Artist Information
Biography
Lenka Lichtenberg is a Canadian, Prague-born singer, composer, arranger, producer, and bandleader. She is in the midst of a diverse career, traveling across continents as a solo artist, with a trio or her six piece ensemble “Fray”. A great new project for Lenka & Fray is "Bridges", a collaboration with Roula Said, Jewish and Arabic music "in dialogue" (this EPK contains 3 samples from an upcoming live CD). 2011 performances include the Ethno-jazz festival in Wroclaw and World Fusion Music Festival in Sosnowiec in Poland, Folkove prazdniny festival in Czech Republic, the Montreal International Yiddish Theatre Festival, Small World Music Festival in Toronto, and Klezfiesta in Argentina. Fray showcased at APAP in New York in January 2012 and is set to begin recording Fray 2 in March, 2012.
Inspired by the soundscape of Toronto, Lenka Lichtenberg's fourth solo album Fray (2010) takes Yiddish-based music into the world of global roots and rhythms, blending styles and transcending boundaries. In addition to her core group, a unique assemblage of musicians rooted in diverse musical traditions, Lenka performs and records with other world music artists, such as the renown Israeli oud and violin virtuoso Yair Dalal, German clarinet virtuoso Christian Dawid, and the Canadian Palestinian artist Roula Said (Bridges, as mentioned earlier).
Fray features members of Tasa, one of Canada’s leading Indo-Canadian world/jazz groups: Ravi Naimpally (tabla, dumbek), Alan Hetherington (drums, percussion), Ernie Tollar (flutes, saxophones), John Gzowski (guitars, oud), and Chris Gartner (bass). Special guests include Roula Said or Maryem Hassan Tollar (qanun, voice), Kinneret Sagee (clarinet) and Alexis Basque (trumpet, cornet).
Lenka's 2010-2011 European project Songs for the Breathing Walls inspired a documentary produced by Czech national television, directed by Jaroslav Hovorka. Premiere December 28, 2011.
"Beautiful, haunting, inspiring and mesmerizing are but a few of the adjectives that describe this aural delight. Featuring her original work, Lenka's amazing range and power are showcased on this release. Soothing, enticing, and full of vibrancy, Lenka has one of the sweetest voices in the world, and its time the world heard it. «… Rankin, hbn Radio, Pennsylvania, USA
"It takes a few moments of listening to get past the pleasure and feel amazed at what you're hearing. It's Lenka Lichtenberg's crystalline voice singing to a Middle Eastern beat in Mizrachi style. But the words are in Yiddish. (This) world music fusion sound is astounding and makes you feel as though you have stepped onto a new planet."... Heather Solomon, CJ News, Montreal
« …. One certainly does not need to understand Yiddish to appreciate these songs. The emotion and depth of the lyrics, and the musical creativity of the settings and arrangements, are communicated through...fine performances. And even in the transformation from one language to another, none of the poetry seems to be lost. » Mike Regenstreif, Sing Out! (USA)
»Prague-born vocalist Lenka Lichtenberg has a lovely, confectionary, gamin-like quality. Her soprano voice sails above and around the notes with perfect control, weaving a luminous mystical web…." Lesley Mitchell-Clarke, The Wholenote Magazine (Canada)
Instrumentation
Ravi Naimpally - Tabla, Doumbek
John Gzowski - Oud, electric and acoustic guitars
Alan Hetherington - Drums, Percussion, Pandeiro
Ernie Tollar - Sax, Clarinet, ney, bansouri, cane flutes
Chris Gartner - Bass
Roula Said - VOX, qanun, Perc., interpretive/ belly dance
Lenka Lichtenberg - voice, composition, frame drums
Discography
"Peace is the Only Way" was announced a finalist in John Lennon Songwriting Contest Session II. Its live version is on "Bridges: Live at Lula Lounge". It also won 2011 Songs from the Heart song competition in world music category, and has been #1 on world music charts in Toronto, and #2 in Canada, for 4 weeks in the fall of 2011.
Lenka Lichtenberg & Roula Said: Bridges. Live at Lula Lounge. 2012
"Fray" (free) : global roots fusion. Release September, 2010.
"Pashtes: simplicity". (2006): all-Yiddish, all-original. Critically acclaimed, see www.lenkalichtenberg.com for many reviews.
"Open The Gate" (2003): all original songs in English and French. World beat.
Deep Inside (1999): half traditional Yiddish material, half original songs in English. Luscious arrangements by Ken Whiteley.
as a child star: several Top 10 hits with Jiri Suchy in native former Czechoslovakia;
Lenka and Sisters of Sheynville: Sheynville Express (2007) - yiddish swing-klez.
Lenka - producer: "Lomir Zingen": a collection of children's Yiddish songs (2008)
Links
Photo Gallery
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Lenka Lichtenberg & Fray
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Buenos Aires 2010
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Hugh's Room, World Jazz for Haiti
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Lula Lounge 2011
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band 4
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LL solo Feb 2011
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with Yair Dalal in concert Dec 2010
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band 2011
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Cover design Fray
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Lenka June 2010
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Lenka headshot
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Australia
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face close up
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Theatre Na pradle Dec 2010
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Bridges hi rez
Press
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Winterfolk 2012
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"Lenka Lichtenberg presented a truly Canadian blend of music combining all sorts of styles. I got...
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FolkWorld, Fray review by Eelco Schilder, March, 2011
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Lenka Lichtenberg "Fray" Own label, 2010 The singer-songwriter Lenka Lichtenberg surprised me ...
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Fray Review September 2010
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Fray Lenka Lichtenberg Independent SR265 (www.lenkalichtenberg.com) With “Fray” (Free)...
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Arts Scene, February 2011
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It takes a few moments of listening to get past the pleasure and feel amazed at what you're hearing....
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From Prague to Masada and Back Again, article by Renee Ghert-Zand, April 2011
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In 1987, Czech-born Canadian singer Lenka Lichtenberg looked out from the top of Masada and never lo...
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What's on my iPod....Lenka Lichtenberg at La Sala Rossa, February 2011
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Lenka Lichtenberg Lenka Lichtenberg's music, which blends Yiddish-based roots sounds with mode...
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Sing Out! magazine, CD review
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Simcha Simchovitch, an 86-year-old Holocaust survivor from Poland who immigrated to Canada in 1949 a...
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Spin The Globe World Music News
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Lenka Lichtenberg & Brian Katz: Pashtes/Simplicity (Sunflower) Canadian singer Lenka Lichtenberg be...
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The Live Music Report/ Showtime Magazine
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Judaic Fusion by Stanley Fefferman — January 2007 This album is subtitled “Music to the Poetry of...
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The New York Jewish Week
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The New York Jewish Week ...
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The Wholenote Magazine : Disc of the month
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The Wholenote Magazine : Disc of the month …deliciously melancholy…boasts an...
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Rootless Cosmopolitan, March/April 2007
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….Another example of the vitality of transmission is the collaboration between Toronto-based, Pragu...
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Zeitgeist, Edinburgh, UK
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Open The Gate I don't get many records from Czech born, Canadian based, Yiddish singers. Although t...
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Lisa Cooperman, The National Post
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…”a lively amalgam of musical styles from Middle Eastern and klezmer to jazz. Lichtenberg’s songs ar...
Setlist
90-minute set:
1. Shnirele Perele - traditional/ adaptation, arr. Lenka Lichtenberg
2. Peace is the Only Way – trad./arrangement L.Lichtenberg
3. A lid vet farblaybn - S. Simchovitch, music L. Lichtenberg
4. Tumbalalaika – trad./arrangement E. Tollar
5. Angels Weeping/ Es khlipen di malokhim – Beruriah Wiegand; music L. Lichtenberg
6. Tsum kval – S. Simchovitch, music L. Lichtenberg
7. Arum dem fayer – trad./ English text L. Lichtenberg; arr. A. Hetherington and L. Lichtenberg
8. Hey, tsigelekh – M. Gebirtig, arr. L. Lichtenberg
9. Eybik – S. Simchovitch, music L. Lichtenberg
10 Golden Peacock 3 – music and text L. Lichtenberg
11. 2010 – composition Lenka Lichtenberg
12. Undzer nigndl – trad.
13. Dancing on the Titanic – music and lyrics L.Lichtenberg, arr. John Gzowski and L. Lichtenberg
14. Zing - S. Simchovitch, music L. Lichtenberg
15. Lider fun loyb – S. Simchovitch, music L. Lichtenberg
16. Open My Eyes – trad. Yemenite/ English and Yiddish text, arrangement L. Lichtenberg

