Kobo Town is a Juno-winning

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

Caribbean music Caribbean music genres are very diverse. They are each synthesis of African, European, Arab, Asian, and Indigenous influences, largely created by descendants of African slaves (see Afro-Caribbean music), along with contributions from other commun ...

group, led by

Trinidadian Canadian Trinidadian and Tobagonian Canadians are Canadian citizens who are fully or partially of Trinidadian and Tobagonian descent or persons having those origins and having Canadian citizenship. There were 78,965 Trinidadian an ...

singer and songwriter Drew Gonsalves. Based in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, the band blends

calypso music Calypso is a style of Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago during the early to the mid-19th century and spread to the rest of the Caribbean Antilles and Venezuela by the mid-20th century. Its rhythms can be traced back to We ...

with a diverse mix of Caribbean and other musical influences, including

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

, dub,

rapso Rapso is a form of Trinidadian music that grew out of the social unrest of the 1970s. Black Power and unions grew in the 1970s, and rapso grew along with them. The first recording was ''Blow Away'' by Lancelot Layne in 1970. Six years later ...

zouk Zouk is a musical movement pioneered by the French Antillean band Kassav' in the early 1980s. It was originally characterized by a fast tempo (120–145 bpm), a percussion-driven rhythm and a loud horn section. The fast zouk béton of Martini ...

and hip hop."Kobo Town: Sing the beloved country"
''Caribbean Beat'', March/April 2013. Other band members include percussionist Derek Thorne, guitarists Cesco Emmanuel and Patrick Giunta, drummer Robert Milicevic, saxophone and flute player Linsey Wellman, bassist Don Stewart, trombonist Terence Woode and trumpeter Jan Morgan.

Background

Gonsalves was born and raised in

Diego Martin Diego Martin is a town and is the urban commercial center and capital of the Diego Martin region in Trinidad and Tobago. Its location in the region is just on the south eastern border, west of the capital city of Port of Spain and east of the to ...

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

to a Trinidadian father and a Québécois mother.Kobo Town
at

CBC Music CBC Music (formerly known as CBC FM, CBC Stereo and CBC Radio 2) is a Canadian FM radio network operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It used to concentrate on classical and jazz. In 2007 and 2008, the network transitioned towards a ...

. When he was 13, his parents' marriage ended and his mother left and returned to Canada with her children, settling in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

. As a teenager, Gonsalves turned to music and poetry as a way to deal with his sense of dislocation and exile. He later studied history and political science at

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning World ...

before moving to

in the early 2000s and forming the band in 2004. Since its founding, the group has toured extensively throughout Europe and North America, and have appeared at festivals in the Caribbean, Asia and Latin America.

Music

The band released its debut album ''Independence'' in 2007. The album was nominated for an Indie and a CFMA award. The band's second album ''Jumbie in the Jukebox'', released in 2013, was recorded predominantly in

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

. The album was named a longlisted nominee for the

2013 Polaris Music Prize The 2013 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 23, 2013

on June 13, 2013."Polaris Music Prize Unveils 2013 Long List"
. ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'', June 13, 2012. The album was also nominated for a JUNO Award in 2014. After releasing ''Jumbie in the Jukebox'', Gonsalves collaborated on the writing and production of

Calypso Rose Calypso Rose or Linda McCartha Monica Sandy-Lewis (born April 27, 1940 in Bethel Village, Tobago) is a Trinidadian calypsonian. She started writing songs at the age of 13; over the years, she has composed more than 1000 songs and recorded more th ...

's platinum-selling album Far From Home. The album, which features several songs penned by Gonsalves as well as performances by other Kobo Town members, won a Victoire de la Musique award in France in February 2017. Kobo Town's third release ''Where the Galleon Sank'' was released in Canada in February 2017 and won a

Canadian Folk Music Award The Canadian Folk Music Awards are an annual music awards ceremony presenting awards in a variety of categories for achievements in both traditional and contemporary folk music, and other roots music genres, by Canadian musicians. The awards progr ...

for World Group of the Year at the 13th annual CFMA. The album was named World Music Album of the Year at the 2018 Juno Awards."Junos 2018: the complete list of winners"
''CBC News'', · March 25, 2018

References

External links

Kobo Town
{{Authority control Canadian world music groups Musical groups from Toronto Musical groups established in 2004 2004 establishments in Ontario Juno Award for World Music Album of the Year winners Canadian Folk Music Award winners