DISPLACED/MISPLACED by Norman Nawrocki

Montreal’s prolific veteran rebel wordsmith / violinist / badmouth of 30 years, Norman Nawrocki has released his 29th CD, DISPLACED / MISPLACED, a timely resistance music benefit album for Montreal's Solidarity Across Borders & The Immigrant Workers Centre.

MISPLACED / DISPLACED (Les Pages Noires, 2017) is a powerful, compassionate 18 track, 55 minute spoken word & music opus telling stories of refugees, migrants, immigrants, temporary foreign workers and the dispossessed forced to leave their homes because of war, poverty, climate change, racism, persecution, violence, fascism, etc. It includes capsule interviews of refugees, migrant & immigrant workers.

Nawrocki’s trademark growlspeak/sing song voice rails against the growing intolerance & injustices uprooted people face worldwide. Instead of kneejerk bigotry & anti-immigrant sentiment, Nawrocki offers a vision of human solidarity & open borders.

The music ranges from explosive, driving post-rock, post-jazz forays, to meditative lounge, country & eastern & ambient soundscapes. It's the protest soundtrack for our times.

Montreal musicians who collaborated on the CD include: drummer Aidan Gert (OSB/Godspeed); Matthew Justin (Hissy Fit, Half truth), piano & percussion; Sylvain Auclair (Heaven’s Cry, Karcius), Chapman Stick bass; jazz scenester Noam Guerrier-Freud, drums; Greg Smith (DaZoque!, The Pedals), guitar; Jayson Palolan, Filipino gongs/flute. Nawrocki plays cello, violin, piano, mandolin & more.

Since 1986, Nawrocki’s musical legacy is 29 albums both solo & with his many bands (Rhythm Activism, Bakunin’s Bum, DaZoque!, Crocodile!, Wild Plains, etc.), plus 34 compilations. His last album was ‘Heavenly Devils’ (LPN 2016) with his East European-flavoured ensemble, DaZoque!

Nawrocki is also an internationally-acclaimed cabaret artist, actor & author of 14 books of poetry, short stories & an anti-fascist / Roma refugee novel, Cazzarola! Anarchy, Romani, Love, Italy (PM Press, 2013). It will be published in Italy in 2017 by Editrice il Sirente.

The Montreal Gazette calls Nawrocki, ‘A local legend;’ The Globe & Mail, ‘A born showman.’ The Canadian Review of Literature in Performance says, ‘Nawrocki’s life and career would require a shelf full of books to document,’ while MAXIMUMROCKNROLL calls his work ‘Totally brilliant, absolutely essential.’

Nawrocki tours the world with his shows & teaches part-time at Concordia University about how to use the arts for community organizing.

All proceeds go directly to Solidarity Across Borders and the Immigrant Workers Centre. Hard copies available from their offices.
http://iwc-cti.org/
http://www.solidarityacrossborders.org

www.facebook.com/DisplacedMisplacedCD/?refid=13
www.nothingness.org/music/rhythm
www.facebook.com/norman.nawrocki
soundcloud.com/normannawrocki
youtube.com/channel/UCKBVz0yppyWBrXvfal4PPsw

Tracklist

1.	All refugees are welcome	4:57

2.	We're pickers and packers	3:25

3.	Nothing left to fear	4:10

4.	Why emigrate?	0:38

5.	They came at night	4:43

6.	The eviction	4:00

7.	Home is	3:37

8.	Domestic violence	0:46

9.	My name is Homeless	4:50

10.	Galvanized, too	2:32

11.	What to bring?	3:26

12.	When I left home	1:21

13.	When you leave everything behind	5:09

14.	The promised land	1:13

15.	Once we were the 'illegals'	4:02

16.	This woman had a home	4:39

17.	Solidarity Across Borders	1:58

18.	The Immigrant Workers Centre	1:12

Credits

released February 14, 2017

CD cover photos: Norman Nawrocki
(Bread & Puppet Theater performance, ‘History,’ @ the Montréal International Anarchist Theatre Festival, 2014.)
Artwork/design: Philippe Caron
All tracks recorded in Montréal
Field recordings by Norman Nawrocki
Vocals recorded by Greg Smith
Additional recording by Aiden Girt, Matthew Justin & Sylvain Auclair
Produced by Greg Smith
Mixed by Greg Smith, Montréal
Mastered by Ryan Morey, Montréal

License