Silence Guelph Presents Celebrated Toronto-Based World Music Trio "Near East"

On Friday November 23rd at 8pm, Silence is excited to present "Near East", a celebrated Toronto world music ensemble which will captivate the audience with their unique blend of music combined from varied geographic traditions. The trio is comprised of Ernie Tollar (sax / bansuri / ney), Demetri Petsalakis (oud / guitar) and Ravi Naimpally (tabla). From Greek, Middle Eastern and East Indian musical inspiration, Near East harvests a fresh sound; familiar yet surprising.

Enjoy a taste of Near East in this video where they perform "Caravan": https://youtu.be/lc9KjYfCDs4
Silence is located at 46 Essex St, Guelph and Tickets will be on sale for $15 at the door. More info at: http://www.silencesounds.ca

About Each Musician:

Ravi Naimpally - Having completed extensive training on the art of tabla in India with his uncle Nikhil Ghosh and also Anindo Chatterjee, Ravi has been an active member of the Toronto world music scene for nearly 20 years. As a vital part of Toronto's large South Asian community, he continues to perform traditional music from India. In 2011 His contibutions to South Asian culture in Canada were acknowledged with the Grant's Desi Achievers Award. Ravi has had several Juno nominations and is featured on Kiran Alhuwalia's Juno-winning CD Beyond Boundaries. For the last 11 years he has led his own Indo-jazz ensemble Tasa who have toured extensively and recorded 4 CD's of Ravi's original music. Tasa received an Urban Music Award for Best World Music album. As an educator, Ravi brings his expertise in North Indian drumming to children in the Peel district school board through the meet-a-musician program. He also teaches private lessons in tabla at York University and runs an Indo-jazz ensemble at Humber College.

Ernie Tollar - did his first professional gigs in 1980, and has since performed in Europe, India, Egypt, U.S.A., Mexico, and across Canada. (at the major jazz and folk festivals). While in high school Ernie was a featured performer on CBC's TV show "Going Great" an after school - documentary.hosted by Chris Makepeace. Ernie has been praised extensively by jazz writer Mark Miller (Globe and Recent World Music performances include the Near East Trio w. Ravi Naimpally, Demetri Petsalakis, and Gary Diggins. Other World music with Trichy Sankaran, John Wyre and Bob Becker of Nexus, Greek/Arabic ensembles Maza Mezé and Doula, Tasa, Brenna, MacCrimmon, Mel Mrabet, Aaron Ben Sousan, Rick Shadrach Lazar, and Spare Parts. His various teachers have included: South Asian: Trichy Sankaran, N. Ramani, Arabic (maqam) Alfred Gamil, Ibrahim Kawala, Jazz: Ron Allen, Ted Moses, Pat LaBarbera.

Demetri Petsalakis - Originally from Athens Greece, Demetri Petsalakis is a Toronto based musician performing in a variety of styles with a focus on Greek and Middle Eastern lutes. He is involved with bands such as Ventanas, Nomadica, Near East, Zephyr, The Maryem Tollar ensemble, Samba Squad, The Ken McDonald quartet and the Heavyset Quartet where he is featured playing a variety of stringed instruments including guitar, outi(oud), lyra and baglama. Demetri has a Masters of Music degree in jazz guitar performance from the University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in music from York University. Learn more about Near East at: http://www.facebook.com/neareastrio