A stunning night of vocals and dance with a Mediterranean flavour is coming to the Quadra Island Community Centre on Friday, Feb. 23.
That’s when Tamar Ilana and Ventanas take the stage at 7:30 p.m. at the Quadra Island Community Centre.
Tamar Ilana, the stunning vocalist and dancer and sought-after Canadian world music favourite, embarks on her first tour of British Columbia in four years with stellar trans-Mediterranean ensemble Ventanas.
Ilana and Ventanas return to British Columbia to present songs from their latest album, Arrelumbre. Her voice reaches new heights on the album, as fierce and powerful as it is delicate and ornamental. Tamar and the band skip from heart- wrenching flamenco arrangements in Spanish to mournful Sephardic love songs to playful Balkan party tunes – it’s no surprise the group has been nominated for four Canadian Folk Music Awards. For their B.C. tour, the ensemble will also perform new, never-before-heard material which will be recorded after the tour.
Ilana has a history as dynamic and international as the musical tapestry she weaves. Her sonic versatility is matched by a diverse and talented team of virtuoso musicians playing violin, flamenco guitar, double bass, derbukka, cajon, and hand percussion. It’s a stunning assembly that is passionately accented by Ilana’s flamenco dancing and staccato footwork.
“I was raised to believe that we needed to preserve folk songs that might otherwise be lost,” says Ilana. “Ventanas preserves these traditions, while at the same time present them in an exciting way, both sonically and visually. We infuse them with new energy, dance and diverse instrumentation to keep things moving forward.”
This constant motion comes naturally to Ilana, who has lived and breathed the world’s music from girlhood, traveling with her mother, who is an ethnomusicologist and singer. Ilana and her mother performed as they roamed through Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Turkey, and sometimes she found herself wishing she could be like other kids. Yet as she gradually came into her own as an artist, singing and dancing on stage went from being a childhood chore to a profound joy.
Ilana heads to B.C. fresh from a whirlwind period of creative explorations. She recently co-starred in Yaël Farber’s prize-winning “Salomé” at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. Tamar is also an original cast member of the Lemon Bucket Orkestra’s “Counting Sheep Revolution” a musical theatre production that has electrified audiences from Edinburgh Fringe to New York’s 3LD Theatre.
In Ventanas, Ilana has found the music to match her voice. Together, Ilana and Ventanas have performed at numerous packed events including the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto; DROM, Golden Festival, La MaMa Theatre and APAP in New York City; Robson Valley Festival, Vancouver Folk Music Festival and Artswells, BC; Mundial Montreal; Sunfest, Summerfolk, and more.
Advance tickets are available for $17 at Inspirations in Quathiaski Cove, Works of H’Art in Heriot Bay, The Music Plant in Campbell River and online at Tidemark Theatre. Tickets will be available at the door for $20. You don’t want to miss this exciting live performance on Quadra Island. It’s sure to be a wonderful evening of entertainment.