About Jaffa Road
Based in Toronto Jaffa Road is an award-winning, world music group made up of some of Canada’s most exciting and innovative interpreters of inter-cultural music. The group has created a unique sonic landscape that draws easily and organically from the worlds of sacred and secular Jewish songs, Classical Arabic and Indian music, modern jazz, rock, pop, and dub. In doing so the group creates a union between acoustic and electronic, secular and sacred, ancient and modern. Members of Jaffa Road have performed and recorded with many highly regarded influential musicians in the Canadian and International pop, rock, jazz, and world music scenes.
Their JUNO-NOMINATED, debut CD, Sunplace, was released in early 2009 to a packed house at The Lula Lounge in Toronto and was recorded for CBC Radio 2 Canada Live. Tracks from the CD receive regular airplay on many local, regional and national programs on CBC Radio, and college radio. Sunplace earned the #1 spot on the CIUT (89.5 FM) world music chart. Jaffa Road’s songs have won them Grand Prize and the Lennon Award in the John Lennon Song Writing contest, runner up status in the We are Listening Worlds of Music contest, Best World Music Artist at the Toronto Independant Music Awards.
The CD was produced by Chris Gartner with Aaron Lightstone.
With the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Jaffa Road is currently beginning production on their second CD.
The Band is:
AARON LIGHTSTONE (guitars, ud, saz, synthesizers) is a multi-instrumentalist/composer and music therapist who currently specializes in palliative care. Aaron has performed on the guitar and ud in various projects for over a decade. He has studied and performed a variety of musical genres and styles including jazz, blues, Arabic, Sephardic, and Indian music. In 2004 Aaron received a Master’s degree in Music Therapy. He received a number of prestigious awards for his ground breaking research on the use of hip hop in music therapy with street youth. He has recently been awarded grants to support the activities of Jaffa Road from the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, FACTOR and Toronto Arts Council. Together with Aviva Chernick (vocals), he co-produced The CFMA (Canadian Folk Music Awards) nominated CD by The Huppah Project: Under the Canopy. (www.thehuppahproject.com).
AVIVA CHERNICK (vocalist) is a passionate singer whose riveting voice and inviting presence have compelled listeners across the continent. Tom Allen of Canada’s National Broadcaster has said of her, “Aviva Chernick is a fearless musical adventurer. Her clear and persuasive voice takes us places we wouldn't know to go on our own.”
Aviva has played and recorded with many of Canada’s leading world music and jazz musicians as well as international virtuosos Cesar Lerner and Marcelo Moguilevsky of Klezmer Buenos Aires and Israeli ud and violin master Yair Dalal.
Aviva continues collaborations with Eric Stein (Beyond the Pale) on their shared passion for the Ladino repertoire of Flory Jagoda and with Juno Nominated Arabic singer Maryem Tollar in the performance ensemble La Mer, a collection of combined repertoires in Hebrew, Arabic, French and Ladino.
CHRIS GARTNER (bass, co-producer) is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer. Described by Exclaim magazine as a “virtuoso bassist”, he has been a highly sought-after accompanist on recordings and tours across North America and Europe for over a decade. Chris is a former member of Look People, and is involved as a regular member in a number of groups including Tasa, Kevin Hearn’s Thinbuckle, Whipoorwhill, and others. Chris is a skilled and creative producer with a growing list of impressive credits which include Jaffa Road, Lori Cullen, Look People, Leah Salomma, and Tasa. Chris' artistic vision and technical skills played a leading role in the creation of Jaffa Road's debut CD. www.myspace.com/chrisgartner
JEFF WILSON (percussion) has worked extensively as a percussionist/multi-instrumentalist in a variety of genres. He presently co-leads a new world music project known as The Liquidaries. He also works with Maza Meze, David Buchbinder’s Brass Band, Autorickshaw, Sultans of String and numerous others. Jeff’s proficiency with a variety of instruments has also made him a highly sought-after accompanist
for ballet and modern dance companies in Toronto including The National Ballet, Dancemakers, and Toronto Dance Theatre. Jeff has a growing list of theatre credits where he works as a composer , producer and performer of incidental music. www.myspace.com/studio98
SUNDAR VISWANATHAN (sax) is an Associate Professor of Jazz Performance (saxophone, voice) at York University in Toronto. Viswanathan has trained extensively in both instrumental and vocal jazz and Indian music . He has performed at major festivals and clubs worldwide with top jazz and world music musicians including: Wynton Marsalis, The Charles Tolliver Big Band, Joe Lovano, Sun Ra Arkestra, Rez Abbasi, Kiran Ahluwalia, Tasa, Billy Hart, Jim McNeely, Jeanne Lee, Al Martino and Kenny Wheeler. In addition to Jaffa Road, Sundar leads ‘Sundar’s Induswest Project’ which is an intricate fusion of Jazz and Indian music. Sundar recently released his debut CD as a jazz vocalist. which features his interpritations of American and Brazilian vocal jazz classics. Sundar received his PhD in Jazz Performance from New York University and has received numerous honours and awards. www.sundarmusic.com
Sunplace Guest artists include: Chris McKhool-violin (Sultans of String), Ravi Naimpally-Tabla (Tasa), Ernie Tollar-nay, bansuri (Tasa, Maza Meze, Maryem Tollar), Aaron Bensoussan-vocals, (Uri Caine’s Zohar), Dr. George Sawa-qanun (Traditional Arabic Music Ensemble).