ARTISTS

MARIA KASSTAN

Born and raised in Toronto, I began my career as a singer/songwriter on a doorstep in 1960s Yorkville. I spent a year or so at the Mynah Bird coffeehouse, singing and hosting and gogo dancing. Heck, sometimes I even made the sandwiches.

Motherhood came early and often, (well, four times) and I made a recording on the Boot label in 1975. That's when records were the size of dinner plates. But it wasn't such a good time for indie-type musicians, and the union was expensive to maintain a membership in and restricted the possibilities of where one could work. Even busking was a fairly suspect activity in that era. I had kids to raise, so my music was mostly at home.

My influences include old, even ancient folk music as well as the big folkies of the fifties and sixties but I love a lot of different kinds of music to listen to including baroque and classical, world music and the Beatles. My favourite well known song writer is Stan Rogers.

Since the death of my husband in 2004, I often sing and write from a metaphysical perspective, as the Old Man and I keep in touch between the dimensions. Mother Nature and I have had some amazing adventures together, and I have stories to tell. Most of them are even true.

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