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Eliana Cuevas

Pour sa première visite à Montréal, la vénézuélienne Éliana Cuevas, entourée de son quintet, nous propose un spectacle composé de pièces tirées de son plus récent album (Ventura). Interprétant des compositions en espagnol, en portugais ainsi qu'en anglais. Éliana est considérée par plusieurs comme l'une des meilleures voix latines au Canada.

Un spectacle a ne pas manquer...

 

Eliana Cuevas
A Unique Voice on Canada’s World and Jazz Music Scene

“She just might be the next Norah Jones”
Now Magazine, Toronto, Sept. 2004

The explosion of jazz and world music in Canada in the last decade has given audiences access to a rich variety of great music from many countries and cultures. One of the things lacking has been a really stellar singer from Latin merica. That position now looks like it has been filled by Venezuelan born Eliana Cuevas. Singing in Spanish, Portuguese and English, Eliana has stepped out from her years as merely a great singer to make her mark as bandleader and songwriter.

A student of music in Venezuela, Eliana came to Canada to study history at the University of Toronto. She continued her musical studies here and sang with a variety of pop, Latin-jazz, reggae, salsa, Brazilian and flamenco ensembles. In 2002 Eliana made her first recording as leader of her own ensemble, performing five of her own songs on “Cohesion”. The CD made it to the top of the charts on Toronto’s independent radio stations- CKLN and CIUT.

Eliana began to be invited to perform at top Latin and jazz venues in Toronto, including the Lula Lounge, the Rex Hotel Jazz & Blues Bar and the famous Top O' The Senator. In March of 2003 she was featured as one of the “Global Divas” in a concert of the same name, backed by Jane Bunnett and her band. That summer she went west for the first time to the Victoria Jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz Festival, Yukon Storytelling Festival and Comox Valley Music Festival. She returned home to perform at Harbourfront Centre and London’s first Fiesta del Sol and receive the Latin American Achievement Award for Vocal Artist of the Year.

In 2004 she released Ventura, a collection of original songs about love, life and quirky speculations, such as “what if the day had 30 hours?” The release of the CD coincided with festival and concert dates in Nova Scotia, including the Atlantic Jazz Festival, and BC where she toured from Salt Spring Island to Williams Lake, Kaslo to Vancouver selling out shows and receiving standing ovations. She returned home to the news that she had won the Ontario Conference of Folk Festivals “From The Heart” songwriting award for Rompe Mi Alma in the World Music Category. In September there was a trip to New Brunswick to perform at the Fredericton Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival and a CD launch for Ventura at Toronto’s prestigious Glenn Gould Studio as part of the Small World Music Festival. In April of 2005 Eliana showcased at Pacific Contact, in Vancouver. The result was an October 2006 tour to BC and the Yukon. In the summer of 2005 Eliana performed at festivals in BC from Vancouver’s North Shore Jazz to the Prince George Folk Festival, the Islands Folk Festival and the Kispiox Music Festival in the far north of the province.

In addition to tours, Eliana has maintained an active career performing around Toronto. In the summer of 2006 she will perform at the Toronto Street Festival, the Uptown Waterloo Jazz Festival, Owen Sound’s Summerfolk. She will make her first prairie appearance at the Ness Creek Festival in Saskatchewan and her Montreal debut at the Festival de Rhythmes du Monde. In May of 2006 she self-presented a concert featuring herself, Canefire and Brazilian guitar genius, Celso Machado, in Toronto. She has also been writing fine new songs that are talking shape for her next CD. These songs include a powerful number confronting homelessness and others celebrating the triumph of the human spirit in the face of adversity. In fact, despite Eliana’s fabulous voice, it is her songwriting that makes her a unique presence on Canada’s music scene.

More good things are on the way- Eliana’s first trip to Europe for the Reeperbahn Jazz Festival in Hamburg and a March 2007 tour in Atlantic Canada. Slowly but surely, Eliana Cuevas is becoming an artist with a national and now international career. The combination of original words and music, a stellar band and her own superb vocal abilities make Eliana Cuevas an artist to both appreciate and watch out for more of.

http://www.elianacuevas.com

30 juillet 2006
Quai Jacques-Cartier
JOURNÉE de l’harmonie des cultures

ELIANA CUEVAS QUINTET BAND

George Koller, bass

George Koller has accumulated hundreds of wildly diverse performing and recording credits in his expansive musical career: The Shuffle Demons, Phil Woods, Peter Gabriel, Loreena McKennitt, Bruce Cockburn, Holly Cole, Ian Tyson, Julie Michels, Joe Sealy, Carol Welsman, and Valdy to name only a few. Recognized primarily as a bass player, George plays a variety of instruments; many featured on his award-winning solo CD, Music for Plants, Animals, and Humans. (grand prize, HMV "Fresh Blood" national competition). Having written dozens of songs over the years, George is now recording and preparing releases of new material featuring his guitar and vocals. Recent activities include touring Canada with Joe Sealy and Cindy Church, with their recording. "The Nearness of You.. the Songs of Hoagy Carmichael". Furthermore, he continues to produce concerts and recordings in the jazz, world and Indian Classical music styles, and is composing new east-west fusion music.

Luis Guerra, piano

Luis Guerra is a young, very accomplished Cuban piano player that has quickly become one of the most in demand piano players in Toronto, not only in the Latin music community but in the Jazz community as well. He was born in Cuba, on March 24th 1983 and studied music in the “Escuela Nacional de Arte”, National Arts School of Habana.

In the year 2000 he became the piano player for Mayra Caridad Valdés, a younger sister of Latin Jazz Grammy award winner Chucho Valdés and lead singer of the Cuban group Irakere. With her, Luis Guerra recorded in the album “La Diosa del Mar”, and in August 2000 toured Canada.

In March 2001 he went to France as a member of the French-Cuban project called Lemanacuba, led by the French composer Luc Le Masne. In that same year, he toured with that project performing in the city of Pierrefond, amongst other cities, and also at La Cigale, a theater that has been around since the 19th Century and that is now one of Paris’ major concert venues.

In 2001 he recorded with the David Murray Latin Big Band, led by the renowned North American saxophone player David Murray in the album “Now is Another Time”, released with Justin Time Records.

Since 2001 he has been living in Toronto and has been actively performing and recording with several artists including saxophonist Richard Underhill. With him, Luis recorded in the album “Tales from the Blue Lounge” which won a Juno in the 'Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year' category of the 2003 Juno Awards.
 

Luis Orbegoso, percussion

An expert in Latin American percussion, Luis is sought after by countless artists in many genres. He has performed on the most prestigious stages with top Canadian, American and Latin American musicians such as Jane Bunnett, Ralph Irizarry, Hilario Duran and Oscar D’ Leon. He is also very active as a recording artist for major labels. Luis is an integral part of Canada’s award-winning Latin jazz/funk ensemble “Nick Ali & CRUZAO” the winner of the Montreal Jazz Festival’s coveted 2001 “Grand Prix du Jazz” Award and the 2001 CBC Galaxie “Rising Star” Award. He has studied extensively with Cuban percussion masters José Luis Quintana a.k.a. “Changito” and los Muñequitos de Matanzas. A true master of percussion Luis Excels in any musical environment and is amongst the top percussionists in North America.

Daniel Stone, percussion

Daniel Stone has been performing in the Canadian music scene for eight years. Originally from Caracas, Venezuela, Daniel has trained and worked extensively in a variety of musical styles, ranging from Cuban, Brazilian and Spanish music to pop, rock and jazz. He has toured all over Canada, the United States and Europe with Juno and Grammy award-winning artists, and has appeared on over twenty commercially released CDs. Daniel has been for three years the percussionist for flamenco guitarist Jorge Miguel and since then, he has also become a fixture in the Toronto Flamenco scene. He is as well actively involved as a percussionist, composer and arranger for the hit salsa band Cache, and leads the Latin Jazz Quintet Mamboso.

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