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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]