“Tafelmusik bass player Alison Mackay, an enthusiastic advocate and creator of multimedia shows combining music, text, video and lighting, has masterminded something new and timely for the orchestra’s next program: Safe Haven,” writes John Terauds in Thursday’s Toronto Star (Canada). “It focuses on the good of migration rather than the bad. The multimedia presentation opens Thursday…. There will also be a performance … on Tuesday. Safe Haven is all about how cultures are transformed by the arrival of new people, ideas and traditions. Because Tafelmusik’s specialty is the music of 17th- and 18th-century Europe, most of the program focuses on how French Protestants fleeing persecution during the rule of King Louis XIV, and Jews and Muslims escaping from enforced Christianity in late-16th century Spain enriched their host nations…. Tafelmusik has invited Malian-born Diely Mori Tounkara to play the kora, a 21-stringed instrument, and Iranian-born Naghmeh Farahmand, who will play the oud, an ancestor of the European lute…. Toronto vocalist Maryem Tollar will sing and provide the narration…. Mackay has asked her guest musicians to help create a soundscape to go with the narration.” Says Mackay, “There are so many people who are excited to share what they know.”
Posted January 22, 2018
