Check out Toronto Tabla’s new single with Bif Naked + album release tonight!
Ground-breaking musical collective Toronto Tabla Ensemble (TTE) and legendary Indian-born Canadian artist Bif Naked mystify with cutting-edge sonics and sophisticated grooves on their latest jaw-dropping single, “Prayer for the Mother.”
Celebrating their 30th anniversary, Toronto Tabla Ensemble has released a blistering new album, For the Love of Tabla — an 11-song LP that dazzles listeners start to finish with some of the best tabla playing in the world.
It’s their eighth studio release, and TTE’s enchanting founder and artistic director Ritesh Das continues to put the tabla, a twin-hand drum popularized in northern India during the 18th century, in the spotlight.
“Normally the tabla gets lost or buried under all the other instruments in a song so, for this album, I mixed each track to bring the tabla up so you can hear it prominently within all the other sounds,” he explaine.
While the entire album defies expectations, a distinctive energy radiates from their latest release. “Prayer for the Mother” is a technically brilliant composition that draws on unique instrumental configurations. The effortless fusion of rhythmic tabla percussion and rock n’ roll sensibilities serve as a sonic mechanism to communicate the tremendous power of woman and motherhood, and Canadian icon Bif Naked’s hypnotic lyrics accompany Das’s lightning-fast vocalizations to elevate “Prayer for the Mother” into the music stratosphere.
Beyond “Prayer for the Mother,” For the Love of Tabla is bursting with a worldly charm and an all-star cast of renowned artists.
For The Love of Tabla features a cacophony of musical talent that has worked with TTE over its storied career — including longtime collaborator and Taiko master Kiyoshi Nagata, violinist/composer Miamon Miller, drummer Dale Anne Brendon and sitarist George Koller.
Recording TTE’s latest album during a global pandemic was not easy, and all of the sensational artists featured on the release played remotely all across the globe to bring the album to fruition.
Thankfully, the collective of passionate artists found a way to make it work. As Ritesh said, “I think members and performers took advantage of the situation and turned it into something positive.”
While he acknowledged that traditional Indian sounds are featured on the album, he emphasized, “I don’t do traditional Indian music. … I take the essence of North Indian classical music and blend it with other styles.”
A CD release party for For the Love of Tabla is set to take place tonight at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre Theater. Soul-stirring performances from TTE will be captured in-person and live-streamed beginning at 7 PM. Head to TorontoTabla.com/events for more information.
Toronto Tabla Ensemble’s single “Prayer for the Mother” from their album For the Love of Tabla is available on CD and digital platforms now.
