2007 - The Year in Review

Since it’s taken me almost a year to get this website up and running, I should probably start by giving you my 2007 Year in Review! This was an amazing year of touring, traveling, music-making and collaborating, from autorickshaw’s tours of India and Sweden, and directing the Collaboratory project at the Vancouver Island MusicFest (5 bands/artists performing a 90-minute musical invention created only days before the festival) to my 2-week, 6-country choral workshop tour in Europe with Dylan Bell. Also of note, my voice can now be heard in a permanent installation at the Royal Ontario Museum AND in spaaaace!!!

January in India
I started the year off with autorickshaw’s first-ever, 3-week India tour where we performed in Chennai, Bangalore, Jaipur and Kolkata. My husband and all-around talented multi-musician Dylan Bell subbed in for Rich Brown on bass.
In Chennai, we conducted three nights of workshops and concerts in a house concert setting for the Brhaddhvani School of Music, did a live-to-air performance and interview at the Radio Mirchi station (Radio Mirchi – It’s Hot! That’s the radio ID that I got to record several times over), and performed at the Unwind Centre – India’s Mega-Rock fest headquarters!, considered to be an innovative musical haven for the younger generation.
We then headlined a heavy metal/hard rock showcase in Bangalore!!! That was a first for us.
We moved to the north to breathtaking Rajasthan performing as part of the Jaipur Heritage Festival. The palace we performed in (also a first for us!) was called Diggi Palace, a cool name for a gorgeous venue. Here we encountered your run-of-the-mill peacocks and camels, elephants and horses in traffic. You know, the usual.
We performed at the Dalhousie Institute in Kolkata as part of the Congo Square Jazz Festival. We unfortunately missed Herbie Hancock who graced the same stage only days beforehand.
We had one perfect day at Marina beach back in Chennai and then came home for one day to unpack and repack kamikaze style for our BC tour...
Thanks to the Department of Foreign Affairs International Touring, the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi for their support and to my mother and father for generously providing us a home base in Chennai, not to mention the greatest home cooking on earth.
We have an extensive photo gallery from our India trip ... Click here. Samples below:

January/February in BC
Immediately after our return from India, Autorickshaw went on a 15-day tour of BC including 9 performances and 2 workshops, with several radio and print media interviews in advance of our official CD release in BC.
In our first leg, we performed on Cortes Island, Quadra Island, and celebrated our official CD release with a sold-out performance at the Jazz Cellar in Vancouver.
We then flew to Prince George, did a CBC radio interview and then drove to Prince Rupert on the famous Yellowhead Highway 16 - all in the same day. For those of you who have done this road trip, you know how crazy we were…
At this point we basically drove/toured our way back to Prince George via performances in Prince Rupert, Terrace, Kitimat, Smithers, Vanderhoof and finally Fort St. James where we performed a very special concert with the students of the local elementary and high schools. If you think BC is alluring in the spring and summer months, you should try driving it in a Lincoln Navigator in February! Seriously though, experiencing the majestic wilderness, the snow-capped mountain peaks and the backcountry in general reminded us how lucky we are to live in this beautiful country.
Thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts for their generous support.

February
I was asked to participate in a riveting and inspiring panel discussion on World Music through Worlds of Music Toronto at Hart House.

March
An annual, personal highlight for me is Trafalgar 24, presenting new Canadian theatre created, rehearsed and performed within a 24-hour period, using as its stage the beautiful surroundings of Trafalgar Castle in Whitby, Ontario.  All proceeds from Trafalgar 24 are directed toward The Driftwood Theatre Group's annual season of Outdoor Summer Theatre. My contribution, along with librettist/playwright Lanie Treen (also of Retrocity fame), has been creating the musical feature (complete with actors, singers and dancers).
Visit the Driftwood Theatre website

March 24-25 Downtown Community Choral Summit
I was involved with the Downtown Community Choral Summit where I gave clinics on alto and soprano vocal production, workshops on jazz, south Indian singing and early music, and adjudicated various choral ensembles.

From February through April, I was teaching south Indian and jazz singing through the Worlds of Music Toronto: www.worldsofmusic.ca

April
April 11th was Autorickshaw’s official CD release of So The Journey Goes in Toronto to a packed house at Lula Lounge.

May
May 6th was Sunda Songs with the Evergreen Club Gamelan. I had the pleasure and privilege of singing traditional and contemporary works for gamelan and voice. Stay tuned for a future remount of this concert: www.evergreenclubgamelan.ca

June Global Divas
June 12th I was invited to perform once again at Global Divas: An International Celebration of Women and Song benefiting St Stephen’s Community House. Thanks to Jane Bunnett and the Spirits of Havana as well as Emeline Michel,Telmary and Rita Chiarelli.
There are photo galleries at www.ststephenshouse.com/globaldivas.html (I was involved in 2004 and 2007)

June 14 A Time to Hear for Here
The Royal Ontario Museum’s Multidimensional Sound Installation at the Spirit House

I was asked by John Oswald and Laurel McDonald to sing, in archaic Tamil no less!, in the context of a 24-part canon titled Qui (Latin for “who”), inspired by the late 15th century choral piece Qui Habitat by Josquin Desprez.

A sensual experience in the true sense of the word, this is an installation worth experiencing. Please read more at the ROM website.

June 19th marked a fantastic concert by Retrocity (all 80s a cappella where I sing top soprano) and Cadence (four men, four microphones, no instruments). High energy, over-the-top, delightfully entertaining, please stay tuned for more shows in future. www.retrocity.ca
www.cadence-unplugged.com

Vancouver Island Music Festival July 2007
At the Vancouver Island Music Festival, Autorickshaw collaborated with a slew of excellent artists in Doug Cox's collaborative project 'Ancient Voices-Modern Times', directed by yours truly: Slammin' All Body Band from San Francisco (a fresh mix of a cappella vocals, beatboxing and body music); Tanya Tagaq (stunning Inuit throat singing), The Marigolds (three of Canada's best female musicians); and beatboxer Shamik Bilgi.

All of the participating artists arrived two days in advance of the Festival. I led two rehearsals where all of the artists brought existing songs, a couple of cover songs and their imaginations to ignite some spontaneous invention!

The magic often happens outside of the rehearsals, through lunches and dinners, late night jamming rendezvous, etc., and this was no exception. The end result was a 90-minute program of music and improvisation, a unique contribution to the festival that even 6 power outages could not stop (no joke)!

I also participated as part of a panel discussion on world music and performed with my father Trichy Sankaran as well as John Gzowski as part of the X Avant New Music Festival at the Music Gallery.
www.musicgallery.org/

I sang/recorded on three songs (Mr. Softee, Fascination and Still) by inventive composer and percussionist Mark Duggan for his upcoming CD Diggin' Duggan.

Public Radio International Interview Sept 17
Bird On A Wire from our album So The Journey Goes was the featured 'Global Hit' on the PRI program 'The World' today. I was interviewed, giving insight and background into the arrangement.

iTunes podcast link

October - Suba in Spaaaaace...
I attended composer, saxophonist and educator David Mott’s CD Release. I sing on his composition entitled Eclipse, a concerto for piano and unique chamber ensemble.

Canadian astronaut and York alumnus Steve MacLean has since taken a recording of Eclipse along on his space shuttle mission. In space, no one can hear you scream, but they CAN hear you sing!

I was a moderator for a world music panel at the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals (OCFF) conference.

Autorickshaw showcased at Ontario Contact with their new show Bollywood and Beyond, featuring the Autorickshaw with 7 members of the Hannaford Street Silver Band.

Independent Music Awards: link
Autorickshaw was as a 2008 IMA finalist in the 'World Fusion' category for our song 'Heavy Traffic'. Congrats to fellow Magnum Opus Managment roster-mate Sultans of String for their nomination! This is an international competition, so we're very honoured to have been selected as a finalist.

Canadian Folk Music Awards
Also in October, Autorickshaw was nominated for two Canadian Folk Music Awards in the 'Best World Group' and 'Pushing The Boundaries' categories.

Dylan Bell and I did a 6-country tour of Europe (Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Holland), giving choral workshops. We were impressed with the choirs we worked with, and were delighted with the warmth and hospitality of our European friends both old and new. Many thanks to our organizers and hosts Jon, Rene, Thomas and Jasmin; Thorsten and Ghislaine; Uli and Helga; Anne and Marco; Mario, Feri and Sona; and Luc and Tanja. Here's looking forward to next year!

Also in November, Autorickshaw received the Ontario Independent Music Award for "Best Jazz" for its version of the Bollywood classic "Aaj Ki Raat,"

Photos by Bruce Barrett

December 2 Tia Anita Project
One of my compositions, Vara Sapta Swara, off Autorickshaw’s latest album So The Journey Goes, is featured on the new Tia Anita Project CD. All proceeds from the disc go to the Stephen Lewis Foundation. For more info: www.tiaanitaproject.ca/