Lee Castle, Canada / Uk......

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion | Leadership | Music Producer-DJ | Creative |


 

 

History of 'breathe'

breathe

History of ‘breathe’

It's been more than 15 years since the birth of 'breathe', which started with an instrumental track Lee passed onto Andrea, who wrote and performed the lyrics to the song. Andrea started out as a singer/lyricist and was one-third of the band UNDADOGG formed in 1998, with twin brothers Ruben-guitar, Remi Miguez-drums, and keyboardist Christian Kada who have all played together since high school. Version Xcursion (VX) met Undadogg back in the early 2000s when they first stumbled across their music and played it on their VX popular radio show on the now-defunct CKLN. VX invited Undadogg as a featured guest to play a live acoustic show at their famous Dub & Beyond. This was a monthly event that took place in a downtown location. As time moved on the two collectives built a strong working relationship. It wasn’t surprising when VX approached Andrea to collaborate on songs on an upcoming EP. The process was quite different from the way Andrea traditionally works with her band. Instead of a group-based writing and live band practices approach, VX’s presented Andrea with instrumental tracks that were almost completed ideas. were Andrea would write her part separately. We would only get together when it was time to record the vocals in the studio and work on the arrangements. …Lee 

 

“I’ve only played with my band before this. I was always reluctant to play with other people – out of loyalty, I suppose. I’ve realized, though, that if it’s with like-minded musicians, good people we respect who are on the same wavelength and vibe as us, then it’s not cheating.” … Andrea 2006


 

In 2006 VX and Andrea released a 3 song EP on CD, the collaboration entitled “Breathe". The track debuted at #1 on CKLN’s electronic chart and received lots of support from college radio. Dubmatix Toronto’s number one dub producer and Juno winner supported the release with a remix, which helped ’Breathe’ gain a lot more attention around the release. The song was well received with global support from BBC 1Xtra. 

Andrea and I have always stayed in touch. She's fully involved in her yoga teaching and is also a full-time mum. We’ve always talked about how much ‘Breathe’ means to us and how it is still dear to our hearts, so it was only fitting to close the journey with its last visit and collaborate on music that speaks to where we are to-date…VX 

 

ACL (argentina)

Art work designer

We have a very good process, very easy going and respectful of each each others work. (Alejandro Leonelli) Buenos Aires, Argentina 

Amai Kuda

Amai KuDA et Les Bois

Amai Kuda et Les Bois have been featured in NOW magazine and on CBC’s Canada Live and Big City Small World, as well as performed at venues like the Jane Mallett Theatre, Harbourfront, The Rivoli, The Garrison, and festivals  such as Luminato, Kultrun, Big on Bloor and Small World Music Festival. They have given workshops on music, decolonization, African cultural knowledge and percussion at public schools, universities, libraries and community centres throughout Southern Ontario, in the Caribbean and Europe. In 2015 the band was selected as one of the ‘101 Standout Artists’ during the nationwide CBC Searchlight competition. They have opened for the likes of Joel Plaskett, Kellylee Evans and Sarah Slean, and collaborated with M1 of the legendary HipHop duo Dead Prez on a call-to-action song called “We Can Do It”.  Most recently the group won the Best Folk/Roots award and also placed 2nd for the Best Song across all categories at the Toronto Independent Music Awards. Whether on the street, the stage or in the studio, for Amai Kuda et Les Bois, music is about healing –the healing of the earth, our ancestors and ourselves. 

SystemEcho Recordings joins forces with FTP Media

Lisa santonato

Lisa gained her beat-matching-to-visual editing skills from Toronto’s “mad scientist” drum n’ bass/techno DJ Gerald Belanger (CKLN, nice+smooth, Hypnotic) back in 2000, the year she invested in her first Mac computer with Final Cut Pro v.1. With an Apple-published tome on QuickTime, Lisa soon became a pioneering expert on uploading video to the Internet, pushing short, compressed videos to the web which she often shot and edited.

Over the past two decades, Lisa has collaborated with a diverse range of recording artists and producers, creating artist-driven music videos for the likes of Spookey Ruben, Big Rude Jake, and the electronic music record label, Play Records. She has also worked in live concert/ performance environments, both to document events on video and to create live on-location visual installations, namely for Do Make Say Think (Bloor Cinema, 2001), and TIFF (Drake Underground, 2004). In addition, she has shot hundreds of hours of video for performing artists in dance, theatre and film, and more recently has worked as a videographer documenting corporate conferences for the audio-visual events company, bb Blanc. 

Although Lisa’s first passion was the theatre, she soon moved behind the camera, working as a camera trainee and assistant/focus puller on independent short films after finishing high school in the early 1990’s. For five years Lisa gained valuable experience working on set, and in production offices; whether loading magazines as an AC, or breaking down scripts as a 2nd or 3rd AD (TAD), or coordinating scripts and storyboards, Lisa was a passionate and valuable contributor to every project she was invited to be a part of. 

In late 1995, Lisa chose to take an extended work holiday and travelled to Vancouver. After six months on the West Coast, Lisa’s expanded horizons led her to meet Ray Hawkins (RAH Media), the founder and publisher of a start-up focused on building a free-press magazine and website. Lisa joined the team at Taxi Vancouver Mag.zine and became the publications Senior Editor. Captivated by the opportunity to work online and energized by the vision she held for the future of new media communications, Lisa devoted herself completely to the magazine and website’s editorial, building a team of writers, editors, photographers, and videographers to produce compelling content every month that would drive and engage readers online. 

Upon returning to Toronto in 1999, Lisa completed the New Media Design Programme at the Canadian Film Centre’s MediaLinx h@bitat. She established FTP Media as a Sole Proprietorship (Forward Thinking Productions) that year, and incorporated in 2003. In 2006, the same year that YouTube was established, Lisa took a break from her business pursuits to further her education. Having delayed the completion of her University degree in 1995, Lisa returned to the University of Toronto. She completed her Honours Degree in Cinema Studies and Anthropology in 2016, and began her Master’s Degree in Cinema and Media Studies at York University that same year. After many years pursuing her academic studies, Lisa is excited to return to building FTP Media and engaging in new collaborations with artists, as it brings Lisa back to doing what she loves best. Her collaboration with SystemEcho Recordings is 20 years in the making. 

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