Jaffa Road

Jaffa Road is an acclaimed Toronto-based ensemble made up of some of Canada's most exciting and innovative interpreters of intercultural music. Their music takes listeners on a journey that is at once ancient and modern, acoustic and electronic, sacred and secular, blending influences and inspirations from the worlds of Jewish music, classical Arabic and Indian music, modern jazz, electronica, rock, pop, and dub. Their sound is ignited by the ethereal vocals of Tamar llana, the evocative oud & guitar playing of the band's founder Aaron Lightstone, the visionary grooves of Justin Gray (bass and bass veena), the exhilarating sounds of saxophonist/flautist Sundar Viswanathan and the driving beat of drummer & percussionist Rakesh Tewari. New adddition Shawn Rompre adds an exciting electronica dimension. Along with a cadre of top-notch guest artists, these stellar musicians challenge accepted notions of Jewish music while creating a new form of expression that breaks cultural boundaries. In 2013, they won the Canadian Folk Music Award for World Music Group of the Year and have been nominated for two Canadian Juno Awards.