Kobo Town's Independence

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Toronto-based, roots-calypso act Kobo Town is capping a pivotal year with their debut album 'Independence' being selected in Exclaim! Magazine "Year in Review 2007." Picked as a Top 10 "Groove" Album of 2007, following Amy Winehouse and M.I.A., Independence was the only album by an unsigned act in the category. The band was also recognized by the 2007 Toronto Exclusive Magazine Awards with a Best World Song Award for "Corbeaux Following."

"Lyrically and musically Kobo Town is a trans-national triangle that connects Toronto, Jamaica and Port-of-Spain, the sort of thing that could only happen now, here. Reaching back past soca's hollow mainstream din, Kobo Town resurrects, reinvigorates and redefines calypso for the new millennium. Independence is an important album not only because of the editorial observations on post-colonial life and trans-border cultural connections but because it offers an almost forgotten music new life by coyly injecting it with a therapeutic blend of reggae, dancehall and dub. As such Independence comes with a promise: it's well on its way to facilitating a belated introduction between Canada and the art of the calypsonian." Brent Hagerman, Exclaim! Magazine

Since the November release of their much-acclaimed debut album Independence, Kobo Town has been performing major festivals across Canada, from the Montreal Jazz Festival to British Columbia's Salmon Arm Roots and Blues Festival. The band has also been a regular of the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC), including Canada Live, FUSE, Bandwidth and Big City Small World. Kobo Town is working on a follow up album for the Spring of 2008 and preparing for a U.S. tour. Named after the vibrant and turbulent neighborhood in old Port-of-Spain where Calypso was born, Kobo Town strives to recover the social conscience, satirical storytelling and strong acoustic/organic rhythms that characterized Trinidadian music in the past.

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