The only known marimba-tabla duo in Canada, Calgary-based and Abbas Janmohamed, play a unique concert in Metchosin on Jan. 18.
Currently teaching ethnomusicology B次元官网网址� the study of music in cultural context B次元官网网址� and percussion at the University of Calgary, Squance is quickly gaining recognition as one of CanadaB次元官网网址檚 most exciting musicians.
He has worked with such globally-recognized and appreciated musicians as Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Project, Cuban woodwind player Paquito de Rivera and Korean percussionist Dong-Won Kim, as well as performing regularly with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra.
Janmohamed is one of only a handful of professional Canadian tabla players (a traditional Indian drum much like a bongo) and has been working with Squance since 2008.
Squance has high praise for his fellow musician.
B次元官网网址淎bbas is a brilliant tabla player, and watching him play is very exciting as he astonishes audiences with how fast his hands can play,B次元官网网址� he says.
Squance believes he and JanmohamedB次元官网网址檚 music is unique in the world.
B次元官网网址淥ur instrument combination of Abbas on tabla and myself on marimba is something that I am unaware exists anywhere else, playing traditional Indian classical style.
B次元官网网址淚t is doubtless that marimbists and tabla players have played together before, but what Abba and I do is perform in the Hindustani classical style, one of the worldB次元官网网址檚 most highly sophisticated classical musics, having both studied the centuries-old conventions of this music seriously.B次元官网网址�
While tabla traditionally accompany this style of music, combining it with the marimba B次元官网网址� a xylophone from Central America B次元官网网址� creates a unique sound that goes from lyrical to rhythmically charged and back again, he says.
The Metchosin performance will be based on B次元官网网址渋mprovisation within traditional conventions,B次元官网网址� Squance says. He canB次元官网网址檛 say exactly what it will entail, though he says itB次元官网网址檚 sure to be entertaining.
B次元官网网址淎bbas and I have performed together so much that we can almost read each othersB次元官网网址� minds on stage. Audiences love to see the unspoken communication between us as we perform.B次元官网网址�
The concert takes place at at St. MaryB次元官网网址檚 Anglican Church, 4354 William Head Rd. For more information or to purchase tickets B次元官网网址� $15 for adults, $5 for students B次元官网网址� contact the Metchosin Community Association at 250-487-5115 or stop by their home at 4430 Happy Valley Rd.
