BIO
I was born in Toronto and raised in Welland, Ontario in the seventies, when bikes had banana seats and summers felt lazy and endless. In the sixties, my parents left the Chinese community in the Philippines to come to Canada, and we spoke Philippine Hokkien at home.
Ever present was the dissonance of our home life lived in contrast to the world-at-large, as observed all around us, and this dual narrative continues to dog my steps, and inform my art, music, and teaching.
Ode to the East began as a feeling. As much as I loved being away, I loved even more, the feeling of returning to the east end of Toronto. Cruising on the Gardiner heading east, I knew home would soon be in sight. My parents laugh and say that I'm like a salmon, because I ended up settling not far from where they first set down as new immigrants in the sixties.
This sense of homecoming and place, strength found in ancestors, light in darkness, these are the feelings that flow through the trio of songs that make up Ode to the East.
It was a pleasure to write and record these songs with producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Joel Schwartz, who knows his way around beautiful layered sounds and melodies.
I hope you enjoy them.
Dorothy
August 2022
