Indio Saravanja
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Indio Saravanja

Band Folk Singer/Songwriter

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The best kept secret in music

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"Toronto Star"

The roots music community in Whitehorse is surprisingly large and diverse, thanks primarily to the efforts of David Petkovich and Bob Hamilton, co-owners of the Yukon-centric independent label Caribou Records, which is home to well-known northern Canadian folk artists Kim Barlow, Kim Beggs, Anne Louise Genest and the now defunct Undertakin' Daddies.

Caribou's latest find, 20something songwriter Indio Saravanja, is Argentine by birth and a wanderer by nature. His meandering trail has led him across the country, from Montreal to Yellowknife, via Toronto, New York and the American southwest, and while his delivery is perhaps burdened by too many Dylanesque and Reedish vocal inflections, he proves on his eponymous debut - assembled in Whitehorse by prodigious producer/multi-instrumentalist Hamilton and a crack crew of local musicians - that he is a poet of the finest water, a keen observer with finely attuned literary sensibilities and a thinker of considerable substance.

His songs capture the sensations of a life in flux, the kind of excitement only surefooted forward movement offers, and while his vivid reflections on the beautiful and brutal realities of existence in the far north suggest contentment with such magnificent isolation, Saravanja is clearly connected to the larger contemporary global zeitgeist. Big things are coming his way. - Toronto Star


"CD Review"

Argentinian-born, Yellowknife-raised Indio Saravanja is a consummate lyricist with a powerful conscience and a keen eye for the world’s follies. Ten years on the road after a stint in New York under the mentorship of the late Jeff Buckley gave Saravanja time and opportunity to hone his songwriting along with a sense of self-assuredness rarely found on a debut recording. The culmination of his travels is this collection of compelling and perfectly crafted folk rock songs. The timelessness of his sound — unpretentious guitar lines with garnishes of fiddle, harmonium and wheedling Wurlitzer — is offset by contemporary subject matter peppered with numerous references to whiskey and epic Canadian snowstorms. An archetypal folk rockster, Saravanja takes a long, unflinching look at modern issues — from addiction, to our immoral wars, to the enduring effects of residential schools on the Native population — with a sensibility that is biting without ever slipping into bitterness. - Exclaim


"Where The Heart Of Music Is"

WHITEHORSE -- In this overpowering, moonlit wilderness in the middle of winter, about 50 kilometres north of the Yukon capital, a couple of sheepdogs play like children in the fresh snow piled deep in the clearing around a spacious, handmade log cabin set back from the Alaska Highway and concealed in a forest of thick, towering firs.

They gnaw occasionally on the shinbone of a moose, the slowly braised haunch of which is the centrepiece of a massive buffet inside. It's cold out here, but not uncomfortable, nothing like the -50C of winters past, mutters Yukon songwriter and troubadour Indio Saravanja.

His quiet voice trails away like fog over the porch steps and into the night. He laughs at the antics of the dogs. Music is in the air. Silver light floods the valley and glows off snowcapped mountains on the circling horizon.

This is Saravanja's favourite place. He comes here if he's in Whitehorse on the one Sunday every month when the town's musical community gathers inside, under these high cathedral ceilings, to sing and play and eat.

But he won't be there this weekend. Saravanja and Yukon buddy, songwriter Gordie Tentrees, are embarking, after a two-hander concert at Toronto's Tranzac Club Saturday night, on a month-long road trip across the country. Thirty gigs in 30 days, from here all the way back to Whitehorse, back to that cabin in the woods.

The cabin - and various log outhouses, including a woodshed, a workshop, a guest cottage and a bear-proof food store atop 10-metre-long tree trunks - were built by Pete and Mary (just Pete and Mary, no surnames), two Americans who went bush in the 1970s and made a good living as line trappers, raising their daughter in the bush till she required "socializing" at age 12, at which time they bought a small house in nearby Mayo for the summertime off-seasons. She's now 31, lives in Vancouver with her husband and child, and works for a provincial environmental agency.

Despite their years without other human company, Pete and Mary are generous, hospitable, gregarious people; well-educated, wonderful musicians with an exceptionally civilized sense of social intercourse.

Like almost everyone you meet in Whitehorse, they come from somewhere else, and succumbed in a very short time to the peculiar charm of the Yukon - the isolation, the tight communal bonds, the creative, do-it-yourself spirit, the certain knowledge that here you can truly reinvent yourself, exorcise your demons, dump your back story and "grow a better self," as Tentrees likes to say of the town he adopted 8 years ago. He teaches remedial studies for most of the year, raises his young family, writes, records and spends "20 hours a week on the computer planning my next musical move."

Once a month, Pete and Mary host a Sunday afternoon gathering like this one, he says, open to all the musicians in town, and put out a feast. Today, in the dark that settled around 3: 30 p.m. after a short five hours of sunlight, it's moose stew, elk steaks, venison meatballs in tomato sauce, ratatouille, carrots, mashed garlic potatoes, their own bread, cakes and cookies, all made on a huge wood stove at one end of the cabin, as well as cheese, cold cuts and great wine.

There are 40 or 50 people at the other end of the sprawling, wood fire-warmed room - on sofas and benches covered with Navajo rugs and fur throws - playing guitars, mandolins, a dobro or two, a piano, lap steel, harmonica, standup bass, and singing amazing harmonies. Old songs, new songs, their own songs. They're all concert-level pickers and songwriters, who pick up within a couple of bars everything that bubbles up in the musical pot. Gentle folkies.

"This is the way we live up here," Saravanja says on Pete's and Mary's front porch. Based now in B.C.'s Gulf Islands, he sees Whitehorse as his beginning and end, and visits often.

"People here care for one another. They help you, they feed you, they lend what they can ... and there's always music. Compared to New York City, there's more going on in Whitehorse on any night of the week, it seems to me - more places to play, five studios recording music full time, and more people willing to hear your music," he says."I have to keep coming back to this place, these people. It's the only place I feel I belong."

Many of the musicians in Pete's and Mary's cabin were stars the previous night in a concert at the Whitehorse Convention Centre, a converted swimming pool/ice rink in the middle of town, produced by Music Yukon, a government arts agency with a mandate to promote the work of the hundreds of the territory's musicians and songwriters - a disproportionate number in a wilderness inhabited by just 30,000 souls, producing as many as 50 roots music CDs a year and staging almost as many music festivals - and to showcase artists on the roster of the independent Whitehorse-based, multi-award winning roots music label, Caribou Records. The whole town, it seemed, jammed into the arena.
- Toronto Star


"Saravanja Confident With Folk Identity"

Indio Saravanja's current tour has put him back on the Trans-Canada Highway, a stretch of road the native of Argentina knows incredibly well.

Saravanja has performed pretty much everywhere in Canada, and has lived in Toronto, Montreal and Yellowknife, among other cities, after leaving home at 13.

His constant travelling came to an end three years ago when he settled on Galiano Island, where he now lives with his girlfriend. The laid-back locale has seemingly cured the singer-songwriter of his vagabond ways.

"The last three years of my life have been pretty stable," Saravanja said over a cellphone as he travelled to Lethbridge, Alta. "I don't see myself going anywhere. I've run out of imagination. I've been everywhere I wanted to be; now I'm kind of comfortable."

Saravanja, 33, has spent a good deal of time in Victoria over the years as well. His mother, who had muscular dystrophy and died in October, spent her last 12 years in Victoria, many of those with her son by her side. No matter where he was living at the time, Saravanja would move and spend four months each year in Victoria caring for her.

The respite gave him ample time to hone his own songs, and while he quickly became friends with some of the city's most notable musicians -- including Daniel Lapp, Carolyn Mark, Dan Weisenburger and Leeroy Stagger -- he turned down more than a few gigs locally.

"It was my vacation spot," said Saravanja, who for eight years performed six nights a week in a bar band that played mostly cover songs. "It was my spot to hang out and not play, because I was playing the rest of the year non-stop."

He plays his own music now, and the material on his self-titled debut is an assured batch of folk that is reminiscent of early Bob Dylan.

Perhaps that's not surprising: Saravanja has done two stints as a resident of New York, one as a coffee barista in the East Village neighbourhood often associated with Dylan, Joan Baez and beat poets such as Allen Ginsberg. "It was no big deal for a David Byrne to come in for breakfast," he said of the coffee house, where he also served Ginsberg and punk poet Lydia Lunch. "The whole bohemian thing was still very much alive. You could get an apartment for $300."

That changed quickly. "When I moved back there in 1999, those same rooms were more like $1,200 a month."

It was during his first New York tour of duty that he began to find his voice as a songwriter, inspired by his close friend, another fellow transplant New Yorker, the late Jeff Buckley.

Saravanja's memories of New York reflect a shift in his creative focus.

"When I was in New York, I wanted to be a rock star. But I sabotaged any chance I had of doing that. I don't know if that was inner wisdom I didn't even know was there, or fate. I was way too insecure and way too scared of everything, but at the same time I knew I wanted depth to my writing that just wasn't there yet."

Now that he has finally found the confidence to record his own material, he plans on remaining in one place.

"If I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing -- which is touring the hell out of this record -- it almost won't matter where I live."

© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2006 - Times Colonist


"Saravanja Discovers Himself And His Music"

Singer-songwriter Indio Saravanja is appropriately perplexed when people he meets seem most interested in his birthplace.

Yes, he was born in Argentina. He moved to Canada as a youngster, but he wonders why, of all the unique things about his life, that his place of birth seems more interesting than it is.

"I have no idea why people keep harping on it. I mean, aren't a lot of people in Canada from other places? I keep getting the same questions from people. It's weird."

This 33-year-old displaced South American has a point.

His move to Canada was just the beginning of his globe-trotting. He lived in the Yukon as a youngster before he left home, striking out on his own at the age of 13.

He quit school and yearned to travel, spending time in places like Spain, Montreal, New York City, Victoria and places in between, while slowly learning how to pluck the strings of an acoustic guitar so that he could busk on big-city street corners to earn his keep. It didn't take him long to learn "hundreds of songs," an accomplishment that made him a successful busker, which also facilitated the lifestyle of a vagabond minstrel.

"When I was 13, I got my first guitar. And then I became obsessed with learning other peoples' songs," he says. "By the time I was 15 or so, I was quite an entertainer. I knew hundreds of songs, so that's when I started busking.

"When I was a kid, I wanted to be in the Beatles. I wanted to be Elvis. I wanted to be a movie star.

"But, for instance, when I was living on the East Coast, I'd just go to Toronto for a week and busk and bum around. It was great."

Through much of his 20s, he worked as a musician in bar bands, performing pop, country, blues and just about everything else, while writing his own music to offset his growing disdain for playing music written by others.

"I lived in bars for eight years. I had this double life. I was writing songs like crazy during the day and at night I was playing other people's music. I was doing it well, but I was hating it," he says.

That led to a difficult but educational trek to New York where he learned living his dream was harder to realize than planning it.

"I told myself that I was going to move to New York just like Bob Dylan did and I'm going to be the next Bob Dylan," he says.

"That was a long time ago, and a lot of shit happened. I got my ass kicked, I'll tell you that."

Over time, he found the confidence he never had before. A record label in Whitehorse offered to help him record and release his first CD, and he now finds himself touring the country performing his own songs, something he never thought he'd manage a decade ago.

"I never believed in myself, and I never believed in popular music," he says.

"I wanted to be a poet. I wanted to get deeper. But I didn't have the goods. I could write cute songs and I was a cute performer and all that. But I knew it would take 10 years to get where I wanted to be.

"Even today, I have no idea how to get up on stage and play my own music, but I suppose that it's all coming together now.

"Confidence just comes with getting older and not giving a shit. I think it's about love and finding out how to love yourself and stop doing mean things to yourself."

With all of this maturity, he also finds that he's less eager to traipse the globe.

"I am slowing down a little bit. I use to move every three months. Now I'm moving every two years," he says.

"After 20 years, you keep thinking that someday you want a home. But every time you think you're getting near to that, you feel like maybe you don't know how to do it."

© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2006 - The Leader Post


"Review"

Indio Saravanja
Indio Saravanja
(Caribou Records)
B+
Website: www.caribourecords.com
Born in Argentina and raised in the Canadian North, Indio Saravanja cut his musical teeth on the road in places as diverse as Montreal, Spain and New York City - all by the time he was 20. Now he's relocated to B.C.'s Gulf Islands, where he's no doubt right at home as a world-travelled singer/songwriter specializing an interesting sort of international Americana. This album is very good, with strong writing and wonderfully spare arrangements. A fair bit of melancholy world-weariness is in these tunes, as well as the occasional sign of thoughtful social criticism. Saravanja is anything but a great singer. In fact, he half-speaks,his way through most of the songs. Then again, some fairly big-league players have, by virtue of their larger gifts, more than compensated for this particular shortcoming.

Jamie Howison - Uptown Magazine


"Folksinger Rewarded In Unexpected Places"

Singer-songwriter Indio Saravanja is appropriately perplexed when people he meets seem most interested in his birthplace.

Yes, he was born in Argentina. He moved to Canada as a youngster, but he wonders why, of all the unique things about his life, that his place of birth seems more interesting than it is.

"I have no idea why people keep harping on it. I mean, aren't a lot of people in Canada from other places? I keep getting the same questions from people. It's weird."

This 33-year-old displaced South American has a point.

His move to Canada was just the beginning of his globe-trotting. He lived in the Yukon as a youngster before he left home, striking out on his own at the age of 13.

He quit school and yearned to travel, spending time in places like Spain, Montreal, New York City, Victoria and places in between, while slowly learning how to pluck the strings of an acoustic guitar so that he could busk on big-city street corners to earn his keep. It didn't take him long to learn "hundreds of songs," an accomplishment that made him a successful busker, which also facilitated the lifestyle of a vagabond minstrel.

"When I was 13, I got my first guitar. And then I became obsessed with learning other peoples' songs," he says. "By the time I was 15 or so, I was quite an entertainer. I knew hundreds of songs, so that's when I started busking.

"When I was a kid, I wanted to be in the Beatles. I wanted to be Elvis. I wanted to be a movie star.

"But, for instance, when I was living on the East Coast, I'd just go to Toronto for a week and busk and bum around. It was great."

Through much of his 20s, he worked as a musician in bar bands, performing pop, country, blues and just about everything else, while writing his own music to offset his growing disdain for playing music written by others.

"I lived in bars for eight years. I had this double life. I was writing songs like crazy during the day and at night I was playing other people's music. I was doing it well, but I was hating it," he says.

That led to a difficult but educational trek to New York where he learned living his dream was harder to realize than planning it.

"I told myself that I was going to move to New York just like Bob Dylan did and I'm going to be the next Bob Dylan," he says.

"That was a long time ago, and a lot of shit happened. I got my ass kicked, I'll tell you that."

Over time, he found the confidence he never had before. A record label in Whitehorse offered to help him record and release his first CD, and he now finds himself touring the country performing his own songs, something he never thought he'd manage a decade ago.

"I never believed in myself, and I never believed in popular music," he says.

"I wanted to be a poet. I wanted to get deeper. But I didn't have the goods. I could write cute songs and I was a cute performer and all that. But I knew it would take 10 years to get where I wanted to be.

"Even today, I have no idea how to get up on stage and play my own music, but I suppose that it's all coming together now.

"Confidence just comes with getting older and not giving a shit. I think it's about love and finding out how to love yourself and stop doing mean things to yourself."

With all of this maturity, he also finds that he's less eager to traipse the globe.

"I am slowing down a little bit. I use to move every three months. Now I'm moving every two years," he says.

"After 20 years, you keep thinking that someday you want a home. But every time you think you're getting near to that, you feel like maybe you don't know how to do it."

© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2006 - The Star Phoenix


"Songwriter Returns Home"

Indio Saravanja’s self-titled debut album is the real deal. Troubador Texas meets the Lower East Side, via endless miles of snow-covered Canadian highway. Whether plugged or un-plugged, Indio’s songs are poetry first – timeless, honest stories that speak to everyone. Equal parts rock’n’roll troubador and Greenwich Village folk singer, Indio Saravanja is a prolific singer-songwriter and impressive multi-instrumentalist.

Though his music has deep roots, for years now Indio’s life has been all about the freedom of the road. Born in Argentina and raised in the quiet cold of the Canadian north, by the age of 15 he was playing in Montreal subways for change. A stint in Spain was followed by a move to New York at the age of 19.

After almost a decade on the road, Indio returned home. In the Northwest Territories he found the peace to reflect and to write, and he sharpened his skills in run-down bars, often playing six nights a week. “I spent 15 years making a living playing other people’s tunes,” he says. “That’s why it feels so great to finally focus on my own words and music.”

Indio is currently based in and around BC’s Gulf Islands, but he continues to travel the world. His only destination is wherever the songs lead him.

- Northern News Services


Discography

2005 - Indio Saravanja
Steady play on CBC national radio, Galaxy Satellite Radio (adult alternative), Village 900, and a myriad of other college stations

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

Indio Saravanja’s self-titled debut album is the real deal. Troubador Texas meets the Lower East Side, via endless miles of snow-covered Canadian highway. Whether plugged or un-plugged, Indio’s songs are poetry first – timeless, honest stories that speak to everyone. Equal parts rock’n’roll troubador and Greenwich Village folk singer, Indio Saravanja is a prolific singer-songwriter and impressive multi-instrumentalist.

Though his music has deep roots, for years now Indio’s life has been all about the freedom of the road. Born in Argentina and raised in the quiet cold of the Canadian north, by the age of 15 he was playing in Montreal subways for change. A stint in Spain was followed by a move to New York at the age of 19.

After almost a decade on the road, Indio returned home. In the Northwest Territories he found the peace to reflect and to write, and he sharpened his skills in run-down bars, often playing six nights a week. “I spent 15 years making a living playing other people’s tunes,” he says. “That’s why it feels so great to finally focus on my own words and music.”

Indio is currently based in and around BC’s Gulf Islands, but he continues to travel the world. His only destination is wherever the songs lead him.