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A wonderful voice with something important to say Maryem Tollar is an extraordinary singer, composer and songwriter. She is Egyptian-Canadian and lives in Toronto. For over a decade she has been an integral part of Canadian music. She helped forge the acceptance of music from diverse cultures in groups like Maza Meze and Doula. She has performed traditional Arabic repertoire for classical recital societies and become the favourite singer of composer Christos Hatzis, lending her voice to such highly acclaimed works as Constantinople and Sepulcher of Life. She has toured the country and beyond as vocalist in the ensemble of rumba flamenco guitarist, Jesse Cook. She has composed and sung for theatre, dance, film and television. She has recorded on a variety of projects from her own CDs to a recent recording of songs by famed Egyptian composer Sayyid Darwish where Maryem joined the Chicago ensemble of Hicham Chami. From concert hall to club to festival site Maryem has won rave reviews for her performances in an encyclopedic array of contexts. What Maryem wants to do most is combine all the music she loves best and sing it with her own ensemble. With the release of her second CD, Book of Life, that is exactly what she intends to do. With a repertoire that runs from traditional songs, hundreds of years old, to her own and husband Ernie Tollar’s creations, Maryem Tollar opens up a world of wonderful music. What unites the seemingly disparate elements of her repertoire is her grounding in the Arabic vocal style and her commitment to a world much more humane than the one we live in. This is an artist to delight and inspire. Maryem Tollar works in a variety of formats from a spare duo to a full ten-member ensemble. Her preferred accompaniment is a quartet of instrumentalists and two additional vocalists. While a sample repertoire is enclosed in this dossier, Maryem is also able to present an entire program of traditional Arabic songs with contextual narrative. Vocal workshops in this tradition are also available. |
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