TASA | Chris Gartner

Toronto’s Tasa is celebrating ten years as one of the country’s leading Indian world fusion ensembles by creating its most contemporary sounding fusion yet. On its brand new album, Alchemy, the group builds on its intricate Indo-jazz jam sound to create an even more sophisticated musical mélange that wouldn’t sound out of place in the Buddha Bar.

Alchemy features ethereal female vocals by new band member Samidha Joglekar, gorgeous violin solos by leading New York improviser Mark Feldman and beats by DJ Olive, all of which gives the album a delightful world trance and chill-out feel.

Co-Producer (and TASA bassist) Chris Gartner enhanced the effect by adding an assortment of electronic elements in post-production. Layered within is the band’s trademark mixture of intricate and evocative flute and sax melodies, groovy guitar and bass lines, lightening fast tabla and innovative global percussion.

Band leader Ravi Naimpally – once voted Toronto’s coolest musician by the readers of Eye – says the compositions were inspired in part by electric Miles and Indian melodies. DJ Olive was chosen as a collaborator for his rare ability to improvise alongside live musicians while following their lead. Mark Feldman was approached to provide violin parts as a compliment to the Indian sarangi. Joglekar, though new to the core line-up of Tasa, had been a the guest vocalist before and has performed frequently with them ever since. Naimpally formed Tasa in 1999 as a means to explore his dual identities as South Asian and Canadian. Born in Kanpur in the Indian province of Uttar Pradesh, he grew up in Thunder Bay, where his parents presented concerts by leading Indian musicians. Some of his first music lessons came from legends like Zakir Hussain and Anindo Chatterjee, who were staying at his home while performing. At sixteen, he began spending his summers in India, studying first with his uncle, Pandit Nikhil Ghosh, and later with Chatterjee. He went on to earn a Juno nomination as a member of the Thomas Handy Trio and to perform and record with Loreena McKennitt and Kiran Ahluwalia.

The other members of TASA are equally accomplished - making the project a supergroup of sorts. Trumpet virtuoso Kevin Turcotte is a veteran of countless Toronto world and jazz groups and has shared the stage with international luminaries including Tito Puente, Dave Holland, Kenny Kirkwood, Pat LaBarbera, Bill Grove, and Kenny Wheeler. Global percussionist Alan Hetherington is the leader of Toronto’s Escola de Samba, which last year was a featured act at Sao Paolo Carnival. Guitarist and oud player John Gzowski has played with John Zorn, N.O.M.A., Maza Maze and Meryn Cadell to name a few. Bassist Chris Gartner is an alumnus of Look People, and has worked with

Mary Magaret O'Hara, Garth Hudson, Martin Tielli, and Kevin Hearn & Thinbuckle.

TASA released its debut CD, Bhakti, in 1999 and earned an Urban Music Award for Best World Album. They followed it up in 2001 with Soma and in 2006 with

Urban Turban, which was met with considerable critical praise. The band toured Canadian jazz festivals in support of the release and was embraced by media across the country, appearing on CBC’s Sounds Like Canada and earning countless print features.

With Alchemy, Tasa once again pushes the musical envelope, creating a sound that will appeal to a wide range of music fans even beyond the traditional world and jazz audiences.