Al Qahwa is excited to celebrate the release our 3rd recording “African Routes” with guests Fethi Nadjem, Waleed Abdulhamid and Roula Said. They will be joined by the women of Turkwaz (Maryem Tollar, Jayne Brown, Sophia Grigoriadis, Brenna MacCrimmon) who will do a short set of music and joining Al Qahwa and their guests for a few songs. Roula Said will be adding dance to some of the songs for a great celebratory evening of music and joy. This concert was funded by The Canada Council for the Arts, Explore and Create grant.
To support Al Qahwa, please donate to their tip jar at:
Please join us for a watch party of the video premiere of Al Qahwa’s 3rd single “Lullaby” on March 27, 2021 from their new CD “African Routes”. Just click on “more info” and it will take you there.
Al Qahwa will have our own 1 hour showcase at Folk Alliance International Music Conference where you can see little interviews with the core band members (Maryem Tollar, Ernie Tollar, Demetri Petsalakis and Roula Said), as well as our guests from our newest release “African Routes” – Fethi Nadjem, Waleed Abdulhamid and Roula Said. You will also get to see different live performance excerpts over the last year, and their 2 newest music videos for the 2 singles from the new release “Marrakesh” (edited by Ed Hanley), and “The Rain/Il Matar” (animated by Omneya Tollar. Maryem and some band members will be there in the chat to interact with you – please come by.
Folk Unlocked includes over 800 hours of performances from established and emerging artists from Feb 22-25. If you want to enjoy Going Global performances and discover many other great artists, get your tickets here (PWYC option available).
Al Qahwa will be showcased at Folk Alliance International Music Conference in the “Going Global at Folk Unlocked” showcase along with Zal Sissokho’s Kora Flamenca, Beny Esguerra and The New Tradition Music, and G.R. Gritt.
Folk Unlocked includes over 800 hours of performances from established and emerging artists from Feb 22-25. If you want to enjoy Going Global performances and discover many other great artists, get your tickets here (PWYC option available).
Thank you to the sponsors of this showcase: Small World Music Centre, International Indigenous Music Summit, Lulaworld, Centre des Musiciens du Monde, and Harbourfront Centre.
Al Qahwa will be presented (virtually) at the 2nd annual SPEAK Music Be Kind Festival (February 5 and 6) along with Alisha Brilla, Communism, Desirée Dawson, Emilyn Stan & John David Williams, JV’s Boogaloo Squad, Mama’s broke, Mimi O’Bonsawin, OKAN, Pressgang Mutiny. This festival is free, but they are accepting donations to go to Black Lives Matter Canada.
For more information, go to: www.speakmusicbekindfest.com
Al Qahwa was invited to participate in a concert series of world music hosted by La Universidad de los Andes in Colombia. We filmed a set of music at Small World Music Centre to be presented at this festival. The concert will be live for 72 hours after the premiere.
Thank you to University de los Andes and to Small World Music, and Global Toronto for having Al Qahwa as part of this series.
Please join us for a watch party of the video premiere of Al Qahwa’s 2nd single “The Rain – Il Matar” on November 6, 2020 from their new CD “African Routes” coming out in November 2020. Just click on “more info” and it will take you there.
Al Qahwa’s new single “Marrakesh” is coming out on October 2nd – and the video made by Ed Hanley will be premiered on October 16, 2020 at 7 p.m. The video features the regular members of Al Qahwa – Maryem Tollar on vocals, Ernie Tollar on nay, Demetri Petsalakis on oud and Naghmeh Farahmand on dumbek with guests Fethi Nadjem on gimbri, Waleed Abdulhamid on bass and Roula Said on vocals and adding a beautiful dance element.
Please join us to watch it!
Al Qahwa pre-recorded a 45 minute set of music for TD Sunfest as part of Global Music Month, doing some classic songs from Egypt, and some original compositions from their new CD “African Routes” which will be released on all digital platforms on November 6, 2020 through CD Baby. For actual CDs, e-mail the group at: alqahwaensemble.gmail.com to order your copy.
Thank you to Sunfest for inviting us to be a part of this series. To donate to Sunfest, you can go to: https://sunfest.on.ca/
Al Qahwa performance at MabelleARTS open air market