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There are not enough superlatives that I can use to describe Maryem’s artistry. Suffice to say this: I have been blessed by having worked with a number of incredible artists all over the world… but if I had to make the painful decision of associating with only one of them in the future, that person would be Maryem Tollar. Her incredible voice and uncanny ability to be at home in any musical/theatrical situation impressed everyone she came in contact with. When Maryem Tollar was growing up, the last thing she wanted to be was Canada’s acclaimed Arabic vocalist. It’s the enduring proof of the adage that goes- ‘If you want to make God laugh, tell her your plans’. Born in Egypt and raised in Canada with frequent sojourns in the Middle East, Maryem was twelve when 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. 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. The studies led to performance and in a group called Ritual Party, Maryem Hassan met saxophonist, Ernie Tollar. Since the mid-nineties they have been collaborators, and for almost as long, life partners, sharing both their careers and, now, three children. In 1996 Ernie and Maryem helped found Maza Meze, an ensemble performing Arabic and Greek based repertoire. A year later, Maryem and Palestinian-Canadian singer and dancer Roula Said formed Doula, an ensemble devoted to “ancient Arabic music with a new world spirit”. Both groups played a vital role in spreading an appreciation of the treasures of the Eastern Mediterranean among Canadian audiences. In 2000, Maryem and Ernie felt they needed something that could focus on their original compositions and songs they loved that didn’t fit into their other projects. Mernie! was the first incarnation of that vision, molding together the names of its founders. In 2002 Mernie! toured from Halifax to Vancouver and released a well received CD. Mernie!, however, was a large ensemble, 10 musicians in its full glory. Increasingly Maryem and Ernie found that there were occasions that called for a smaller ensemble and more flexibility. At the same time Maryem’s name had been gaining prominence as a result of her work as featured vocalist with flamenco guitarist, Jesse Cook and in projects by award winning composer, Christos Hatzis. Mernie! became simply Maryem Tollar, with Ernie Tollar as musical director and a line up that varies according to the demands of the performance- sometimes a quartet, sometimes a larger band. The Maryem Tollar Ensemble incorporates the talents of some of Toronto’s finest world music and jazz practitioners and occasionally includes guests from Egypt in the personae of two of Maryem’s teachers- violin and oud master Alfred Gamil and Mohamed Aly, another stellar violinist and a gifted vocalist. The Last Few Years… The last few years have been full of good things for Maryem. In 2004 Maryem and Ernie’s musical score for "Le Collier d'Helene" (Helen's necklace), premiered in Toronto. The multi-media opera, "Constantinople", written by Christos Hatzis, premiered at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre, following which she participated in a recording of the show. Both “Le Collier d’Helene” and Constantinople won Maryem nominations for two 2005 DORA Awards (Toronto’s Arts awards)!- Outstanding Sound Design/Composition for “Le Collier d’Helene” and Outstanding Performance in Opera for Constantinople, a tribute to Maryem’s skills as a composer and singer. In 2005 Maryem released her second CD- Book of Life. Vancouver’s Georgia Straight hailed it as “a big expansive record: a gorgeous-sounding celebration of rhythm: and a showcase for Maryem Tollar’s ever growing vocal capabilities.” Almost all of it was original work, either written by Maryem and Ernie or setting texts by Montreal poet Ehab Lotayef to their music. It marks the direction Maryem has chosen to follow- the creation of an original Arabic-Canadian repertoire, drawing from the tradition but incorporating an almost endless palette of musical colours taken from diverse sources. While Maryem is still very much in love with the traditional vocal music of the Arab world, and includes several in any performance, she believes her unique contribution to Canadian music is her own songs and compositions, boldly going where no singer/songwriter/composer has gone before. 2006 saw Maryem continue to blaze new trails. There were performances at Vancouver’s World Peace Forum with her uncle, poet Ehab Lotayef, an opening night performance at Montreal’s Festival du Monde Arabe, broadcast nationally, her first collaboration with Evergreen Gamelan Club in a performance of Indonesian songs in Toronto and the premiere Mystical Visitations, written for her by Christos Hatzis at Toronto’s Isabel Bader Theatre. 2007 saw performances at the Winnipeg New Music Festival and the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival with the Gryphon Trio and Arabic music legend Simon Shaheen which received a rave review. Maryem graced the stage of London, England’s renowned Covent Gardens, where Constantinople ran for five performances. She also received the prestigious K.M. Hunter Award by the Ontario Arts Council. In 2008 Maryem received a JUNO nomination for the Constantinople CD- Classical Album of the Year- Vocal or Choral Performance. Her voice also reached millions of listeners through the unlikely medium of the vocal track on the credits of Little Mosque on the Prairies and Mayya Mayya, a featured song in the Bollywood hit film, Guru. What’s New? What’s Next? Maryem has spent much of 2008 collaborating with diverse ensembles of national and international renown including Evergreen Gamelan, Lata Pada’s Bharanta Natyam Dance Company, The Gryphon Trio and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Choir. In the summer she brought her ensemble and special guests- Egyptian violinist Alfred Gamil and fellow Egyptian oud player and singer Muhamed Aly to the Toronto Jazz Festival, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival and the Calgary Folk Music Festival- an example of the genre bending nature and audience for her work. These performances were accompanied by the release of a new recording packed with new compositions and songs- Cairo to Toronto, featuring both Egyptian guests. In the fall, Maryem began rehearsals for a role in a new opera by Canadian music legend- R. Murray Shaffer-"The Children's Crusade". It is about an orphan in France who hears the call to go to Jerusalem with Love, not Arms and features music by The Toronto Consort and special guests.And of course, 2008 featured the birth of Maryem and Ernie’s third child- Janos. Things are good and getting better for this talented singer, at home in many genres.
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