The Errington War Memorial Hall will rock to the sounds of the Balkans as guitarist Ivan Tocakov leads his group, Tambura Rasa through a musical travelogue on May 14.
Tucakov was born in Serbia adn spent eight years in south-central Turkey, before moving back to Belgrade, where he played in a rock band as a teen.
He came to Canada to study and, while an undergraduate at the University of British Columbia, he traded his electric guitar for a nylon-stringed acoustic model and picked up elements of bluegrass, Indian music and a range of other styles. Tucakov created Tambura Rasa in 2004 to play his unique blend of Balkan, Middle Eastern, Indian and Latin roots-music styles.
The band’s name is a pun on the Latin phrase tabula rasa — or blank slate — and the tambura, a Serbian stringed instrument.
“For me, it relates to the cultural influences of the places we’ve lived in and are around, and acknowledges that the people we connect with will in some way affect the way we’re going to be,” he said. “At the time, I really wanted to explore that concept, even outside of music.”
Tambura Rasa’s music is a buoyant cross-pollination that fuses contemporary grooves of traditional rhythms into one energetic musical brand all their own.
Packed with fiery Spanish guitar, fully orchestrated Baladi Gypsy string section and burning Afro-Latin percussion, this five-piece act is sure to be a crowd pleaser.
Tickets can be picked up at Cranky Dog in Parksville, Heaven on Earth in Qualicum Beach and the Errington store.
— News Staff