Roam explores the crossroads between song, culture and philosophy. The umbrella project of composer and multi-instrumentalist Lisa Patterson, Roam includes collaborations with Alex McMaster (cello, voice, clarinet), Anita Katakkar (tabla, voice) and Oriana Barbato (guitar, voice).
Roam’s signature sound is haunting melody and poetic lyric, infused with the diversity of cultures and life experiences of the collective - world citizens who live, travel and play across four continents. It’s the intimacy of close friends reveling in acoustic space, resonance and dialogue.
The Debut album Points of Departure (imaginit music / Phd Canada, 2009) was created by Lisa Patterson and Alex McMaster and recorded mostly live-off-the-floor. It’s an adventurous and sensual journey with stories of courage, surrender and social consciousness. CD production support from the Canada Council for the Arts.
Guest artists on the recording:
• Maryem Hassan Tollar (vocals & rik) www.maryemtollar.com
• Cassius Khan (vocals & tabla) www.cassiuskhan.com
• Morgan Doctor (doumbek, cajon) www.morgandoctor.com
Six songs from Points of Departure are featured in upcoming BAMNorthProductions film ‘Awaiting Atwood’ to be released in 2012. Watch early production teaser: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qRpjBvM-t8
Points of Departure received airplay on CBC radio programs The Signal, Metro Morning and Here & Now as well as Campus radio across Canada, notably on the west coast. Roam were featured in a half hour spotlight interview on CBC’s ‘Fresh Air’ program and have performed live on CIUT 89.9 FM and Cable Television.
New songs produced with support of Ontario Arts Council creator’s program will be recorded for Roam’s sophomore disc in 2012.
Roam has been a featured artist at the Canadian Connections Fair in Holland; performed on Canadian festival main-stages in B.C., Ontario and Quebec; toured west coast of Canada; presented concerts in conjunction with Alliance Francaise in Chennai and Bangalore, South India with regional collaborators.
INDIVIDUAL MEMBER BIOS
ALEX MCMASTER
Alex McMaster is a classically trained cellist (University of Toronto) who was born in Malawi and raised in Zimbabwe, Canada, Guyana, Bangladesh and the U.K. Living abroad has brought an international perspective to Alex’s artistic work. She has toured and recorded with many high profile Canadian artists including Jane Siberry, Feist, Christine Fellows, Lily Frost, A Northern Chorus, Sean Cullen, Jacksoul, and Oh Susanna. Alex is an accomplished string arranger and orchestrator, including scoring a project for the Orlando Philharmonic. She has participated in various cross-cultural initiatives including Earth in Motion Dance Company’s Mexico residency and volunteer support for new immigrant women in Canada.
ANITA KATAKKAR
Anita Katakkar is a multi-faceted composing, performing and recording artist who brings her Toronto roots to her approach to tabla. She leads her own project ‘Rakkatak’, that incorporates Indian classical rhythms, melodies and waves of atmospheric sounds, and released a debut CD in 2O1O. Anita has recorded, performed and toured with the Toronto Tabla Ensemble, toured nationally with The Tea Party and internationally with Jeff Martin. She has studied tabla since 1994; with Toronto based composer and musician Ritesh Das and more recently with the preminent exponent of Lucknow style tabla Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri.
ORIANA BARBATO
Oriana Barbato is a composer, interpreter and multi-instrumentalist of Chilean descent. Her style, education and experience range from Rock to Reggae to Latin music to Qawwali. She studied electric bass with Jorge Campos, tabla with Ravi Naimpally and flamenco guitar with Miguel de la Bastide. She's also versed in the kena and charango. She has a B.A. in Literature and a B.F.A. in Music from York University with a focus on digital composition and theory. In addition, Oriana is a sound designer for film and theater and her compositions have been exhibited at various art galleries in North, South America and Europe. Her electro-acoustic piece Acousmatic Longing was presented at the 2008 International Computer Music Conference (Belfast), in a programme led by Canadian composer and developer of real-time granular synthesis, Barry Truax. Oriana is a founding member of Santer’as and an active member of Rakkatak and The Johnnys.
LISA PATTERSON
Hailing from Canada’s west coast, Lisa is a Toronto based composer, performer, producer/engineer and educator. She is a classically trained musician who grew up influenced by the music of her Romanian and Scottish heritage and studied Composition, Improvisation and South Indian rhythm and vocals at York University. As a solo artist, Lisa has commercially released 3 albums and 2 music videos, her sophomore disc, Roam, from which this project takes its' name, was distributed in Canada (Festival Distribution) and in Europe (Rough Trade Records) with ‘Need Each Other’, a single from that CD, remaining in the top 10 on Holland charts for 12 weeks. She has toured North America, Mexico, Europe and India and worked with renowned world music artists Soley Vaseghi, Lache Cercel, Maryem Hassan Tollar and Cassius Khan. Lisa is founder/director of imaginit music, a studio and music production company offering innovative arts education and producing numerous recordings with award-winning artists including Haitian-Canadian Melissa Laveaux, Jazz diva Rita diGhent, aboriginal songstress Brenda MacIntyre and Indo fusionists Toronto Tabla Ensemble. Imaginit music presents multidisciplinary concerts with social and spiritual consciousness including fundraisers for the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s work with Panzi Hospital in DRCongo and Amnesty International.
Lisa’s songs have appeared in award-winning documentaries and indie films, most recently, six Roam songs are featured in the upcoming BAMNorthProductions film ‘Awaiting Atwood’ to be released in 2012. Currently, Lisa is Toronto Playback Theatre’s resident improvising musician and a member of Indo-Electronic outfit ‘Rakkatak’.
Download ROAM's bio as a word doc here.