'It will be beautiful, artistic mayhem'

Mark Medley, National Post
Published: Wednesday, October 28, 2009

The Canwest Cabaret Festival is a collection of 60 different concerts that takes place at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto tomorrow to Sunday. Throughout the week, we'll feature different Canadian artists appearing at the second annual edition of the fest. Today, Mark Medley speaks with Suba Sankaran, a Juno-nominated and Dora Award-winning multi-instrumentalist who directs Joni Mitchell Songbook, a tribute to the Canadian singer-songwriter, and joins a cappella troupe Retrocity for an evening of the late Michael Jackson's most-loved hits.

Q Mitchell's career has spanned decades -- why has her music endured?
A I think she stays relevant to the times. As a social and political activist, she stays relevant with what we see in current events, what we see around the world in various world cultures. She doesn't seem to have any boundaries in terms of who she collaborates with. So you see her early sort of folkish stuff, but then you hear her collaborating with Jaco Pastorius, Pat Metheny, and doing her Mingus album, and delving into jazz and of course pop. And I think essentially -- and this is something that really rings true to me -- she stays true to herself. ... Whatever incarnation of Joni she gives us is her, and unabashedly so. She doesn't apologize for who she is, and that's part of the strength of her music. And also her poetry: I've never seen lyrics unite with a melody so beautifully and so perfectly. ... If I was supposed to name my No. 1 songwriter, it's Joni Mitchell.

Q You mentioned that she has no boundaries when it comes to collaboration. That reminds me of you.
A I grew up in a traditional South Indian household, with a master drummer [her father, Trichy Sankaran] in Toronto. So right there you have this interesting east meets west, right in my home. I went through the western classical stream, singing and playing piano through the conservatory, and alongside that, the parallel stream was studying South Indian singing and drumming with my father. And so I've always had that inside me. As I got older, I became really inspired by jazz and contemporary improvisation and music from different world cultures, and so it's been my goal to really connect the dots between east and west and everything in between.

Q And of course you're also in the closing night jam session with Andrew Craig, Patricia O'Callaghan and others. What do you expect that night to be like?
A It's going to be beautiful, artistic mayhem, I think. It always is. I think of myself more as a facilitator on that gig, rather than a musical director. I will be directing everything to make sure things are running smoothly, and to make sure there's a nice ebb and flow happening. But that's going to be amazing because not only will you have the people who are scheduled to be there, but also guests who will just show up, form different art forms: There may be poets, there may tap dancers, there may be modern dancers, there may be freestyle rappers -- it can all happen there, and I love that feeling of anything can happen.

- Suba Sankaran directs Joni Mitchell Songbook tomorrow at 9:45 p.m. and on Saturday at 5 p.m. She also appears in Retrocity's Jackson Spotlight on Sunday at 8:45 p.m. As well, Robert Cushman, the Post's theatre critic, will be presenting the Rodgers and Hart Songbook on Friday at 10 p.m. Visit canwestcabaret.cafor more information

All About Jazz 2008

Singer Suba Sankaran shows that she can get to the emotional depth in both Indian classical singing and jazz.

Ottawa Citizen

Sankaran has a sensuous, supple voice...her sense of phrasing, expression and tone are immaculate.
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Telegraph Journal

Sankaran has a superior voice, leading her listeners in and out of a trance, even with a wild jazz-scat to the accompanying Indian-tuned percussion, a vocal feat worth the price alone.
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Halifax Daily News

"Mixing jazzy and funky licks with Indian spice, Autorickshaw singer Suba Sankaran has an uncanny ability to phrase a song. Hearing her live would be a soulful experience.
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NOW Magazine

Sankaran, her face full of drama, navigated the runs of the complex Eastern vocal lines, revealing both her technical virtuosity and a higher-level grasp of the work.
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Jambase (Montreal Jazz Fest review)

Suba scatted over changes better than many strictly jazz singers I've heard, and the group's reworkings of "A Night In Tunisia" and "Caravan" were thrilling as well, substituting modern Indian beats for the Latin tinge.
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The Hindu (India)

The star of the show was Sankaran, who used both jazz and Carnatic improvisation, including scat singing and vocal percussion, to offer the audience a range of musical experiences.
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The Record 2006

Of course the centrepiece was lead singer, Suba Sankaran, very much the heart of the band, with her supple vocal variety, infectious smile, and entrancing musicality.
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All About Jazz

Singer Suba Sankaran fills the classical tunes with a hypnotic earthiness, signaling her as an accomplished singer in the Carnatic, or South Indian, tradition of classical music. Her intonation when she brings in the vocal suppleness on “Purvi Tillana” is a study in crafting a rhythm that is at once robust and pliant....Sankaran scats with verve, lending the words a suppleness and bringing a heady effervescence that wafts balmily into “A Night in Tunisia”.