Four Higher by autorickshaw

"The ensemble consists of a mash-up of four of Canada’s most exciting and musically interesting young musicians: vocalist Suba Sankaran, tabla player Ed Hanley, bassist Rich Brown and exotic percussionist Debashis Sinha. All four have achieved excellence on their respective instruments. When their forces are combined, the results are utterly unique and musically pioneering." [The Record]

autorickshaw has toured widely in Canada, including appearances at the Montreal Jazz Festival, the Vancouver and Winnipeg Folk Festivals, as well a numerous appearances at the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto. US appearances include performances at Joe’s Pub in New York City and at The Kennedy Center in Washington DC.

Suba Sankaran

Toronto based vocalist, pianist and percussionist Suba Sankaran’s musical career began at an early age studying south Indian classical music with her father, master drummer Trichy Sankaran.

She graduated from York University in 1997, where she studied jazz with Carol Welsman, Lisa Martinelli, Bob Mover, Don Thompson, Barry Elmes and Al Henderson, and completed her Master of Arts degree in ethnomusicology in 2002, with a major research paper titled Bobby McFerrin: The Abundance of Vocal Economy.

She has studied south Indian classical vocal music with Sankari Krishnan, T. Vishwanathan, K. Subramaniam and N. Ramani, percussion with Glen Velez, Sal Ferreras and Russell Hartenberger, and piano with Casey Sokol and Francine Kay.

Suba regularly performs with world music ensembles autorickshaw and Trichy’s Trio and sings a cappella 80’s hits with Retrocity.

Suba is in demand as a choral director, arranger, adjudicator and composer and has given numerous workshops to professional and community choirs including Common Thread Community Chorus, ECHO Women’s Choir, St. Stephen’s Youth Choir, and the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Choir.

She has directed the following choirs: Wibijazz’n’ (York University), University of Toronto Jazz Ensemble, Pandora’s Vox (Earl Haig SS) and the Royal Conservatory of Music Adult Jazz Choir.

Suba has recently composed, recorded, engineered and produced music for radio (Raj Kumari’s Lullaby), theatre (Bombay Black), film (Love’s a Gamble), and for south Indian and modern dance.

Suba has performed widely across Canada, the US, Europe and India with a wide range of artists including Jane Bunnett and the Spirits of Havana (Global Divas), chittraveena player Ravikiran, David Mott, Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan, George Koller, Kevin Breit, Maza Meze, award-winning a cappella jazz group Hampton Avenue, and the Nathaniel Dett Chorale where she performed for Nelson Mandela, Bishop Desmond Tutu and Peter Gabriel.

She was featured as a soloist for Global Divas, a fundraiser for St. Stephen’s Community House with Jane Bunnett and the Spirits of Havana, which was recorded for broadcast by the CBC. The CBC also presented a feature “Artist Profile” on Suba, on Global Village.

Suba has numerous recording credits to her name and is in high demand as a private teacher.

Ed Hanley

Ed Hanley began his tabla (north Indian classical percussion) training in Toronto, Canada with Ritesh Das, and has studied with master drummers Swapan Chaudhuri in California and Anindo Chatterjee in Calutta, India. His interest in all aspects of Indian classical rhythm have led him to study outside of the Hindustani tabla tradition as well, focusing on Karnatic (south Indian) vocal percussion and drumming traditions. He has studied nattuvangam (Bharatanatyam conducting) with Hari Krishnan, mrdangam repertoire and Karnatic rhythm theory with Karaikudi Mani in Chennai, India, and solkattu (vocal percussion), kanjira (a south Indian frame drum), mrdangam repertoire and improvisation with Dr. Trichy Sankaran in Chennai and Toronto. His studies have been supported by a number of funding bodies including The Canada Council, The Ontario Arts Council and The Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute.

Ed has performed across Canada, and in the USA, Europe and India in a variety of world, jazz and classical settings with artists such as vocalist Suba Sankaran, violinist Parmela Attariwala, clarinetist James Campbell, multi-instrumentalists George Koller and Donald Quan, Persian ensemble Mehrvarzan, percussionists Trichy Sankaran, Rick Lazar, Alan Hetherington and Vasudevan Rajalingam, flautist Ron Allen, Hindustani vocalist Vinayak Pathak, Sarangi master Ramesh Misra, and ensembles including autorickshaw, The Toronto Tabla Ensemble, The Penderecki Quartet and Jane Bunnett and the Spirits of Havana. His work can be heard on a number of recordings and film soundtracks.

Ed has composed, produced, and engineered a number of compositions for dance and film out of his own studio, and has co-produced two autorickshaw albums with Suba Sankaran, including the critically acclaimed, JUNO nominated CD, Four Higher.

He is also a member of the recently formed Indo-Persian duo Naseem with Santoor virtuoso Pirouz Yousefian.

Rich Brown

Electric bassist Rich Brown started his professional career in his home of Toronto back in 1992. Since then, Brown has become well known for his lyricism and strong melodic sensibility on the electric bass. He has performed and recorded with JUNO Award winning artists such as Metalwood, Glenn Lewis, Carol Welsman, Molly Johnson, and Bruce Cockburn. Brown has also performed with international artists such as Trinidad’s Clive Zanda, Gambian kora master Yan Koba Saho, steel pannist Andy Narrell, former Ani DiFranco drummer Andy Stochansky and Steve Coleman & Five Elements. He was a feature artist in residence at the AKKU school of performance in Steyr, Austria and a featured clinician at the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz. He has also appeared in the television series “Soul Food”, the made for TV movie “The Natalie Cole Story” starring Natalie Cole and the feature film “Glitter” starring Mariah Carey. Rich Brown has appeared on over 40 recordings ranging from Jazz to RnB to traditional South Asian, far East Asian, and Arabic music. He is currently at work on a new solo project called rinsethealgorithm.

Debashis Sinha

Debashis Sinha is a Toronto based percussionist who specializes in the drums of the Arab world, Greece, and Turkey. His ability to uncover the rhythmic threads in a wide variety of musical styles has earned him a place in the forefront of Canada's new generation of traditional musicians. His explorations and studies in technique and rhythm have enabled him to forge a distinct percussive style that makes him in demand with ensembles playing everything from Arabic to Jazz to Yiddish new music, appearing with a veritable “who's who” of Canadian world music experimenters. A founding member of noted world music ensemble Maza Mezé, Debashis is praised for his musicality and melodic sense, particularly in his accompaniment of Mowashahat, Sufi devotional songs that date back to 12th century Andalucia. His compositions and sound design explore his fascination with percussion, ancient stringed instruments such as the oud, lafta, and santoor, and his interest in digital recording technology.

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