Windows and Mirrors
Listening Post 385. Tamar Ilana’s fourth album is both an extraordinary weaving of musical strands and an improbable blender of historical forces born in coercion. The album’s deepest musical root is Flamenco—the art form nurtured by Spain’s minority cultures, with Roma, Arabic and Sephardic influences—and its branches extend to the peoples that the Iberian empires conquered, enslaved, expelled or marginalized (from Brazil to the Balkans to South Asia) and whose music traditions they ultimately absorbed. Perhaps no artist is better suited to a collection like this than Tamar Ilana, a Canadian singer, songwriter and dancer whose own roots—Jewish, Saulteaux-Cree, Scottish and Roma-Romanian—are as varied as her repertoire. Add the members of Ventanas, her all-Toronto ensemble, and the group heritage extends to French-Canadian, Italian, Greek and Peruvian. Freedom (“azadi“ in Persian and Urdu) is the album’s central theme, embracing the right to political expression, singing, speaking one’s native language and living on one’s ancestral land; the 12 tracks, spanning nine languages, are a mix of traditional and newly written works. Love songs abound: The vivacious Ventanas Altas (High Windows, video 1) is a traditional Jewish courtship ballad from Greece, sung in Ladino (Judeo-Spanish). Ke na m’agapas! (Please Love Me!, video 2), performed in Greek and Hebrew, is a dreamy seaside meditation on romance and moonlight. The title track, inspired by the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement that blossomed in Iran in 2022, floats on oud, guitars and violin, proclaiming, “Dance in the dark, love is the start/Freedom will sing, open your heart” (video 3). In Ecos do Norte (Echoes in the North, video 4) Tamar Ilana channels Iemenjá, goddess of the sea, a central figure in Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Cuban syncretism; while in the Bulgarian Pile Peje (The Bird Sings, video 5), her voice positively warbles. Azadi flourishes in diversity: Every vocal, linguistic and ethnic thread adds to its power and beauty, encouraging us to see ourselves in the faces of others. (LulaWorld Records)

Tamar Ilana & Ventanas: Azadi / آزادی / Freedom
Tamar Ilana [Tamar Ilana Cohen Adams]: Vocals, footwork, palmas
Demetrios Petsalakis: Oud, 12-string guitar, baglama, bouzouki, riqq, vocals, palmas
Benjamin Barrile: Flamenco guitar, palmas
Jessica Hana Deutsch: Violin, viola, vocals, palmas
Tyler Emond: Double bass; acoustic guitar, vocals
Derek Gray: Cajón, darbuka, frame drum, shaker, cymbals

Guest Artists
Rosendo “Chendy” León: Cajón, congas, clave, shaker, cowbell, djembe, daf, cymbals, bell tree, timbales, bongos, tamborim, frame drum, palmas, vocals
Naiko A. Mahabir-León: Vocals
Naghmeh Farahmand: Daf, darbuka
Aline Morales: Alfaia, pandeiro, shaker, snare drum, bells, vocals
Marito Marques: Cajón, snare, cymbals, cowbell
Selçuk Suna: Clarinet
Alexis Baro: Trumpet
Dr. Judith Cohen: Sopranino recorder

Ventanas Altas / High Windows
Lyrics & music: Traditional

(Performed in Ladino)
You have high windows with yellow candles
Tonight I beg of God that you let me come up to you
Tirilaila, hop, tirilaila, hopa

One night when I walk through your neighbourhood
Leave the door open for me and blow the candle out
Tirilaila, hop, tirilaila, hopa

The diamond in the ring that you wear is mine
The jeweler who made it is my first cousin

I’ll call you dear Dudu if you come home with me
If it’s through the women’s quarter, tomorrow morning
Tirilaila, hop, tirilaila, hopa

Ke na m’agapas! / κε να μ’αγαπας! / Please Love Me!
Greek lyrics: Dimitra Kahrimanidis/Music: Tyler Emond
Hebrew translation: Matan Boker

(Performed in Greek and Hebrew)
Next to this place, next to the sea
Like a child, like a child who grew up late

I’m lost, I live and dream,
Look at me, in your arms I want to be and live

Find my beat and dance my moon
Come and be my partner tonight

Your words are like a caress to my heart
Your love is like a lighthouse in my harbour

Your love is like a lighthouse in my harbour
Your words are like a caress to my heart

I’m lost, I live and dream
Look at me, in your arms I want to be and live

Find my beat and dance my moon
Come and be my partner tonight.

Kiss me

With song and love, all day long
Go with me this journey of the heart
And love me!

Find my beat and dance my moon
Come and be my partner tonight

With song and love, all day long
Next to this place, next to the sea

Go with me this journey of the heart (journey of the heart!)
And love me!

Azadi / آزادی / Freedom
English lyrics: Lauren Barnett/Urdu translation by Rafi Reza, Mekaal Hassan
Music: Demetrios Petsalakis

(Performed in Urdu and English)
Sun breaks through the darkened and cloudy skies
Shining bright on open and peaceful eyes
Moving free, with liberty, moving free, Azadi

Love is the reason, yes, love is the reason to carry on
Love is the reason, yes, love is the reason to carry on
Moving free, with liberty, moving free, Azadi

Love lifts us through, solemn and heavy skies
Reaching to uplift hearts and open minds
Moving free, with liberty, moving free, Azadi

Love is the reason, yes, love is the reason to carry on
Love is the reason, yes, love is the reason to carry on
Moving free, with liberty, moving free, Azadi

Ah! Dance in the dark, open your heart
Love fills the air, light everywhere

Ah! Love is the start, open your heart
Light everywhere, love fills the air

Ah! Freedom will sing, love fills the air
Open your heart, light everywhere

Ah! Dance in the dark, love is the start
Freedom will sing, open your heart

Azadi, Azadi, Azadi
Moving free, with liberty, moving free, Azadi
Moving free, with liberty, moving free, Azadi

Ecos do Norte / Echoes in the North
Lyrics & music: Rosendo “Chendy” Léon, Aline Morales, Tamar Ilana

(Performed in Portuguese and Spanish)
If the root is strong, it echoes in the North/If the root is strong, it echoes in the North
The song grows, the seed flowers (it flowers)/The song grows, the seed flowers (it flowers)

If the root is strong, it echoes in the North/If the root is strong, it echoes in the North 
The song grows, the seed flowers (it flowers)/The song grows, the seed flowers (it flowers)

Olé! Yemaya, that’s it! Hey! Ah!/Water, Hey! Hey! Hey! Odoya 
That’s it! Hey! Soul! Let’s Go!/Tiribam, tiribam, tiribam, tiribambam 

Oh she takes me to the sea, she bathes me in salt, she cradles me, Odoya, Odaya, ah! 
Oh she takes me to the sea, she bathes me in salt, she cradles me, Odoya (She takes me!) 
Odoya, ah! (Like that!) 

That’s it! No more (Enjoy!)/No more, no more (No more!) 
No more, No more/No more, No more (No more!)
No more, No more/Ah! Aé? Ea!

Oh she takes me to the sea, she bathes me in salt/She cradles me, Odoya (the song grows)
Oyá! Axé!

Pile Peje / A Bird Sings
Lyrics & music: Traditional

(Performed in Bulgarian)
The bird sings on the hemp bush 
Elena, Elena girl,
Oh Elena my darling, i! 

It isn’t a bird on the hemp bush
Elena, Elena girl,
Oh Elena my darling, i! 

It’s a girl and a boy! 
Elena, Elena girl,
Oh Elena my darling, i!