team that have done programs like this before, so just following their lead and understanding the steps in the process behind making something like this work. Ensuring you have the proper consultants, making sure you’re fact-checking, talking to students, getting focus groups together, getting feedback, reiterating. The fact that I’m a project manager as well kind of helps, but it’s different because it’s a completely different industry and with Reggae Roots we’re dealing with kids, which is a big responsibility. I’ve been learning more and more every day to be mindful of my branding and remembering that I’m having an influence on a vulnerable section of our society; they’re watching and they’re learning and so the way that I show up in a room, the way that I listen to them, the way that I regard them when they share their experiences. I take that all very seriously. I’m learning to be really mindful of the way that I show up in myself and in my branding online and in the way that I listen and am attentive to them and their needs.
What do you hope students will come away with?
I want the students to come away with a few things: to know reggae and to be able to say some terms and facts: What is reggae? How did it come about? What is one-drop? And I want them to feel empowered to share their own stories. When I grew up I did not see a lot of marginalized women or women of colour in music spaces, teaching about their own culture. A lot of things were kind of generalized. And, because of a lot of internal biases, kind of white-washed. Whenever I went into any kind of music education space it would be more classical music, so I had never seen any kind of reggae course or courses on more “ethnic” music. I wasn’t exposed to that personally. So I was happy to be able to be a representation that encourages not only little black girls, but all people from different countries. I want them to be able to feel empowered to share their stories and their culture, and to stand firmly in what their roots are.
And then another thing I want them to come away with is to be able to work together as a team. The whole idea of Reggae Roots being presented by the orchestra is to show that there’s a spirit of collaboration underneath, and to be the evidence that we can work together. Not only musically, but in every aspect of our lives. It’s not mutually exclusive, we can stand firmly in our roots but we can play together literally and figuratively.
Have you ever performed with a student group before?
I have. The first time I performed with a student group would be with the Bella Voci Choir from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia run by Miss Melissa Hartley. That time, we presented Reggae Roots in performance format – not quite the workshops, but we did the performance in a more interactive way. We had about 1200 students in attendance from about 5 years old to maybe 15, and we did it on February 1st, at the start of Black History Month. For our last three songs, the Bella Voci Choir came on and sang with us. This engagement with Sistema Toronto is the first time we’re doing Reggae Roots with instruments.
What do you hope the students will learn from being part of a professional performance?
It’s going to be something that they carry with them for the rest of their lives. They will always be able to reflect on it and have a standard. They’ll know how it’s done on a big stage, and they’ll see professional musicians in their space and see first-hand how this all works. I think in live music, students and youth are such an underserved community. They learn it a lot, but the spaces they get to perform in don’t always represent what the real world is. I think being there with a full band will allow them to rise to the occasion.
What was your first professional performance like?
Wild! It’s like, which one do I call the first professional performance? Is it the first time I got paid? Or the first time I was on a big platform?
One of the moments that stands out was when I was about 7 years old. I went to the 7th Day Adventist church in my very small community in the mountains of Jamaica. And the churches there, they don’t really play nice – there’s some invisible lines of separation there. Word had gone out about me because I was singing all the time at church, and another church hired me – spoke with my mom and everything – and hired me from my church, which is unheard of, and asked me to come and sing at their event. They paid my mom the equivalent of what would be about $60. That was big!
The first time I felt like a professional: the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival. I ended up going on right before Mary J Blige. They had it set up with a big stage and a tiny stage, and they set it up so that all the audience had to do was turn around between acts. It felt like a big stage for me at the time. I got the crowd moving, I was terrified, but I had a band who had rehearsed for weeks and I think it went well. That was 2007, maybe 2008.
Tell us about Rise and Sugar and Spice. Why did you choose these songs to work on with the students?
Sugar and Spice has been the song that I’ve recorded that has had the most positive feedback from the youth. I think it’s because of the singability of it and the call and answer. And I think ‘sugar and spice,’ it’s such a catchy line and represents things that kids of that age like! I didn’t plan for it, but it’s the one that has naturally received beautiful feedback from the students, and so that one was a shoe in.
And then Rise – Alex [Sistema Toronto’s Director of Programming and Curriculum], Shawn [Sistema Toronto’s CEO], and myself came to decide on Rise specifically because it would allow the kids to be able to sing with us and the message is really positive, and it has some interesting harmonies.
Most people will already know about Bob Marley, but what would you like our students and their families to know about Beres Hammond (I Feel Good) and Sister Nancy (Bam Bam)?
We use these songs because they represent different sounds of reggae. Beres Hammond is big in reggae music, and he’s a very prominent lovers’ rock artist. In giving the reggae story we wanted to represent subgenres of reggae like lover’s rock, and so it would be remiss of us not to mention Beres Hammond in the lineup. The song I Feel Good is such a singable, catchy song and I mean it’s really about a love relationship, but if you isolate the chorus it leaves you with a kind of positive vibration. It does something to the psyche.
Bam Bam – there’s no reggae conversation without Bam Bam. Sister Nancy came into a very male dominated dancehall space as a woman, and to sing a song boldly like this, like “listen to me, I’m a woman and I’m here doing my thing right alongside with you guys” was huge. And then that song goes on to become the most sampled song in reggae history. Like 500 times. Our favourite singers and rappers have sampled it, myself included. There’s no conversation without it. Also to be a Black woman doing something in a space that is male dominated, and also culturally myopic, and to add a little layer of diversity… I feel like I’m doing something similarly groundbreaking and so I consider it a privilege to be able to sing that song in this space.
Tell us about your vision of reggae for social change, and how can children and young people play a role?
That is the whole vision. In dancehall, and in reggae music as it evolves, a lot of the younger artists are losing sight of where reggae came from and what its original purpose was. This music was not only to let us all feel good. You know Nina Simone, although not quite a reggae artist, said it’s the artists’ responsibility to reflect the times. Artists have a social responsibility whether or not we want it, and to be connected to the youth and the children and to share with them before they are too exposed to the spoils of the world. To encourage them that their voice matters and that reggae music, or any kind of music that you love, you can use that and wield that as an instrument for social change.
My favourite module in Reggae Roots is Module 4: “How does reggae make you feel?” It’s all about the embodiment of music. It’s not just about asking them to connect with reggae music at that level, it’s also for them to have that tool. To know that they can ask themselves, honestly, that question. Because social media, pop culture, and the media will drug you into thinking you like the music that they feed you. You’re so bombarded with it that you don’t even know what you think of it after a while. You may know the lyrics to a song you’ve heard a million times, but did you choose it? Asking them an open-ended question like “how does this make you feel?” and really asking them to be open to listening to sounds that they wouldn’t have otherwise been fed in their algorithms – we can listen and before judging it, because of social conditioning, let’s listen, give it a chance, and ask ourselves; how does this make me feel?
Children are the leaders of tomorrow. These little seeds we plant in their subconscious today, asking them to think critically, asking them to be open, asking them to be empowered to share their stories, asking them to work well together and to encourage a spirit of community and collaboration – those are the value systems that I would like them to bring with them.
Who are some other reggae artists our students/families/community should check out?
Click below to see some of the Reggae Roots performance!
**This project was supported by SOCAN Foundation and Toronto Arts Council with funding from the City of Toronto
***This project was made possible through the support of SOCAN Foundation.
****This project was made possible with funding from SOCAN Foundation and the City of Toronto with funding from Toronto Arts Council.