Jaffa Road

Jaffa Road Recent Highlights
Upcoming:
February 2011 – We will be performing at Chutzpah! International Festival of Jewish Performing Arts in Vancouver

May 2011 – We will be headlining the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival in Georgia.

Summer 2011- We will be performing at Major International Jazz Festivals across Canada, including Ottawa, Vancouver, Victoria, Halifax, and St. John’s.

Summer 2011 – We will be performing in soft-seat theaters in rural communities on the West and East coasts of Canada.

Over the past year:

Debut album Sunplace nominated for World music album of the year at the 2010 JUNO AWARDS.

Grand Prize winner in the John Lennon Song Writing Contest (World music category)

Winner of the Lennon Award in the John Lennon Song Writing Contest (World Music Category).

Won BEST WORLD MUSIC ARTIST – The Toronto independent Music Awards.

Mainstage performance at the Ashkenaz Festival – the world's largest Jewish arts and culture festival.

Concert collaboration with internationally renowned oud /violin master Yair Dalal (www.yairdalal.com).

Performed at TD Sunfest in London as well as the Toronto, Guelph, and Markham Jazz Festivals.

Week long tour of Nunavut – Five shows at two festivals (Alainait, and Rocking Walrus), and live performance on CBC radio in Iqaluit, and Canada Day concert in Iqaluit.

In studio live performance on CBC’s Big City Small World with host Garvia Bailey.

Concert collaboration with 2009 Juno –nominees Eccodek (www.eccodek.com)

CD release concert from March 2009 was broadcast on CBC radio 2 Canada live (a popular national radio program).

The Huppah Project (another group featuring Aaron, Aviva and Jeff from Jaffa Road) nominated for World Music Group of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards.

Performed in a juried showcase at Ontario Contact.

Debut CD- Sunplace reached the #1 spot on CIUT’s (Canada’s largest campus/ community radio station) world music chart. (April 2009)


Links
www.jaffaroad.com
www.myspace.com/jaffaroad

Here are some links that you may find useful:

You can Download our CD at ...
https://download.yousendit.com/ZGJjSU5GUnJmVGJ2Wmc9PQ
Promo video for our song LYG which won the Grand Prize in the John Lennon Songwriting contest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONSTpdZJnmw

You can view highlights of our CD release concert at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozOMNiqu2Q0

Playing a Yair Dalal composition with Yair - -
(We love playing with Yair and welcome any opportunities to do so again. )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Iu1TTlKT74

Juried Showcase at  Contact East 2010:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-dZQVWWidk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4OKQqClzTw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZtjIFsb2cE

Read media quotes

http://jaffaroadmusic.squarespacecom/media-quotes/

View electronic version of our one-sheet
http://jaffaroadmusic.squarespace.com/storage/Jaffa_Road_Onesheet_October2010-2.pdf


BTW:
We have many ideas for workshops and between the band members have a lot of experience in teaching and facilitation.   For example I have 14 years experience as an Accredited Music Therapist, our lead singer teaches vocal improvisation, the voice and Yoga, and music in prayer leading and Jewish Spiritual practice.  workshops and our wind player is a full time professor of Jazz Performance (sax and voice) at York U.

Thanks for your consideration: Let me know if you want anything in hard copy - I will be happy to send it. - Jaffa Road

"Jaffa Road had their NY debut at the JCC Manhattan this past Saturday night. As a senior programmer for over three years at the JCC and a lifetime of familiarity with the Jewish music and arts scene, I can say with no doubt this was one of the highest quality performances I have heard.

Aviva Chernick’s voice is one of the top in the industry and her presence is incomparable to anyone performing in the Jewish World. The talent and quality of sound that Jaffa Road brought to the JCC in Manhattan (one of the leading presenters of Jewish Arts and Culture in the world) was of a higher level than we are used to seeing in the Jewish arena, and better than most world music bands in the mainstream.

I highly recommend checking them out!"

-Isaac Zabloki, Director of film and literary programs – The JCC of Manhattan
- Issac Zablocki

Jaffa Road is what Aaron Lightstone describes as “the oldest modern highway in Israel.” It’s an apt metaphor for Jaffa Road the band, based in Toronto and founded by Lightstone, emerging out of a previous project called Shakshuka. To travel the musical Jaffa Road is to journey through a cultural landscape where past traditions and present day technology and musical styles constantly shift and overlay.

Sun Place, Jaffa Road’s debut recording (co-produced by Lightstone, also the group’s guitarist and oud player), blends jazz, Indian and Arabic music, electronica and dub. But above all (or perhaps, more accurately, underpinning all) there’s Jewish music. Still, Jaffa Road seeks “to challenge accepted notions of Jewish music,” as Lightstone explains.

“ I think for most people Jewish music gets pigeonholed as klezmer or Israeli folk music or maybe Jewish liturgical music—but particularly klezmer. I like klezmer, but that’s not what we’re doing.”

That sense of ‘we’ is crucial to how the music of Jaffa Road has evolved. Although Lightstone initiates many of the compositions (presenting them to his band mates via computer-generated aural “sketches”) he’s quick to say that the final product doesn’t sound much like those originals. “Our musical brains are like a big filter,” he says, “and we all listen to so much.”

The musical brains in question are ethereal-voiced lead singer Aviva Chernick, bassist (and co-producer of Sun Place) Chris Gartner, virtuosic saxophonist Sundar Viswanathan, and percussionist Jeff Wilson. Each brings his or her own broad musical experience (Gartner’s includes performances with The Look People, Mary Margaret O’Hara and members of Barenaked Ladies) and cultural background; most of the band members and guest musicians on Sun Place are not Jewish.

But both Lightstone and Chernick have profound roots in Jewish music traditions. Along with Wilson they also perform with a more traditional ensemble, The Huppah Project. That group’s first CD, Under The Canopy, is inspired by Jewish wedding music. Lightstone’s great-grandfather was a well-known cantor, and Chernick is a cantorial soloist. All of which brings to light inevitable questions about tradition and religion. Chernick has an interesting perspective:

“ I work in what, until recently, I have considered to be two separate contexts: a sacred context and a performance context,” she says. “I have wondered, for some time, if the place where I use my voice to lead prayer is called sacred, then what is the place where we create this wonderful music, record and perform it with a broader audience? Profane?”

Clearly not, if audience reaction to Jaffa Road performances is any indication. Their CD release performance at Toronto’s Lula Lounge was in front of an ethnically mixed audience with ages ranging from 20s to 80s. Still, it’s not surprising that, to date, at least one listener has queried the band’s politics, wanting to know their stance on the Middle East and matters like Zionism.

But Jaffa Road is ultimately what Lightstone calls “an aesthetic statement, not a political one.” Furthermore it’s an aesthetic that is also part of a broader cultural movement, a re-invigoration of diaspora Hebrew art and culture. That many of Jaffa Road’s songs are sung in Hebrew is perhaps the single most unifying factor in the music.

Lightstone cites Israeli band The Natural Gathering as one of the early visionaries of this movement. It was after hearing them in a small club in Tel Aviv that he was inspired to follow their musical path—not the specific musical components as much as the attitude. They mixed styles of music including Jewish music in a way that was “tasteful and respectful.”

It wasn’t until attending Toronto’s Ashkenaz Festival in the late 1990s that Lightstone truly grasped the vigour and imagination of the scene as it was developing in North America. “I was blown away by how people were taking this thing I perceived as old and stodgy and making it hip.”

This inspiration coupled with his own longstanding eclectic musical tastes led organically to the sound of Jaffa Road. “I was 15 or 16 when I first heard the sitar. I always had a deep interest in Indian music, North African, Middle Eastern, and it was exciting to me to hear this whole other world of Jewish music where the sounds of Arabia were such a big part.”

When asked who else he would consider part of the ongoing resurgence, Lightstone rattles off names like Idan Raichel, who plays Hebrew pop with Ethiopian points of reference; Matisyau, an Orthodox Jew who does Jamaican dancehall; and Canadian performers like Montreal Jewish hip-hopper SoCalled and the Greek/Middle East mélange of Maza Meze.

Yet Lightstone doesn’t see this musical direction, at least in terms of Jaffa Road, as being radical. “What we are doing is breathing new life into traditional music. Anyone who really studies traditional music knows they have to evolve to survive.”

As far as th - Penguin Eggs

"Jaffa Road put on a fantastic performance and were undoubtedly one of the hits of the 2008 Ashkenaz Festival. They played to standing room-only-crowds and delighted all with their energetic performance and highly inventive fusion of traditional Jewish music influences with a variety of world music sounds. One of the exciting new additions to Toronto's thriving Jewish music scene."

-Eric Stein, Artistic Director, Ashkenaz Festival, Toronto - Eric Stien

more reviews are in the press section of our webstie, check it out at
www.jaffaroad.com

some other quotes:

“Jaffa Road blends Jewish, jazz, Indian and Arabic music with electronica and dub. The result is fantastic.”

CBC Radio One Fresh Air


“Toronto’s Jaffa Road is inspired by the artistic, cultural and musical mix of the city. The group combines diverse styles of music into a fresh and unique sound.”
CBC Radio One Metro Morning



Jaffa Road is pure joy! With an exquisite sense of innovation, and a deeply Jewish sensibility, Jaffa Road has earned a top spot amongst the top Jewish recordings of our time.


Cantor Michael Smolash, Temple Israel - Michigan

.“Sunplace is compelling”

Li Robbins- Songlines




“Jaffa Road might be based in Toronto, but the world is the band’s home in terms of music…Jaffa Road bridges cultures.”



Robert Reid The Guelph Mercury & K-W Record
- ajl

"Great musicianship, odd ball combinations of instruments, drone, funk, verve and melody all had a place in this refreshing mish mash of musical influences and styles.
Highly recommended!"

Larry Rossignol
Artistic director, the Distillery Jazz Festival - Larry Rossignol

"Great musicianship, odd ball combinations of instruments, drone, funk, verve and melody all had a place in this refreshing mish mash of musical influences and styles.
Highly recommended!"

Larry Rossignol
Artistic director, the Distillery Jazz Festival - Larry Rossignol

" Their music is incredibly diverse, rooted in centuries-old traditions yet with a keen eye to the future -- perfectly representing the spirit of the Small World Jazz Series of which their concert was a part.

It's played to the highest level of skill with infectious chemistry amongst the musicians, and has an inherent consciousness about it that is truly inspiring to hear live.

They bring out a strong crowd of enlightened people with similarly positive energy that just lights up the room." - Sebastien Cook

" Their music is incredibly diverse, rooted in centuries-old traditions yet with a keen eye to the future -- perfectly representing the spirit of the Small World Jazz Series of which their concert was a part.

It's played to the highest level of skill with infectious chemistry amongst the musicians, and has an inherent consciousness about it that is truly inspiring to hear live.

They bring out a strong crowd of enlightened people with similarly positive energy that just lights up the room." - Sebastien Cook

The Lula Lounge, 1585 Dundas St. West, was packed on March 25th for this obviously popular band of rhythmic world music. Combining ancient middle eastern tunes with poetry, belly-dancing, fiddling, and Aviva's sweet voice, created a real modern masterpiece. Look out for this up and coming band. Seeing how many people came to enjoy their show demonstrated that the word on Jaffa Road is already out. After listening to several of their songs we understood why they are so popular. Jaffa Road has created a very successful CD, no doubt about it. Congratulations to the whole band, thanks for inviting us out to help with your launch.
- SNAP Downtown Toronto

March 25 saw Toronto’s Lula Lounge at overflow capacity, a lively party atmosphere on the occasion of the release of Jaffa Road's first CD. While this band is relatively new on the world music scene, its musicians are not. Jaffa Road, a Jewish-pop band rooted in tradition, not only takes its place alongside the likes of Toronto’s other fusion groups, such as the Arabic–Greek ensemble Maza Mezé, and Indian–Jazz ensembles Autorickshaw and Tasa, it also shares some of their musicians. “Sunplace” opens with a tabla riff delivered by Ravi Naimpally, and the CD features other well-known guest artists or regulars, Dr. George Sawa (qanoon), Ernie Tollar (eastern flutes), Chris McKhool (violin), Chris Gartner (bass, guitar), Sundar Viswanathan (sax), Jeff Wilson (percussion, kalimba, etc.), and co-producer/composer Aaron Lightstone (oud, guitars, saz, synthesizers).

The star of this recording is however vocalist Aviva Chernick, who sings in Hebrew, English and Judeo-Spanish (Ladino). Also no stranger to Toronto's music scene, Chernick has previously released a CD with The Huppah Project, as well as her solo recording, “In the Sea” (see www.avivachernick.com). “Sunplace” is a collection of songs, either newly composed to traditional texts, or arrangements of traditional songs, and a couple of entirely new ones. The opening number is a call to peace, based on the phrase from Isaiah “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war any more”. The CD’s title track Makom Shemesh (sun place) evokes a desert landscape. Be’er Besade is a lively tune from 1950’s Israel. Im Ninalu, a traditional Yemenite melody, was first made popular (to my knowledge) by the late Yemenite-Israeli pop singer Ofra Haza; the version here opens with an introduction by Cantor Aaron Bensoussan. Love songs include the traditional Ladino Una Ora en la Ventana, and a new composition based on the Hebrew Song of Songs,

(open the night for me) which closes this recording. Chernick and the band give polished performances throughout.

Karen Ages - The WholeNote

The Lula Lounge, 1585 Dundas St. West, was packed on March 25th for this obviously popular band of rhythmic world music. Combining ancient middle eastern tunes with poetry, belly-dancing, fiddling, and Aviva's sweet voice, created a real modern masterpiece. Look out for this up and coming band. Seeing how many people came to enjoy their show demonstrated that the word on Jaffa Road is already out. After listening to several of their songs we understood why they are so popular. Jaffa Road has created a very successful CD, no doubt about it. Congratulations to the whole band, thanks for inviting us out to help with your launch.
- SNAP Downtown Toronto