Inspired by the Middle East

Maryem Tollar – Vocals, Quanun

Maryem Tollar is an extraordinary singer, composer and songwriter. She is an Egyptian Canadian and lives in Toronto. Since the mid-nineties, she has been an integral part of Canadian music. Ms Tollar helped forge the acceptance of music from diverse cultures in groups like Maza Meze and Doula. She has become the favourite singer of composer Christos Hatzis, lending her voice to such highly received works as Constantinople and Sepulcher of Life and toured with rumba flamenco guitarist, Jesse Cook. Recently Ms Tollar performed the role of Ariana in R. Murray Schafer’s The Children’s Crusade as part of the Luminato Festival. Ms Tollar has lent her voice to the cause of peace in the Middle East and has composed and sung for theatre, dance, film and television. She has recorded three of her own CDs and was featured with Patricia O’Callaghan and the Gryphon Trio on the JUNO-award-winning recording of Constantinople. Her latest CD Cairo to Toronto was nominated for a 2009 Juno Award in the world music category. Her quintet can be seen in the upcoming Canwest Cabaret Festival at the Young Centre on November 1, 2009. 

Ernie Tollar – Saxophone, Flutes

Ernie Tollar was born and raised in Toronto. Over the years, Mr. Tollar has extended his musical reach from jazz through studies with Indian and Arab music teachers in North America, India and Egypt. He plays the saxophone and flutes such as bansuri flute (India) and the nay (Middle East). Performing from Cairo to Kapuskasing, Mr. Tollar finds connections in world music cultures. He has been featured on roughly 100 recordings, many sessions for TV and film, and has composed extensively for dance, film and theatre. He can be heard with Indian fusion group, TASA; Michael Occhipinti's Sicillian Jazz Project; Pavlo; and is the musical director for The Maryem Tollar Ensemble.

Levon Ichkhanian - Guitar

Contemporary jazz with world beat overtones aptly describes the music of Canadian-Armenian multi-instrumentalist and composer Levon Ichkhanian. A third generation musician and artist of great versatility, Mr. Ichkhanian is proficient on the fretted and fretless guitars, oud, bouzouki, mandolin and banjitar. He studied classical guitar in Lebanon under the direction of his uncle before immigrating to Canada with his family at the age of 12. By the age of 16 he received the Canadian All Star Jazz Award. He also pursued private lessons and attended workshops at the University of Toronto. A recipient of the Governor General of Canada’s acknowledgment for musical excellence, Mr. Ichkhanian has been recognized as a musical ambassador to Canada and has toured extensively throughout North America and Europe. As a session musician, he has played on over one hundred diverse commercial recordings including Canadian Idol’s gold selling CD, India’s renowned singer Hariharan’s album Waqt Par Bolna and Isabel Bayrakdarian’s Tango Notturno. He has released two of his own records, After Hours and Travels to critical acclaim, and is currently working on a follow-up.