Toronto based R and B/ soul/ pop singer Tanika Charles has fond memories of playing the Geomatic Attic Wide Skies Music festival last year and hopes to make many more when she returns to Lethbridge this weekend to play the SAAG Art Auction and the Owl Acoustic lounge, Saturday, May 4.
“ I am spectacular,” Said Charles, who enjoyed playing Wide Skies last summer.
“ I remember it was definitely one of my favourite shows of 2023. Also Michael (Spencer) is a top notch guy and so accommodating to the band and all of the artists he brings out. Just the audience was incredible. We played a rooftop and I think it was 1,000 degrees that day , but the sweat was worth it. It was such a good time,” Charles said, adding she is excited to play two shows on Saturday.
“We’re doing two shows. We’re going to perform at the art gallery. We’re going to do a little acoustic set there and shortly after we‘re going to head over to the Owl Acoustic Lounge,” she said.
She is bringing an expanded Toronto band including two singers and new members .
“ Not a new band I’ve just got new members.
“ The acoustic one will be me and my guitar and my two singers Tafari Anthony and D/Shon Henderson and Ben Foran on guitar,” she said. Bassist Jeremy John and drummer Jim Toner who plays his first show with Charles this weekend, join her at the Owl Acoustic lounge.
“ I’ve got bands in different cities . I’ve got a band out in Vancouver and the Toronto band and one in Montreal and then I’ve got one in France so it‘s just convenient. Jim is the newest member in the Toronto band,” she said.
“ I’m going to play some songs I haven’t sung in a very long time. Because now I have singers with me for these two shows, I can kind of indulge in these songs and of courses some classics I hope people know. And that it. Nothing too new. I am working on two albums,” she said., adding she expects them to be released by the end of the year.
She just released two albums last year — The “Union Sessions,” and “ Papillon de Nuit: The Night Butterfly in 2022.
the new albums go back to her roots in hip hop and pop, but a visit to the Tallinn Music in Estonia encouraged her to write.
“I recently went to Tallinn , Estonia nan d although love writing and creating and releasing new music, I was kind of uninspired for a while since the last release. Just because I’ve been really busy and on the road. Not complaining at all, but just a little bit busy and trying to focus on my health, not that anything is terribly wrong, but I just wanted to be a little healthier, spiritually, mentally and whatnot. And went to Tallinn for Tallinn music week and had to do a songwriting camp. And I personally enjoy writing with others. It’s just easier to brainstorm that way. But this, from nine to five to write a new song three days in a row and it kind of forced me to work on my songwriting chops which I’d always kind of shied away from if I had to write an entire album on my own,” she said.
