Download Rakkatak - Music and Politics

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tabla without borders: Female-fronted tabla fusion collective
RAKKATAK Opens up with new album Apr 16 @ Lula Lounge
“a chilled atmosphere for earthy tabla adventures, a great balance of
peaceful and rhythmic intrigue” ~ David Dacks, Exclaim!
Preview Open here:
https://soundcloud.com/rakkatak/sets/open/s-u27BM
Music & Politics
+ the 12th Annual Small World Music South Asian Music Series* present
RAKKATAK Open EP release
with Lenka Lichtenberg
+ DJ medicineman (CIUT 89.5 FM)
$12 advance at www.rakkatak.eventbrite.ca
$15 at the door
Wednesday, April 16th
LULA LOUNGE (1585 Dundas St. W.)
Doors at 7 pm, show 8pm
Dinner reservations guarantee seating
Call 416-588-0307 or visit www.lula.ca to reserve
* The South Asian Music Series is proudly sponsored by TD Bank
Presented with the support of our community partners: Uma Nota Culture, The Nujazz
Festival, Koffler Centre of the Arts, LinkMusicLab and CIUT 89.5 FM
-Artist links:
www.rakkatak.com
www.facebook.com/rakkatakmusic
www.lenkalichtenberg.com
Facebook event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/220007271534286/
-(TORONTO) - Music and Politics, in association with Small World Music and its 9th Annual South
Asian Music Series is honoured to present the launch of a groundbreaking album by one of the most
exciting and diverse ensembles in the city, Rakkatak. Appropriately, this 5-song EP that brings the
sound of the tabla into contexts never before heard in Toronto or anywhere else is called Open.
Joining Rakkatak for the occasion are fellow global sonic explorers Lenka Lichtenberg and DJ
medicineman.
-About Rakkatak
www.rakkatak.com
www.facebook.com/rakkatakmusic
Rakkatak is a Toronto-based collective that features three of the most talented female musicians in
the city -- Anita Katakkar, Oriana Barbato and Lisa Patterson. The music of Rakkatak merges Indian
rhythms with lustrous instrumental melodies and tasteful electronic soundscapes to present classical
tabla compositions in a modern and innovative way. Rakkatak started as Katakkar‘s solo project,
inspired by her passion for highlighting the subtle beauty and versatility of tabla, in a non-traditional
way.
With Indian/Scottish roots in multicultural Toronto, Anita Katakkar‘s music practice represents a
link between her heritage and community. In Toronto, she studied tabla with composer and musician
Ritesh Das and in California and Kolkata with the pre-eminent exponent of the Lucknow style tabla,
Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri. Anita has performed, toured internationally and recorded with the
Toronto Tabla Ensemble and Jeff Martin and has toured nationally with The Tea Party. She has
shared the stage with legendary Kathak dancer Chitresh Das, flamenco dancer Esmeralda Enrique,
sitar virtuoso Anwar Khurshid, Canadian/Armenian guitarist Levon Ichkhanian and Paris based
singer/songwriter Melissa Laveaux. Growing up in Toronto gave Anita a diverse taste in music
including folk, reggae, hip hop, rock, house and ambient electronica. She brought all of these
influences to the table when conceiving Rakkatak’s self-titled debut CD in studio. From there, the
band Rakkatak was formed and its evolution continues.
Oriana Barbato‘s signature style doesn’t come from market trends. This Chilean bassist goes well
beyond pop by adding her knowledge of world music and downright technique to her bass playing.
Oriana’s versatility, work ethic, and stage presence have brought her to venues across North
America and Europe, where she most recently toured opening with latin/flamenco fusion act TaKiLo
for La Troba Kung Fu. She has also shared the stage with world-renowned musicians such as Qawwali
master Shahid Ali Khan and bass prodigy Jorge Campos as well as opening for Canadian acts Bif
Naked and Nomadic Massive. Oriana is also a sound artist and has composed music for numerous
short films. Her work has been exhibited at various art galleries in North, South America and Europe.
Carlos Lopes is a composer, producer, Genie Award Winner, 2 time Gemini nominee and 4 time
Golden Reel nominee. He is a highly respected musician across Canada who has produced hundreds
of domestic and international musical projects for film, television and albums for more than 25
years. Leading his own bands Carlos has performed at The Montréal Jazz Festival, Québec Festival
D’Eté, Festi-Jazz de Rimouski, Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival, Beaches International Jazz Festival
(Toronto), Harbourfront (Molson Jazz Festival, Toronto), Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver
and Victoria duMaurier Jazz Festivals, and at the Ontario Pavillion, Expo ’86 (Vancouver).
Lisa Patterson is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter, performer and producer. As a
recording/performing artist Lisa has commercially released 2 solo albums and 3 music videos
(Festival Distribution/Canada; Rough Trade Records/Europe) enjoying 3 Top Ten charted singles in
The Benelux. Lisa’s songs have appeared in award-winning documentaries, shorts and feature films
including Bruce McDonald’s “Roadkill”, Charles Johnston’s “Tete A Tete”, Darrell Wasyk’s “H” and
Ingrid Veninger’s “Three Sisters On Moon Lake”. Collaboration highlights include vocalist/musician
Maryem Tollar, tabla and ghazal maestro Cassius Khan, Roma violinist Lache Cercel, and esteemed
musicians in South India including Darbuka Siva (percussion), Rahul Pophali (tabla), Navin Iyer
(flutes), Venkata Subramanian (mrdangam) and Prakash (bass).
With fifteen years of recording and performing experience, Morgan Doctor has developed a
diverse and impressive repertoire of drumming and percussion skills and a long list of touring
experience. Morgan received a Juno nomination in 2001, and a Dora nomination in 2005. Morgan
has three solo albums out with Aporia Records. She is currently drumming for Andy Kim
www.morgandoctor.com.
-About Lenka Lichtenberg
www.lenkalichtenberg.com
www.facebook.com/lenkalichtenbergmusic
Vocalist & composer Lenka Lichtenberg shines as one of the most ambitious and visionary artistic
builders in a nation that proudly defines its human identity as a multicultural mosaic. The
Prague-born soprano unites the world through sacred song in no less than six languagues -- Yiddish,
English, Czech, French, Russian, and Hebrew -- in collaboration with leading world-roots
instrumentalists and vocalists from the global diaspora. Her seven albums to date are far more than
mere recordings in sequence; each one is its own groundbreaking idea, carefully manifested from the
selection of songs and performers, to the recording environments, to the form and shape in which
they are presented to the world. From her inspirational roots in Jewish liturgy and Yiddish poetry,
Lichtenberg has branched out to become a bona fide world-roots troubairitz.
Lichtenberg’s stunning most recent contribution to the world-roots canon, in the company of her
ensemble Fray (Yiddish for “Free”), is Embrace. Continuing in the tradition of the ensemble’s
eponymous 2010 debut album, Embrace boldly forges uncharted terrain in new Yiddish music -drawing on traditional songs and contemporary Yiddish poetry. Lichtenberg blends the tradition and
language of Eastern European Jewish culture with unexpected sounds from Middle Eastern, Brazilian
and North Indian music, expertly animated by Canada’s leading Indo-Canadian and world fusion
artists, including: Alan Hetherington (musical co-director, drums, pandeiro, percussion), Ravi
Naimpally (tabla, darbuka), Ernie Tollar (flutes, saxophones), John Gzowski (guitars, oud),
and Chris Gartner (bass). It was officially released in April 2013 at one of Canada’s signature
performance venues, the Canadian Broadcasting Company’s Glenn Gould Studio.
Her next recording, to be unveiled in the fall of 2013, is Lullabies from Exile. This collaboration
with world-renowned Iraqi-Jewish violinist, oud master and vocalist Yair Dalal was recorded on
three continents over a two-year span. The project intertwines Babylonian and Yiddish traditional
music -- two branches of a tree that, while born from the same roots and trunk, grew in separate ways
for over two millennia.
Awards & Nominations:
2013: Winner, Independent Music Awards Vox Populi, Best World Music Traditional Album
2013: 2 x Nominee, Independent Music Awards, Best World Music Album & Song (Juried)
2013: Nominee, Canadian Folk Music Awards (CFMA) Best World Solo Artist
2013: Honourable Mention, Song of the Year Songwriting Contest
2012: Winner, CFMA Traditional Singer of the Year
2012: Nominee, CFMA, Traditional Album of the Year
2011: Winner, CFMA, Musique de la Monde Porcupine Award
2011: Winner, Songs from the Heart World Music
2011: Nominee, Canadian Folk Music Awards, World Solo Artist of the Year
2011: Finalist, John Lennon Songwriting Competition, World Music
2008: Winner, CFMA Vocal Group of the Year (with Sheynville Express)
-30Publicity inquiries:
Sebastian Cook, Music & Politics
416.573.8055 * [email protected]