PHOTO CANVAS on Any custom size, most pick-ups within one day Turn your Photo into a Holiday Gi Happy Holiday Discount 20% until Dec. 27 88 Lakeshore Rd.W. SouthEast corner at Kerr st. 905 338 1788, www.artprinting.ca Mon-Sat 10am-6:30pm Small Square Canvas Printing Special* x 8 $20.00 10 x 10 $25.00 12 x 12 $30.00 *with 9/16 height bars 11 Thursday , D ecem ber 9, 2010 O A KVILLE BEA V ER w w w .o akvillebeaver .co m By Iqra Azhar SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Some call it Indian-jazz fusion or world beat, others might see it as post-fusion or Global-pop-funk-fusion with a dose of Bollywood. One thing is for sure inno- vative music group AutoRickshaw aims to defy categorization with its balanced blends of Indian and Western sounds. Twice-nominated for the Juno Awards World Music Album of the Year, the band has toured extensively since its inception in early 2003, travelling across Canada, in the United States, Europe, United Kingdom and India, performing at out- door festivals, club venues, intimate house concerts, soft-seat theatres, for corporate and private functions, and even at yoga retreats in Ireland. Tonight, the band will perform at the Oakville Centre for Performing Arts and giving a sneak preview of some of the material from its new album (which has an anticipated release for Spring 2011), some of its classic Autorickshaw hits, fiery Indo-fusion originals, Canadian con- tent and Bollywood-tinged jazz standards. Expect the unexpected, said Suba Sankaran of the upcoming concert. The Toronto-based vocalist and percussionist, who writes her own lyrics and wordless compositions (as is common in the Indian tradition) says the beauty of the voice and of original music is that it comes from a persons experience. The audience will hear my story often personal reflections and they will learn about the person behind the per- former. I love the raw honesty of being on stage. I think of performing as an invita- tion for the audience to come into our sacred musical space, our artistic play- ground. All of the members of the band have a lot of Indian music knowledge (whether for- mally trained or self-taught) as well as a great deal of western music experience, too. Vocalist Suba Sankaran, tabla player Ed Hanley, bassist Rich Brown and exotic per- cussionist Patrick Graham each bring their unique skill set to create hybrid music thats steeped in the Indian tradition. It was while working on a collaborative composition for modern/Bharatanatyam dancer Natasha Bakht back in 2002 a project prompted by Ed Hanley that Sankaran realized the instant musical connection between them and decided to start a band with the north Indian style drummer. The same instrumentation on that first song voice, tabla, drum kit/percussion and electric bass became the instru- mentation for Autorickshaw, a group whose name reveals modern (auto) and traditional (rickshaw) elements of its artistic expression. One of the ways in which AutoRickshaw continues to produce world-class music is by experimenting and improvising with compositions, arrangements, and instrumentation. We listen to music and find a moment in a song thats musically tasty, (and) we figure out a way of interpreting and rein- venting that for the band, said Sankaran. All the band members are active musi- cians outside of AutoRickshaw, so there is not much time to reflect on the work they do from show to show. We are our own administrators, man- agers, negotiators, rehearsal coordina- tors, tour managers, financial advisors, arrangers, composers.the list goes on and on, said Sankaran. It is a labour of love, but also hard work. We will come together for a few rehearsals before every show to make sure that the music is intact. Though they hope to continue to tour the world nationally and internationally, 2012 plans reveal that the group intends to work with a symphony orchestra, other choirs, dancers and even a new Bollywood-influenced show. We hope to win a Juno Award and oth- ers along the way, said Sankaran. Tickets cost $43.99. For tickets call 905-815-2021 or 1-888-489-7784 or visit oakvillecentre.ca. AutoRickshaw blends Indian and western music AutoRickshaw