This group, as well as the music they perform, is going to throw you for a loop. The individual members of the group Ventanas all come from Spain, but they mix backgrounds from Jewish Sephardism, flamenco, Macedonia, North Africa and the Balkans that make you need to check your Michelin Guide as to what you’re listening to. The lusty and lusciously passionate voice of Tamar Ilana soars and glides through Spanish lyrics with an Adriatic melody on “Primavera” while she takes you to the recently discovered New World on a Colombian flavored “Ven A Mi.” The team of strings include flamenco guitar (Dennis Duffin), oud-bouzouki-baglama (Demetrios Petsalakis) and violin (Jessica Lana Deutsch) while the percussion team of Jaash Singh and Derek Gray take you to lands north of Greece on “Makedonsko Devojce” and Morocco on the title track. The various mixtures of swinging complex rhythms as on the Turkish Sephardic “Landarico” which mixes lyra, Tibetn singing bowls and viola with Ilana’s earthy vocals makes for an audible walk through a spice market in Istanbul. Simply intoxicating!
Canada Council for the Arts