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Okotécho guides the listener into a sonic world brimming with hope, aspiration, and lyricism found in the exceptional interlude between the Middle East, Arboriginal and the West. Under the artistic direction of composer Katia Makdissi-Warren, Okotécho explores mixed music and musical sounds through its own compositions.

A true hymn to life, the artists of Transcestral express the common perpetual quest for harmony between humans and nature, inspired by the music and sacred dances of Sufi and indigenous traditions in Canada.

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Transcestral Project

Listen to excerpts

Aperçu

Crédit : Michel Pinault

Artists

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- Katia Makdissi-Warren (oud & artistic direction)

- Moe Clark (Métis singer & poetry) - Anouar Barrada (Sufi singer)

- Eya-Hey Nakoda (pow wow drum & voice)

- Buffalo Hat Singers/Norman Achneepineskum (pow wow drum & vocals)

- Nina Segalowitz (Inuit throat singing) - Joséphine Bacon (Innu poetry)

- Nuné Mélik, Valérie Belzile, Amina Tebini & Carla Antoun (string quartet)

- Bertil Schulrabe, Mohamed Raky, Eric Breton & Firas Haddad (percussions)

- Khalil Moqadem (oud) - Didem Basar (qanun)

- Marianne Trudel (piano) & David Ryshpan (piano for the poetry of Joséphine Bacon)

- Étienne Lafrance (double bass) - Michel Dubeau (flutes)

- Barbara Diabo (Mohawk dancer) - Tanya Evanson (whirling dervish)

Crédit : Mario Faubert

Crédit : Claude Dufresne

Crédit : Michel Pinault

Photos

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Crédit : Michel Pinault

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Crédit : Mario Faubert

Crédit : Michel Pinault

Nomination

Concert of the year - World music - (Prix Opus)
Concert of the year - Montréal (Prix Opus)

Prix

Concert of the year - World music - (Prix Opus)
Concert of the year - Montréal (Prix Opus)

Press

"These Ojibwe, Innu, Métis, Inuit, Nakota, Dene and Sufi artists have combined their cultures to offer eleven unique songs that aim to bring people together and do good." (translated) - Véronik Picard

January 21st, 2022

"Dazzling album!" (translated) - Philippe Renaud

January 22nd, 2022

“Let’s add a concert to the offer this weekend at the Outremont Theatre tomorrow. On stage will be musicians, singers, poets, Amerindian and Sufi cultures. I had the chance to meet the artistic director of the show and the singer Nina Selgalowitz.” (translated) - Nadège St-Philippe

November 26th, 2021

"When I listened to the three plays, I said WOW!” (translated) - Fulgence Bla

November 25th, 2021

“There’s a lot of work on this…Hats off!” (translated) - Julie Drolet

November 25th, 2021

"We find everything that makes an excellent world music album... a beautiful message and a seductive vision of the future.” (translated)

- Frédéric Cardin

November 26th, 2021

"Needless to say, this "transcestral" journey is captivating. It plunges us right away into the game of throat singing. It is not two players who confront each other, as is the tradition, but only one (in this case, Nina Segalowitz) who alternates between her marked breath, her rough voice and her "natural" voice (in quotation marks). Tradition or not, the impression of virtuosity remains intact." (translated) - Justin Bernard

January 16th, 2022

“Seventeen artists on stage and many instruments: oud, flute, double bass, keyboard, darbuka and other percussions come to support brilliantly and offer warmth and bewitchment to the singers who use their voice to bring us elsewhere, in another world. (...) I was very impressed by all the subtleties of throat singing, which are much more numerous than I thought” (translated) - Roxanne Croteau

December 15th, 2021

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