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The
unique and creative duo Leah Salomaa and
Chris Gartner heat things up with layers of
texture and warmth underpinning the tasteful pop
inherent to their writing. A journey through
charted waters? Yes. Derivative and commonplace?
No. Weaving
lush vocal textures into her soaring melodic
phrasing, talented singer/songwriter Leah Salomaa
combines roots and Celtic flavours into the smooth,
enchanting fabric of her pop
compositions. She
has a talent for writing effectively laid back and
catchy melodies. Salomaa sets the mood vocally,
choosing not to let lavish instrumentation overcome
the spirit of the music, allowing her stories to
shine through with beauty and grace. The
Toronto born Salomaa was born into an artistic,
musical family. Growing up downtown allowed for
extensive training and exposure to the arts. At age
three she started singing with her mother,
Darlene Collison in church and at folk
gatherings. She attended a school for the arts and
participated in numerous professional endeavors
while still in school. She appeared in television
commercials, t.v episodes, theatre productions
ranging from fringe to the Hummingbird
Centre, all while studying dance,classical
violin, drama and voice with such teachers as
Jeannette Zingg (Opera Atelier) and
Elizabeth MacMillan (National Ballet of
Canada Orchestra). By age nineteen she had
passed her vocal exams at the Royal Conservatory
of Music with honors and graduated from an
alternative high school. Instead of pursuing a
post-secondary education in what she thought would
be film or theatre studies, Salomaa started to
focus on a musical passion she developed in high
school: Celtic and roots music. In
1994 Salomaa and percussionist, Ben Grossman
released Humdrum, a cassette exploring
traditional Celtic, roots and original music. She
picked up the bodhran (with coaching from Ben) and
the two performed as a duo in pubs and folk
clubs. In
1995 she taught herself piano and began
songwriting. She joined the folk/pop group
Trouble in Paradise and performed with them
as a harmony vocalist for three years. With this
experience, Salomaa felt she was ready to form her
own band. Currently
Salomaa is writing and performing her original
music which echoes classical, Celtic and pop
influences. Her sound and stage presence is
noticeably a derivative of her artistic and
theatrical background. She is still maintaining a
presence at traditional folk gigs and can be seen
playing bodhran and singing with Jason
Fowler (guitar/vocals) and Darcy Stamp
(fiddle) at local Irish pubs and folk music events.
When not in performance Salomaa is vocalizing and
scoring for film, television and theatre as well as
doing session vocal work for various local
recording artists. She has appeared on recordings
by Jory Nash, Jason Fowler, Katherine
Davis, Clay Tyson, and Donald
Quan. She also enjoys the work she does with
children aged three to teens in private music
lessons and group workshops. Her
most current recording available is a FACTOR
sponsored three track cd demonstration of her
original material. The demo was recorded January
1999 by Jeremy Darby at Canterbury
Music. Saturday
August 31, 10:30 pm. with Chris
Gartner opening for Kevin
Fox.
Tickets $7 at the door. Saturday
September 21, 10:30 pm. opening for
Tasa. Tickets $8 at the
door.
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