Musical Melding: Jaffa Road with Eccodek

CROSS-CULTURAL SUPER JAM SESSION
Musical Melding: Jaffa Road with Eccodek
An exciting new series featuring dynamic collaborations between eclectic Canadian musicians and Jaffa Road.

Wednesday, January 27, 8 PM
Lula Lounge, 1585 Dundas St W. (MAP/DIRECTIONS)
$12 advance* | $15 door

With electrifying onstage chemistry, Jaffa Road combines original and ancient poetry sung in Hebrew, Spanish and English with pulsating dub grooves, belly dance rhythms, ambient electronic textures, and exhilarating improvisations.

In this debut musical mash-up Jaffa Road is joined by members of Juno-nominated Eccodek: Andrew McPherson and Deliveryboy. Weaving their cinematic instrumental style into this cultural mix, the sound-scientist producer with sample savvy Deliveryboy will dip into Eccodek’s signature palette of dubwise global fusion, blending together ancient and modern sounds from the four corners of the globe.

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS 

Jaffa Road's unique sonic landscape brings together the sounds of the Middle East,
Spain, India and North America. They form a most perfect union that is at once ancient
and modern, acoustic and electronic, and secular and sacred. With onstage chemistry
as electrifying as it is intense, the band incorporates ancient and original poetry in
Hebrew, Spanish and English with belly dance rhythms, pulsing dub grooves and
exhilarating improvisations.

Their debut CD, "Sun Place", released only months ago, has already charted at # 1 on
Canada's largest campus radio station, CIUT. Their CD release performance was also
recorded for broadcast on CBC's nationally renowned radio show, "Canada Live".

This trailblazing musical journey is paved by founder and multi- instrumentalist /music
therapist Aaron Lightstone (guitar, oud, saz, synthesizer), the ethereal vocals of
multilingual lead singer Aviva Chernick (Levon Ichakhanian, Ernie Tollar, Tania Gill,
Andrew Downing, Mitch Smolkin and Klezmer Buenos Aires), the visionary grooves of
bassist Chris Gartner (Chantal Kreviazuk, members of both The Band and Barenaked
Ladies, Mary Margaret O'Hara, Tasa), the entrancing sounds of saxophonist / flutist
Sundar Viswanathan (Wynton Marsalis, Al Martino, the Grammy-nominated Charles
Tolliver Big Band, Bobby Vinton, Kiran Ahluwalia, Tasa) and last but certainly not least,
the driving beat of percussionist Jeff Wilson (Maza Mezé, David Buchbinder, and
multiple award winning Sultans of String).

http://jaffaroadmusic.squarespace.com/

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Eccodek is Canadian producer, remixer and multi-instrumentalist, Andrew McPherson. But more than that, it is the tapestry of sound created when a producer, inspired singers and gifted multi-instrumentalists from the four corners of the globe find a common love for dub, funk, jazz and cinematic electronics.

Eccodek is the sound of cultures mingling, borders dissolving. It is the sound of the dub chamber, the goat skin drum and decaying vintage synths. It is the sound of Mali, Turkey, Fiji, Nigeria, India, Canada and beyond. Eccodek's earthy blend of global beats, soaring melodies and textured electronica has quickly established the project as a significant voice on the global fusion stage - an appearance on the world renowned global chill series, Buddha Bar, a remix for world music's second coming, Vieux Farka Touré and the distinction of being the only Canadian contributor to National Geographic's GeoRemix project are just a few distinctions that have put Eccodek on the proverbial map. 2003 saw the beginning of the story with the release of the dubby and hypnotic More Africa in Us. It's fresh blend of electronics and powerful voices from Mali and Rwanda put ‘More Africa...' on permanent repeat across Canadian campus and CBC radio and slipped onto the playlists of many a tastemaker south of the border (KCRW, Global Rhythm). The now fully functioning 6-piece band was asked to record live for a national broadcast after only their 1st show. It seemed the word was spreading.

2005 birthed Voices Have Eyes, a decidedly more propulsive album, with a far broader cultural reach, vocally and instrumentally. Inspired in part by an eye-popping trip to Fiji, ‘Voices...' is marked by heavier grooves, greater input from the now seasoned live band and a wicked lineup of singers. After the independent release and touring of ‘Voices...', U.S. based White Swan World Records came calling in 2006 with an offer to re-release both albums internationally. In early 2007 they won a Canadian Independent Music Award for 'Favourite World Artist'. Better leave the suitcase packed.....

With the release of 2008's Shivaboom, the third chapter in this cross-cultural dialogue continues. Dubbed by the Boston Globe ‘a sonic architect', Eccodek ups the musical ante with lush, aural panoramas, dubwise mixology, air-tight grooves and otherworldly melodies. With the dance floor acting as the sherpa this time, Shivaboom's alchemy of electronica and global sounds is moving the room in powerful new ways. As with all of Eccodek's releases, Shivaboom echoes the ancient past while keeping a conscious, culturally inclusive eye to the future.

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Produced by Jaffa Road and Koffler Centre of the Arts.
Presented together with Small World Music Society.

Support generously provided by the Canada Council for the Arts.