Hola, somos los niños y niñas de Semillas Latinas. Este pasado 30 de julio dio inicio nuestro campamento y queremos compartir con ustedes esta maravillosa experiencia.  La primera semana estuvo llena de actividades emocionantes y de nuevos amigos.  Ya empezamos a aprender un poquito sobre varias disciplinas artísticas como la danza, el teatro, la pintura y la música.  Los instructores Irma y Miko nos invitaron a descubrir la magia del movimiento corporal a través del juego y el ritmo.  Beny nos presentó muchos instrumentos latinoamericanos de percusión y ya comenzamos a experimentar la belleza de sonidos que salen de ellos.  La introducción al teatro nos la trajo nuestro amigo Luis quien nos ayudó a descubrir el poder de la voz y su proyección en el escenario.  Tamara le puso color a nuestra experiencia, dirigiendo el inicio del proyecto del mural. Agradecemos a nuestros amigos Giselle, Melina, Mery, Víctor y Shannon quienes siempre están cerca para ayudarnos a disfrutar mucho de este campamento. Agradecemos a Casa Maíz por ofrecernos este programa tan especial, al Toronto Arts Council, a Carranza LLP, a la Biblioteca Pública de Toronto por permitirnos hacer nuestra presentación en su maravilloso teatro y a la comunidad por siempre estar con nosotros.  Desde ya los invitamos a que aparten la fecha para que nos acompañen a la clausura de nuestro campamento.  Nuestra presentación final será el 24 de agosto a las 5:30 en el teatro de la biblioteca de York Woods. 

Hello, we are the kids of the Semillas Latinas Arts Camp. Our camp began last week and we want to share this wonderful experience with you. The first week was full of exciting activities and new friends. We have already begun to learn a little about various artistic disciplines such as dance, theater, painting and music.  Irma and Miko invited us to discover the magic of body movement through play and rhythm. Beny introduced us to many Latin American percussion instruments and we have already begun to experience the beautiful sounds that come out of them. The introduction to the theater was brought to us by our friend Luis who helped us discover the power of the voice and its projection on the stage. Tamara put color to our experience, directing the start of the mural project. We thank our friends Giselle, Melina, Mery, Víctor and Shannon who are always close to help us enjoy this camp. We thank Casa Maíz for offering this special program, the Toronto Arts Council, Carranza LLP, the Toronto Public Library for allowing us to perform at their wonderful theater and the community. We invite you to set aside the date to accompany us to the closure of our camp. Our final presentation will be on August 24 at 5:30 in at the York Woods Library Theater.

Casa Maíz is pleased to invite children in our community (ages 6 to 12) to be part of the 2018 edition of the "Semillas Latinas" Arts Camp. This year the program will be held for 4 weeks from July 30 to August 24. Participants will have the opportunity to explore the richness of our Latin American culture through dance, music, theater, visual arts and much more. Do not miss this great opportunity to foster the love of our identity and culture in our children! Space is limited. For registration and information, 647-998-4722,m.perez@casamaiz.org
 
We acknowledge and thank Carranza LLP and The Toronto Arts Council (TAC) for making this year’s camp possible. 

At 26 years old, Derek Gray has established himself as an emerging drummer and percussionist on the Canadian music scene. While completing a Bachelor of Contemporary Music Degree at Humber College (where he performed with legendary bassist Dave Holland as a member of the Humber Studio Jazz Ensemble) and an MA in Ethnomusicology at York University (culminating-to-date his research in adapting Afro-Cuban Batá to Drumset), Derek has emerged as one of Toronto's finest young musicians. In Toronto, Derek works extensively as a bandleader, composer, and sideman performing regularly with a variety of projects, including Gray Matter (2016 Julian Award runner-up, co-led with brother Justin Gray), Trans-Mediterranean World music group Ventanas (lead by vocalist Tamar Ilana), and the Indo-Jazz ensemble Monsoon (2x Canadian Folk Music Award nominees for 2015 release, Mandala), amongst others.

Derek has travelled the world studying, performing, and teaching – including time spent in Ghana (Ewe traditional drumming) Cuba (Folkloric Batá studies), Spain (Walking the Camino de Santiago), Italy (Atina Jazz Festival 2011), Switzerland (Drumming mentorship with Julio Davalos), Banff (Artist Residency), New York City (Private studies with Roman Diaz), and Washington (Betty Carter Jazz Ahead).

In 2008, Derek founded the Hand Drumming in the Schools program in which he voluntarily travels to schools in the greater Toronto area and facilitates hand-drumming workshops for students of all ages. In the summer of 2009, Derek travelled to Ghana to study traditional West African hand drumming, and over the course of two months, completed an Ethnomusicology course at University of Ghana. He also studied West African percussion with master drummers Kwasi Dunyo and Ledzi Agudzemegah in Dagbamete, a village in the Volta Region.

Over the past few years, Derek has received a number of awards, including Humber College's President's Medal for leadership, the Garfield Weston National Level Scholarship for leadership, the SABIAN Cymbals Award + Scholarship, the George McCrae Award for musical excellence, and the Principal’s Award for Student Leadership. In the spring of 2011, Derek was selected to participate in the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead residency in Washington, DC. Working alongside talented young musicians/composers from around the world, this two-week long program culminated in performances on the Millenium Stage at the Kennedy Centre. Derek has studied privately with Mark Kelso, Steve Mancuso, Julio Davalos, Roman Diaz, Doug Sole, Don Vickery, Dan Weiss, Clarence Penn, Nate Smith and Larnell Lewis. He has performed with: Pat LaBarbera, Ingrid Jensen, Dave Holland, Tony Malaby, Vincent Herring, David Buchbinder, Jorge Miguel, Esmeralda Enrique, amongst many others.

Derek would like to thank MOPERC, SABIAN, Yamaha, and Vater for the instruments he plays.
Derek extends his deepest gratitude to the Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, and Canada Council for the Arts for their support. 
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Derek will be performing at our upcoming Cantos Libres, September 30th, 2017 at Casa Maíz.  1280 Finch Avenue West. 

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Benjamin Barrile is an accomplished flamenco guitarist who also has extensive in jazz, classical and world music. In addition to leading his own group, Benjamin has performed and recorded for many artists including: The Café Olé - a multi-award winning group that incorporates a unique mix of flamenco and jazz. Benjamin is also a resident guitarist at Toronto based Carmen Romero's School of Flamenco Dance Arts and Esmeralda Enrique Spanish Dance Company. Benjamin has appeared on numerous television and radio broadcasts including CBC, CityTV, Jazz FM, and Telelatino. In 2000 Benjamin set off to Spain for the first of many times, a country that had long captivated his imagination, in search of flamenco and what would be the most significant journey of his life so far. He traveled to one of the major centres of flamenco in Spain today, Jerez de la Frontera, where he studied under many great maestros including Manuel Lozano "El Carbonero".

Benjamin will be performing during our upcoming Cantos Libres, September 30th, 2017 at Casa Maíz, 1280 Finch Ave. West.  

Silvia Temis, currently based in Seville Spain, and based in Edmonton is the leader singer of an Alberta based quarted Notas de 4 and a duet with Flamenco guitar player Benjamin Barrile in Toronto. In both collaborations Silvia fuses Latin jazz, Cuban and Flamenco rhythms.
​Born in Mexico, educated in architecture and design, Silvia discovered flamenco designing a flamenco show to then start studying flamenco dancing and then found a fascination for flamenco singing (cante). She further developed her singing with instruction at the renownedInstitution Cristina Heeren Foundation in Seville Triana.

Silvia performed at the Festival Flamenco du Montreal in 2013 and 2014 with Triana Project and Carmen Romero Company. She was also a part of the Toronto International Flamenco Festival in 2013 with the flamenco cuadro Triana Project, of which she is a cofounder.  In 2014 Silvia was based in Calgary Alberta, where she is one of the organizer of the Calgary International Flamenco Festival and also taught flamenco dance and singing at Fiona Malena Academy and the Jewish Community Centre of Calgary.  While in Calgary she performed with many local and international artists in the city. She was recently part of EXPO Latino Festival 2015 with Fiona Malena Ensemble as well as  Salero Calo Flamenco group. 

Silvia was a recipient of the Artist Entrepreneur program at Canada’s Music Incubator 2016 at Coalition Music. She continues to work passionately in bringing a genuine and personal approach to her singing. Silvia’s mission is to propel the collaboration between flamenco artists around Canada with musicians from different styles of music.

​Silvia will be performing at our next Cantos Libres, September 30th, 2017 at Casa Maíz.  1280 Finch Avenue West.