John Lennon Songwriting Contest Grand Prize Winner-Heavy Traffic from So The Journey Goes
AUTORICKSHAW: So The Journey Goes
A sonic alchemy of Indian music fusion with a dash of Bollywood.
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AUTORICKSHAW: Four Higher
JUNO nominated-World Music Album of the Year.
Funky, contemporary arrangements of south Indian classical compositions, Bollywood-tinged jazz standards and fiery Indo-jazz originals.
Autorickshaw's music lies on the cultural cutting edge, as contemporary jazz and funk easily rub shoulders with the classical and popular music of India. Formed in 2003, Autorickshaw has become one of the most intriguing acts on the world music and jazz landscapes, garnering 2004 and 2007 JUNO nominations for World Music Album of the Year, winning a Canadian Independent Music Award in 2005 and a John Lennon Songwriting Competition Grand Prize in World Music in 2008.
“The ensemble consists of four of Canada’s most exciting and musically interesting young musicians: vocalist Suba Sankaran, tabla player Ed Hanley, bassist Rich Brown and exotic percussionist Patrick Graham. All four have achieved excellence on their respective instruments, and when their forces are combined, the results are “utterly unique and musically pioneering”. -Daniel Ariaratnam, The Record
Autorickshaw has toured extensively across Canada, including appearances at Montreal, Vancouver, Guelph, Calgary and Toronto Jazz festivals, Vancouver and Winnipeg Folk festivals, Glenn Gould Studio, Stratford Festival and the Sound Symposium in Newfoundland.
International performances include Joe’s Pub in New York City, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Yoshi's in San Fransisco, The Stockholm Jazz Festival in Sweden and dates across India including Chennai and Bangalore, at the Congo Square Jazz Festival in Kolkata, and at the prestigious Jaipur International Heritage Festival in Rajasthan.
Widely reviewed and profiled in mainstream Canadian media, Autorickshaw has also been featured internationally, including on NPR’s Weekend America, in Global Rhythm Magazine and All About Jazz (USA); World Music Magazine (Italy), fRoots (UK), Rave Magazine and The Hindu (India); Deutschland Radio Kultur (Germany) as well as appearing at 14 on the European World Music Charts.
Autorickshaw is committed to their role as music educators through school performances, lecture demonstrations, workshops and masterclasses on topics as diverse as jazz improvisation, south Indian and western vocal and choral technique as well as percussion from around the world.
Reviews:
"autorickshaw stands for more than just cheap and dangerous Asian public transportation."
-ECHO weekly
"Our favorite Canadian-Indian-fusion group returns with a third album following their delightful Four Higher in 2004.
This one opens with the title track, in which a rippling, funky bass line from Rich Brown is soon followed by Suba Sankaran's confident voice. She sings "I'm looking at the people / Who stare back at me / About to start the journey / of self-discovery." Listening to this album is indeed to witness the group's self-discovery and evolution, from the strong title track right through to "Nalina Kanthi," a piece commissioned from the singer's father, percussionist Trichy Sankaran.
Along with original tunes, the album includes adaptations of Bengali and Tamil folk tunes, an effective 7-beat version of Leonard Cohen's "Bird on a Wire," and a Bollywood offering penned by the legendary RD Burman.
Concluding the album is something of an improvisation and editing experiment. A variety of guest artists were given "guide vocals," bass, and drums, and asked to play along. Sankaran and Ed hanley then spent a week weaving together the 64 raw tracks into the track "Heavy Traffic."
While a comparison to the recent work of Susheela Raman seems inevitable, the music of Autorickshaw maintains more Indian roots and makes fewer forays toward pop and rock idioms. So the Journey Goes takes the listener to a bustling global train station, where Autorickshaw can guide you through the jostling mayhem."
Scott Allan Stevens
"Anti-Hitlist, March 3rd, 07
4. AUTORICKSHAW, "Bird on a Wire"
To characterize this stunning rendition of the Leonard Cohen classic as a mere cover would be an insult. In the hands of this Toronto South Indian fusion band, this reinvention honours the spirit of the song. Yet, with its elastic seven-beat measures, it sounds so expansive it feels, if not like an original composition, then at least a co-write.
-John Sakamoto, Toronto Star"
"Suba Sankaran has a hypnotic, inviting voice, and her fellow band members, Ed Hanley, Rich Brown and Debashis Sinha just seem to flow in and out of each other. The originals are of uniformly high standard, but if you're feeling a bit jaded with poor interpretations of classic jazz, take a listen to their run though of Duke Ellingtons "Caravan". Fabulous."
-Zeitgeist & Co, UK
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Great site! Thanks for the friendship, and I hope you have a GREAT weekend!! Check out my new YARDBIRDS, CREAM, THE WHO, and BEATLES posters on my website: http://www.maximumrnb.com
Hello! Wanted to let you know that I recently finished a jazz record of standards with Kate Ceberano, and we've set up a Myspace page for the album. The record features Peter Erskine, Alan Pasqua, and Tom Warrington. I think you'll like it! Head on over to www.myspace.com/bittersweetalbum to check out a pre-release track...Thank you! p.s. first 100 pre-orders of the album get a signed copy! www.bittersweetthealbum.com
Hey you guys: Congratulations on your Juno nomination for best World Music Album of the Year. Nice talking to you Suba and Ed at Salmon Arm, which now seems like years ago.
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