Sephardic, Flamenco, Balkan; Ventanas performing at Old Town on March 1

Direct from Toronto, Canada: TAMAR ILANA & VENTANAS, the stunning vocalist and dancer who has emerged as a sought-after Canadian favourite and her stellar trans-Mediterranean ensemble embark on their debut US tour.

Sephardic love songs from North Africa and the old Ottoman lands, quirky Bulgarian dance tunes, captivating pieces in Greek and Turkish, original songs and deep flamenco, including the dancing Ilana alternates with her own compelling vocals, are just some of the “windows” - or “ventanas” - which irresistibly open to draw the audience in. Ventanas’ versatile musicians offer virtuoso oud, violin, lyra, baglama, double bass, derbukka, cajón, and hand percussion, and of course, Ilana’s intricate flamenco footwork.

VENTANAS has performed in sold-out venues including the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto (CD release “Arrelumbre”, 2015); DROM, Golden Festival, La MaMa Theatre and APAP in New York City; Ashkenaz Festival, Toronto; Mundial Montréal; Vancouver Folk Music Festival, Mill Race Festival, Sunfest, Summerfolk, Mont Tremblant Fête de la Musique and more. Their debut album Ventanas (2013) and their most recent release Arrelumbre (2015) both received two nominations at the Canadian Folk Music Awards. 

The multi-lingual Ilana has studied intensive flamenco singing and dancing with masters in Seville and Barcelona, and advanced world music vocal techniques with Martina Catella at Les Glotte-Trotters Academy in Paris. She was nominated for the Ontario Arts Council Premier's Award for Excellence in the Arts Emerging Artist in 2016. Ilana is often featured on vocals and percussion as part of the exuberant North-Eastern Brazilian tradition maracatú, and was one of the two singer-actors in Yaël Farber’s prize-winning “Salomé” at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C.. Ilana is an original member of the cast of the Lemon Bucket Orkestra's “Counting Sheep Revolution” musical theatre production, which electrified audiences in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2016 and is headed back to Europe in the spring. Since she was a child, she has also performed and recorded Sephardic, Balkan and medieval music with her mother, ethnomusicologist and singer Dr. Judith Cohen, singing and doing village fieldwork in Spain, Portugal, Morocco, and Turkey. She is a regular singer with the renowned Esmeralda Enrique Spanish Dance Company in Toronto, and teaches dance at her Academy of Spanish Dance.

Tour line-up:
Tamar Ilana: vocals, dance
Demetrios Petsalakis: oud, baglama, lyra, riqq
Jessica Hana Deutsch: violin, vocals
Derek Gray: percussion, including derbukka and cajón
Justin Gray: fretless bass