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When Rudyard Kipling wrote that "east is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet" he had obviously never heard Maryem and Ernie Tollar. Maryem and Ernie, the core of Mernie!, bridge cultures and continents with an ease that would have stunned old Rudyard and amazes listeners today. Maryem's voice, " a marvelous alto voice" in the words of one Globe and Mail reviewer, and Ernie's "impressive command of both jazz and ethnic reed instrument styles" to quote another Globe writer, provide the foundation of a new repertoire of original music. Mernie! draws on their years of performance and study of a myriad of popular and traditional music from North America, the Arab world, and India. Maryem and Ernie Tollar have fashioned a sound that takes its inspiration from many sources but emerges as an original contribution to Canadian contemporary music. MARYEM TOLLAR was born in Egypt and raised in Canada with frequent sojourns in the Middle East. When Maryem was twelve the family left Canada for five years in Egypt and Qatar. Like many teenagers, Maryem rebelled at this uprooting, becoming militantly uninterested in Arabic music, language, and culture. At university she studied French and Spanish. Blessed from the beginning with a special vocal ability, she began to sing professionally, but it was pop and contemporary folk music that caught her ear. It was only in 1994, when she was trying to convince her brother, a talented musician in his own right, to hire her for a project that required Arabic singing, that Maryem embraced her roots. What started as a chore turned to love as Maryem followed the music further and further. Lessons with Toronto based Egyptian musician, George Sawa, led to studies in Syria and Egypt. As Maryem studied, she also sang, and in a group called Ritual Party, Maryem Hassan met Ernie Tollar. Since the mid nineties they have been collaborators, and for almost as long, life partners. ERNIE TOLLAR was born and raised in Toronto. A musical omnivore, Ernie's roots are deeply embedded in jazz. He began his saxophone studies with Paul Brodie and continued with Ron Allen, both Toronto players and teachers of note. Starting with the classic jazz of Parker, Young, and Coltrane, Ernie began to follow the music east, first through the fusion sounds of Jan Garbarek and others influenced by Indian modes and scales, and then to the source. Over the years Ernie has extended his musical reach through studies with Indian and Arabic music teachers in North America, India, and Egypt. He plays a wide range of saxophones and an equally diverse assembly of wind instruments including Indian bamboo flutes, the Arabic ney, whistle flutes and recorders, and silver flutes. He also plays clarinet. As a performer Ernie Tollar has worked with most of Toronto's jazz, world, and contemporary music leaders. His artistry has brightened the performances of David Restivo, Trichy Sankaran, Evergreen Club Gamelan, N. O. J. O., and many more. He is in demand as a composer for a number of music ensembles, dance companies, and filmmakers. After their meeting in Ritual Party, Ernie and Maryem helped found Maza Mezé, originally an eleven piece Arabic Greek ensemble and Maryem co founded Doula (with Roula Said), an Arabic music vocal trio with accompanying mu sicians. While their work in these ensembles as well as other projects has been satisfying, Ernie and Maryem have dreamed of starting an ensemble devoted exclusively to their creations, a group led by them that would provide an outlet for the original music they have been creating, drawing on all their diverse musical influences and experiences. To put together such a group, Ernie and Maryem went to their friends, collaborators from a dozen previous groups and projects. Mernie reads like a "who's who" of the Toronto contemporary world music scene, players who function as leaders of their own bands. The fact that they are prepared to devote their time and talent to Mernie! says a great deal about the respect that Maryem and Ernie have won for their previous work and how impressive the music they have created for Mernie! is. Maryem describes the process that produces Mernie! 's music: "I met Ernie in 1995 and we have been working together ever since. When he met me Ernie was on a different path, exploring the music of Turkey and India as well as playing jazz. I encouraged him to listen to Arabic music and he introduced me to jazz and Indian music. Mernie! was born out of our mutual explorations and travels together to India, the Middle East, and Greece." Ernie has a different explanation, a different approach to the music: "All the music one hears in life leaves an un erasable imprint influences which can be recalled, extracted, identified, studied and then carefully combined or they can swish about in one's dreams and then come bursting out in a group like Mernie! musical journeys, stepping stones across a free flowing, fertile river". Mernie! is the shared vision of two exceptionally talented artists reflected through the prism of another half dozen or so equally accomplished conspirators those who breathe together, to use the root of the word. Mernie! challenges stereotypes and preconceptions about musical genre and definition. Terms like jazz, folk, world, east, west, traditional and contemporary cease to make much sense. What emerges is music without borders passionate, beautiful and unparalleled. |
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