AUGUST 9TH, 2015
Mama D Plays at the First Skylight Festival
The Skylight Festival, which took place in Paris, Ontario at the end of July, was privileged to have Mama D and the Old New World Revolutionary Rocking Ballroom Dance Band performing on opening night. The room was definitely rocking and Mama D was in great form, singing a variety of powerful songs, most of which had a social justice focus. The band members (Neil Chapman on guitar, Bryant Didier on bass and Paul Antonio on the drums) were all stellar in accompaniment and Mama D gave them lots of opportunity to shine. It was a great performance and was followed by a standing ovation.Vic Thiessen
Director, Skylight Festival
Diem Lafortune, known in the music world as “Mama D”, graces stages across the country enthralling audiences with her amazing vocal strength. The messages in her original music are both thought-provoking and emotionally powerful, entertaining yet at the same time intense and incredibly moving lyrically.
Mama D is truly a woman to be listened to as any audience who has had the privilege to hear her perform…. a truly brilliant woman.”
~ PATRICIA MITCHELL, PROPRIETOR, THE STUDIO @ 318 BELLEVILLE, ONTARIO
I first heard Diem Lafortune sing at a fundraising coffee house at our church. Diem was a last minute addition to the program, and the minute she opened her mouth I knew she was the real deal, and a bit of magic happened.
Diem brings her heart and soul to her music, informed by folk influences in the vein of Buffy Sainte Marie, Odetta and Joan Baez.
Her throaty alto voice and mature guitar sound draw her listeners into the rhythms and poetry of her lyrics.
Diem is a passionate and prophetic advocate for social justice, and her music has the potential to be a profound instrument for change, all wrapped in a catchy and unforgettable tune.
~ LORI UNGER,TUMC
Diem Lafortune is a songwriter who speaks to the power of women and addresses the injustices in society in her songs. She is a powerful proponent for the underdog, her songs display a keen and astute awareness of the meaning of, and struggles inherent in, the human condition. She has a fine voice and pleasing guitar accompaniment but it is her passion that is paramount in her performances.
LILLIAN AIDA WAUTHIER, www.acousticharvest.ca
There are not many Human Beings/Artists that can produce/create anything that is deep/indigenous as you in my 25 years of enlightenment !!!
DANNY BEATON
This is one of those albums that is surprising because of the depth of the content, both lyrically and musically. Diem is clearly a poet, a singer and a musician. The music is a marriage of both Aboriginal culture and human experiences with a variety of mainstream music styles such as folk, blues, some rock and even Celtic compositions including waltzes and even a little jig. The songs are paintings of a variety of lives and people, in a form that is rare except from an artist that is both matured and at their creative peak. One can only guess how long Diem took to refine the telling of these stories in song. The space for this review cannot begin to share the themes of these songs other than to say the music composition is up to meeting the needed vehicle to relay them to us. Fortunately Diem has a cast of qualified musicians who play all manner of instruments that weave the threads of this musical tapestry. From one song to the next, some are complex in musical layers while others keep a simplicity that compliments their subject matter most effectively. As many hard times that are shared in the lifetime struggles within these stories, they truly make the sum of the true beauty real lives are, as well as being an overall musical master piece that will demand you listen to this album over and over before you truly comprehend how good it really is.”
KEVEN KANTEN, Windspeaker, Aboriginal Multi-Media Society