One-Sheet PDF for

“Aviva Chernick is a
fearless musical adventurer.
Her clear and persuasive voice
takes us places we wouldn't
know to go on our own.”
Tom Allen, CBC Radio 2
AVIVA CHERNICK
Those who have experienced Aviva Chernick’s intoxicatingly soulful vocals never forget where
they heard them first. Whether in her new, CFMA nominated, self-titled project of original
devotional songs When I Arrived You Were Already There, as the lead singer with the
two-time Juno Award-nominated world music ensemble Jaffa Road, or singing the Balkan
Judeo-Spanish repertoire, Aviva’s passionate voice blurs the lines between sacred and secular,
asking, isn’t it all holy?
Writing, recording and touring an original combination of world music sung in Hebrew, Ladino,
English and French, this multi-lingual singer collaborates with some of Canada’s best world
music makers as well as international virtuosos such as Yair Dalal and Frank London. With
each performance, whether for 40 people at a house concert or for 1000 at a music festival,
audiences are moved and delighted by Aviva’s authentic presence and ease on stage.
2012 ended on a high note for Aviva — both her own solo project and Jaffa Road’s second
album Where the Light Gets In were released to sold out houses. As well as these ongoing
collaborations, Aviva studies with ‘American Treasure’ and Sephardic musician Flory Jagoda,
supported by an official apprenticeship from Viriginia Folk Life and Virginia University.
Aviva shines in Workshop settings, combining her various skills and passions to energize both
large and small groups of participants. Aviva, together with her ensemble, lead a soulful Friday
evening, Shabbat Workshop, an inclusive singing session engaging spirit, dancing, music,
contemplation and joy. In “Freeing the Voice”, Aviva leads an hour of vocal play offering
an opportunity for participants — no previous singing experience necessary — to surprise
themselves as they discover the pleasure of finding their voice and singing out in community.
PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS
• Kleztival (São Paulo, Brazil)
• State Fair, Friday night Shabbat workshop and
mainstage (Haines, Alaska)
• Folk on the Rocks Collaboration and mainstage
(Yellowknife, NWT)
• In concert with Flory Jagoda at the Library of
Congress, (Washington, D.C.)
• Mainstage/featured performances at International
Jazz Festivals in Vancouver, Victoria, Halifax, Ottawa,
St. John’s, Guelph, Markham, Toronto
• Edge of the World Music Festival, Haida Gwaii, BC —
Mainstage
• Atlanta Jewish Music Festival Mainstage
• Ashkenaz Festival (Toronto) — Mainstage, and host of
Global Shtetl Cabaret
• TD Sunfest World Music Festival (London) — Mainstage
• Canada Day — TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival
• Alianait Arts Festival (Iqaluit, Nunavut) — Headliner
• Live on CBC Radio Nunavut
• Live on CBC Radio Big City Small World
• CBC Radio 2 Canada Live (CD Release concert)
Aviva’s collaborative recordings have garnered nominations and awards including a Canadian
Folk Music Award (CFMA) Nomination for her recent release When I Arrived You Were
Already There, JUNO nominations for both of Jaffa Road’s albums Where The Light Gets
In (2012) and Sun Place (2010), and two more CFMA Nominations for Where The Light
Gets In and The Huppah Project's Under the Canopy (2009). Aviva and her co-writers
from Jaffa Road won the John Lennon International Songwriting Grand Prize for their
rendition of "Lo Yisa Goy", a prayer for peace. She also co-wrote "Sim Shalom" which was
selected by CBC Radio 1 (Canada’s national broadcaster) for Here & Now (Toronto)’s “Song
of the Week” and co-writer for "Ana El Na" which received an industry nod from OCFF
(Ontario Council of Folk Festivals), winning the prestigious “Songs From the Heart” award.
Aviva is also a cantorial soloist, leading prayer at congregations in and around Toronto as well as
travelling to congregations around North America as a guest leader, teacher and facilitator of
her engaging group vocal and spiritual workshops.
WWW.AVIVACHERNICK.COM
info@avivachernick.com
(416) 579-5366
photo by Eric Benchimol
AVIVA CHERNICK when I arrived you were already there
“Two years ago, I went to Namibia to see the sky. I went looking for the vastness
of the desert sky — and also elephants — and I found both. I knew somehow that
the experience of expansiveness held some information that I really needed, and
it completely informed the intentions for this album.”
With the release of her first solo, self-penned venture, one experiences Aviva Chernick
— the lead singer of two-time Juno-nominated Jaffa Road, student of the Balkan JudeoSpanish tradition, and cantorial singer — in a setting of her own making, shaped by years of
sharing devotional songs of peace with audiences across North America. The title — When
I Arrived You Were Already There — reveals much about the inevitability of her
talents, as if discovering her individual voice were entirely predetermined.
AVIVA
“Aviva’s crystalline voice graces the album…
Voices and instruments come together beautifully
on this record that has a distinctly hymnal vibe.”
Errol Nazareth, CBC Radio 1
Big City Small World
“Her melodies... transport the listener with a
meditative and transcendent character…
The relationships of breath/spirit, creativity/
divinity, nature/renewal, family and
community are explored on many levels in this
deeply heartfelt and personal offering.”
Dianne Wells, Wholenote Magazine
WWW.AVIVACHERNICK.COM
info@avivachernick.com
(416) 579-5366
Sung in both English and Hebrew in a pure, raw and unguarded voice, Aviva Chernick
marries her intimate vocals to atmospheric, meditative instrumental textures. The album
is simultaneously as expansive as the Namibian sky and as earthy and grounded as the
desert elephants she went looking for.
This first solo outing is anything but — Aviva and co-producer Chris Gartner (Lori Cullen,
Mia Sheard, TASA) enlisted the support of a cross-section of Toronto’s amazing music
community. The result is a genre-defying fusion that works beautifully: World-music veteran
Ernie Tollar sets the mood with a host of exotic wind instruments; Jaffa Road band-mate
Aaron Lightstone contributes oud, saz, and sitar; Joel Schwartz (Royal Wood, Zebrina)
adds an echo of Americana with electric and resonator slide guitars; Rakesh Tewari (Digging
Roots, Madagascar Slim) and Persian percussionist Naghmeh Farahmand add the pulse
and propulsion of Middle Eastern and South Asian percussion, and guest vocalists Maryem
Tollar (Maza Mazé, Little Mosque on the Prairie), Sundar Viswanathan (Jaffa Road),
David Wall (Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band), Daniela Gesundheit
(Snowblink), among others, harmonize and duet with Aviva on many of the tracks.
From the reverent whispered beginnings of “Eili” with elements of flute, reverberant
electric guitar and trance-like percussion, to the Indian-tinged “Bo’i Kalah” with its radiant
melody and chorus of singers as warm as a summer sunset, Aviva’s ethereal vocals are
eloquently showcased throughout. The delicate, call-and-response duet on “Ashrei” is
almost romantic in tone. “Zeh Hayom” (“This is the day”) is a call to action — from a softly
declared intention to an insistent, soaring peak with the conviction of David Wall’s soulful
wail bolstering Aviva’s joyous resolve.
When I Arrived You Were Already There transcends the bounds of culture, faith, and
language. It is an album of exceptional soul, purity, and the sheer beauty of a captivating
vocalist sharing the intimacy of her first solo flight.