Lenni Jabour was recently interviewed on CIUT 89.5 FM, a community radio station in Toronto. As certain of you will understand, I was incredibly disappointed to find when the program aired that I was unable to listen via streaming audio (due to network issues). I got in touch with one of the station programmers, hoping it might be rebroadcast, but the station doesn’t do that, or keep archives of their shows. So it was with reluctance that I admitted to myself that I’d never hear it.
A few days later I made the drive to Toronto to see Lenni’s final show at nia. (The venue is hosting its last performance on Saturday, by the way.) As per usual, I took a seat at one of the front tables. Shortly thereafter, a couple sat down on the other side of the table and an attractive young woman took one of the padded benches at the end. The three of us got talking about music in general and Lenni in particular, and I discovered that the couple were visiting from Michigan and that Lenni’s show had been recommended to them. When I mentioned that Lenni had been on the radio the previous weekend and that despite being a huge fan I’d missed it, the young woman piped up and said that she had done the interview and still had a copy. We exchanged cards and I saw that, sure enough, she was Jeanette (that Jeanette) Cabral, host and producer of About The Music.
Flash forward a couple of weeks. I’m sitting at my desk today when Cathy, a co-worker, comes into the office with a padded manila envelope, return-addressed to Jeanette at CIUT and… containing a CD copy of the interview! Showing enormous self-restraint, I opened it, checked that the CD was intact (it was), and set it aside until I left the office.
I’m pleased to report that Lenni is just as charming on the radio as she is in person, as is Jeanette. There are some intriguing tidbits, including the fact that Lenni appears on an album by a singer whose music is diametrically opposite her own in just about every respect. Lenni and Jeanette talk in some depth about projects I’d previously only heard the names of, discuss The Third Floor and Un Trio D’Hommes Très Gentils, share thoughts on the etiquette of concert-going, and wonder at the loyalty of Lenni’s fans. It’s a wide-ranging, well-done interview, and I’d like to publicly thank Jeanette for her kindness in passing it along. Thank you!
