Maryem Hassan Tollar

vocals, qanun, percussion - Canada, Born in Egypt Over the last decade and more, Maryem has built a reputation as a singer who can live and thrive in a variety of musical milieus. She was born in Egypt and raised in Canada with frequent sojourns in the Middle East. Maryem premiered a new piece written by Christos Hatzis for her ensemble Mystical Visitations in December 2006 at Toronto’s Isabel Bader Theatre. Earlier in the fall she performed in Le Festival du Monde Arabe in Montreal in the opening concert in collaboration with master musician Kudsi Erguner (ney player – Turkish end-blown flute) among others. She had several performances across Canada over the summer of 2006 with rumba-flamenco guitarist Jesse Cook in the Montreal Jazz Festival; with poet/photographer/activist Ehab Lotayef and Ernie Tollar (flutes & sax) in a Peace conference in Vancouver, B.C.; with Chris Church and Nicholas Hernandez at the Atlantic Jazz Festival in Halifax; and with her own ensemble with guest master musician بسام بشارة (Bassam Bishara) (oud player – Arabic lute, and vocalist) in Toronto and Collingwood, ON. Maryem released her second CD Book of Life in December 2004. She composed music (which was nominated for a 2005 Dora Award) for the play Le Collier d’Hélène (Helen’s necklace) with husband, Ernie Tollar, produced by Théâtre français de Toronto. She was a featured performer playing "Ariana" in R. Murray Schafer’s Dora Award-winning piece, The Children’s Crusade., Maryem has been touring across Canada and internationally to perform two of Christos Hatzis’ works: Sepulcher of Life and Constantinople. Maryem was nominated for a 2005 Dora Award for “outstanding performance” for Constantinople in the opera category. Maryem has sung on several film and television scores including the theme music for CBC Television’s Little Mosque on the Prairie and A.R.Rahman's hit "Mayya Mayya" in the Bollywood movie Guru. Her CD Cairo to Toronto was nominated for a 2009 Juno Award in the world music category. She performed and created the live music in Heather Raffo’s Nine Parts of Desire in May 2010, a play about nine Iraqi women, and was nominated for a Dora Award (Outstanding ensemble cast). In 2011, she collaborated with Natasha Greenblatt providing music, in her play The Peacemaker. Her music was adapted in Alumni Theatre’s production of Trojan Women, directed by Alexandra Seay.