37 Bulwer is a social hub where great energies merge! The space has been used to host; artist talks, yoga classes, gallery exhibitions, workshops & collaborative meetings, culinary events and other creative endeavours.

The venue is located at 37 Bulwer Street in the heart of downtown Toronto, just north-east of Queen St. and Spadina Ave. Steps away from creative industries of Queen West, the space is a unique venue for hosting events, parties, and gatherings.

37 Bulwer embraces artistic expression, education and entrepreneurship and aims to be a foundation to connect passionate individuals, groups, and collectives. With multi-purpose spaces available for short-term rentals, we aspire to support the capacity of artists, community builders, and local organizations.

Spaces Available:

Lower Studio:

658 sq. feet
55-94 people (capacity)

Upper Lounge:
225 sq. feet
25 people (capacity)
Kitchen

*Both spaces include bathroom, table, chairs and WiFi access.*

For further information and to submit a rental request visit www.themanifesto.ca/space or email space@themanifesto.ca.

Call 647.436.8404 to speak with the Space Coordinator directly (between 4-7pm).

Coachella went down this weekend, with another blockbuster line-up, including 2011 break-out alt-soul sensation Frank Ocean.

Not too far from home, Frank Ocean extended his hand to Canada to bring Toronto jazz-hip-hip trio BadBadNotGood (BBNG) along for his debut Coachella performance.

YouTube has recorded all the performances at Coachella, so you can check out his set below. A bit choppy at times, along with monitoring issues, Frank pushed through a set that showcased his unique raw alt-soul/R&B sound, over the sometimes improvisational approach of BBNG. All considering, the band likely only had a couple weeks of rehearsal time with the vocalist, it comes off as a fairly interesting performance.

00:55 Bob Dylan - Long Time Coming (cover)
03:20 FO- Thinking About You
06:52 FO - Strawberry Swing
10:10 FO - Swim Good
15:12 Odd Future (Main. Tyler, Frank) - Analog 2
17:35 FO - Whip Appeal
21:05 FO - Voodoo
24:11 FO - Love Crimes
28:48 FO - Novacane
34:23 Odd Future (Main. Frank) - White

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Toronto emcee Wordburglar has released a new single and video for "Rhyme O'clock" featuring appearance by More or Les, and produced by Fresh Kils and Uncle Fester.

Wordburglar is peparing to release his new album 3rdburglar in May 2012.

Look for the cameo by the MNFSTO New Era snap-back, which has made appeances in videos by Andreena Mill and others, since debuting at the 2011 festival.

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Check out the performance in 2-parts below, full set (with a few digital hiccups). The show wasn't available to most outside of the U.S. due to licensing, but check out the impressive set below with Jay performing pretty much every big song in his catalogue in a 70 minute set.

The concert, kicking off a marketing partnership between AmEx and Twitter, attracted 15 million YouTube views, and within the US you can view clips of the songs on-demand.

Jay's sound set-up on this show is impressive, and brought a great mixture of live elements and his original production and samples. A double rack of keyboard/organs and a drum kit backed the show, while Jay ran through his impressive catalogue.

Respect to Notaurious on the video tip!

The much buzzed collaborative album Black Radio from Robert Glasper dropped this past Tuesday, with an all-star studded event at Highline Ballroom in NYC on release night, and a second night scheduled for tonight (February 29th)  at Highline.

Tuesday's part 1 concert featured ?uestlove on the decks warming up the capacity crowd at Highline.  Glasper performed with his incredible band made up of Casey Benjamin (sax/vocals), Derrick Hodge (bass), Mark Colenburg (drums), with guest appearances through Glasper's set by Chrisette Michele (singing "Afro Blue" in Erykah's absence), Bilal on "Letter to Hermione" and with Gregoire Maret on "All Matter", Lalah Hathaway with a cover of Sade's "Cherish The Day", and Yasiin Bey (Mos) on the title cut "Black Radio".  The set also included a tribute to J Dilla, as well as a cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" with Bilal and Lalah Hathaway on vocals. (details pulled from the Village Voice)

The rumours are tonight on-deck are: Lupe Fiasco, Ledisi, Meshell Ndegeocello, among potential others.  As crowds know who frequent Glasper's 2011 series at the Blue Note, there's always suprises at his performances (Kanye West, Jay-Z, etc.)  See an example of this below.

Glasper and his band appeared this week on David Letterman with Bilal and Luper Fiasco - view the performance below.

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Miami based Cris Cab could possibly be the NEXT pop crossover act, but coming with the unique angle that he's rooted more from a reggae base, than R&B or hip hop.

Cab first landed on folks radar at the age of 17, fans of his including Wyclef and Pharrell Williams, whose Billionaire Boys Club has released Chris's first buzz mixtape/album release. Echo Boom is the name of the project, which features production from in-house producer PJ McGinnis and Cab himself, as well as Pharrell Williams, Wyclef Jean & Sedeck Jean, and reggae producer Supa Dups.

Check out the lead single off the mixtape "Rihanna's Gun" featuring Wyclef and reggae heavyweight Mavado.

Download the full Echo Boom mixtape at www.criscab.com

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Malaysian singer Yuna has released her first official North American video for new track "Live Your Life" produced by Pharrell.

Her debut english EP entitled Decorate is currently available through NYC based FADER Records, with a self-titled full length album slated for an April 2012 release.

The Muslim vocalist first made noise at home in Malaysia in 2008 with the release of her self-titled EP, where the track “Deeper Conversation” received huge success and went on to win Best English Song at the 2009 AIM Awards, Malaysia’s national music awards. Yuna swept the ceremony, garnering Best Pop Song and Song of the Year for her Malay song, “Dan Sebenarnya”.

While currently living in Los Angeles, managing Malaysian-based clothing store I Am Jet Fuel the 24-year old is working on recording and writing new material for her North American full-length debut, in addition to adding to her performance experience in North America following a small run of US dates opening for Raphael Saadiq in NY, Washington DC, and Baltimore, as well as other NYC appearance in early 2011.

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Who is Storm Saulter?

A writer, cinematographer, visual artist and film director of the revered new film Better Mus' Come, Storm Saulter is also the co-founder of the inspiring New Caribbean Cinema (www.newcaribbeancineam.com), a collective of young, up and coming directors making projects using a communal filmmaking concept.

Born in Negril, Jamaica, Storm traveled to L.A. to study film at the Los Angeles Film School, graduating in 2001. Since then he has developed an impressive resume including clients such as Red Bull, Red Stripe, Atlantic Records, Martha Stewart, The Hilton, the prestigious Sandals Resort International and one of our nation's most recognized brands, Roots.

His skillful imagery has also appeared in iconic magazines, Rolling Stone & The Village Voice. Some of the visuals you may be familiar with include videos for Wayne Marshall and Mavado's "My Heart", Taurus Riley's "Shaka Zulu Pickney" and the Weeknd's "Wicked Games."

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The accomplished young director received the 2011 Jamaica Gleaner Honour Award for his work in developing his native country's film industry and has recently been recognized as one of Jamaica's most influential people.

In Toronto this week to premiere his debut film Better Mus' Come at TIFF Bell Lightbox as part of this year's CaribbeanTales Youth Film Festival (click here for full details), Storm will also be showcasing exclusive artwork and inspiration from Better Mus' Come at Roots Bloor St. and at Manifesto Presents: A Talk With... Storm Saulter.

Thursday, February 2
A Talk With... Storm Saulter
Manifesto HQ
37 Bulwer Street
7-9pm
Cost: Pay What You Can
RSVP Necessary: rsvp@themanifesto.ca

Friday, February 3
Poster and Art from Better Mus' Come
Roots Flagship Store
100 Bloor St. West
5-8pm
Cost: FREE

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All hoods were put up for auction during The Movement All Styles Dance Tribute and Floor Awards. Big Love for Fly Lady Di and Jon Drops Reid for creating an incredible event to house the All Good Exhibit. Every hood was bought with big thanks going out to the whole Scion community for making that happen. The auction raised nearly $4500 for Manifesto.

Film "Hip Hop is Bigger Than The Occupation"

The Toronto Palestine Film Film Festival went down this month between September 30 and October 7th, and Manifesto was priviledged to co-present their final film screening of Hip Hop is Bigger than the Occupation.

The screening was the debut of the film in Toronto, and through the art form of hip hop, explained the situation of the various Palestinian territories and how they are affected by the Israeli occupation.

Shadia Mansour, M1 of dead prez, and Lowkey out of the UK, all heavyweight emcees on a global scale, travelled to the West Bank along side others including NYC based DJ Vega Benetton, Mazzi of Jersey City's S.O.U.L. Purpose Crew, Bronx community organizer and activist MC Marcel Cartier, and Chicago based University of Hip Hop. The trip was organized by political organization Existence Is Resistance (EIR), and connected this forward thinking collective of hip hop minds to some of most captivating and resilient individuals in the West Bank.

While focusing on music throughout, and the collectives performances, the clear takeaway from this film was the impact of the communities had on these artists, as opposed to the artists having a major impact on the community. The artist performances did have an amazing way of bringing the community together, as well as a way to captivate the younger kids in each territory.

After Party

The Toronto Palestine Film Festival concluded with a great event at The Pilot Tavern, featuring performances by Shadia Mansour, S.O.U.L. Purpose, Yaseen iVoice and Mazzi and on the 1s and 2s was DJ Leila P. The crowd was live and hype as the performers were. Shadia had us raising our peace signs in the air as she laid it down with her irresistibly powerful voice that seems like it was made for MC'ing.

See our previous post on this event.

Click Continued to see photos from the event.