Watch: The Space Between Time

Date: Now streaming

Enjoy a creative exploration by upcoming musicians and filmmakers brought together by Humber College and the Aga Khan Museum as a part of the Intercultural and Creative Music Fellowship of 2022.  Each bringing their lived experiences, the seven musicians and three filmmakers explore interconnectedness across cultures with seven compositions of music, film, and poetry that delve into themes of belonging, time, and the shared culture of the modern age.

 

 

Delve deeper into the fellows' creative process and watch them collaborate and bring their compositions to life.

 

 

Fellows

 

Luis Anselmi
Piano, Venezuelan Cuatro

 

Scholarship Ambassador of The Latin GRAMMY Cultural Foundation for seven consecutive years, Luis Anselmi has completed his studies at Berklee Global Partner, Holland College School of Performing Arts and is currently a senior at the Bachelor of Music Program in Humber College. Anselmi has also organized, produced, and promoted music events in his community such as the SoPA Music Nights in Prince Edward Island and Beat Makers! with the Musical Stage CO. in Toronto. He has assisted music industry associations and performed at different festivals of Latin, Celtic, and Jazz styles. He is currently preparing for a recording project later in 2022.

 

Maria Aragon
Voice, Guitar

 

Maria Aragon is a singer and composer from Winnipeg, Manitoba. From a young age, she has graced local and international stages as a pop/R&B vocalist and shared her music with a global audience online, often accompanying herself on guitar and piano. Currently in her senior year of the Bachelor of Music program at Humber College, Maria continues to develop her craft as a performer and songwriter and has recently composed the music for two new musical theatre works commissioned by The Musical Stage Company and Theatre Sheridan in Toronto.

 

Elena Arsenchuk
Film and Television Production

 

Elena is a Media Foundation graduate and a second-year student in the Film and Television Production program at Humber College. She works as a videographer and freelance photographer.

 

James Griffith 
Woodwinds

 

James is currently a fourth-year student in the Bachelor of Music Program at Humber, majoring in Woodwinds. Primarily a saxophonist and composer in contemporary and traditional jazz idioms, he has performed and worked with internationally-acclaimed artists such as Dayna Stephens and Terri Lyne Carrington. Griffith performs around the GTA at venues such as The Jazz Bistro, Poetry Jazz Cafe, The Emmet Ray and more.

 

Brittany Iwanciwski
Violin

 

Raised in Northern BC on a blend of Classical and Canadian old-time music, Brittany has been playing fiddle tunes for a long time. Currently living in Toronto as a 2022 Humber graduate, they collaborate with numerous bands, play Irish music around the city, and are planning to release their new EP, Taken by Fairies.

 

Dhaivat Jani
Drums, Percussion

 

Dhaivat Jani is a Toronto-based award-winning drummer, Tabla player and composer. A recent graduate of the Bachelor of Music program at Humber College, Jani leads two of his own bands - Dhaivat Jani PLUS and Electrio. He also supports multiple artists across various genres and is an Artistic Associate at Spectrum Music, Canada.

 

Kaku Kenyi
Film and Media Production

 

Kaku is a fourth-year student in the Bachelor of Film and Media Production program at Humber College and has completed the Broadcasting Television program at Seneca College. With extensive videography and editing experience through several years of education, internships and freelance work, she is also a freelance photographer.

 

Tristan Oliver
Film and Media Production

 

Tristan Oliver is currently in his fourth year in the Bachelor of Film and media production program at Humber College and has previously worked on various short films and the award-winning feature film, Last Call (2019). Specialized in Directing and producing, Oliver is a freelance cinematographer, mainly shooting concerts and adapting those skills for the creation of this year's ICMF 2022 films. 

 

Hiro Tanaka
Double Bass

 

Hiro Tanaka is a Toronto-based bassist and composer from Saskatoon, SK. Tanaka is rooted in bebop tradition as he takes influence from the great bassists of Ray Brown and Paul Chambers but also looks to the future, taking inspiration from current musicians. His compositions' unique energy echoes the sounds of ECM records, hard bop, and hip hop. He is currently planning a recording project with his band, Tanaka Concept. 

 

Adina Vlasov
Acoustic Guitar, Vocals

 

Adina Vlasov is a recent graduate of Humber's Bachelor of Music program, majoring in voice. She is an indie-folk singer-songwriter with experience in jazz, musical theatre, and pop. Performing under the artist name Adina V, she has an EP and four singles released on all platforms. Adina Vlasov also works as a private music teacher and regularly performs around Toronto with her band.

 

Song Credits and Descriptions 

 

Opening Song
Lead Composer: Adina Vlasov 
Lyricist: Adina Vlasov 

Based on initial group improvisations and musical instincts, "Opening Song" is a composition that stems from the themes of infinity and oneness — expanding and contracting in intensity. The final meditative section was inspired by a beautiful indigo-coloured water jug in the Bellerive Room at the Aga Khan Museum. The lyrics are musings on time and the flow of rituals and beliefs through generations. 

 

Ebb & Flow 
Lead Composer: James Griffith  

A reflection on the timelessness of artifacts in the Museum's Collections that represent an array of themes and tenets relating to the human condition, "Ebb and Flow" examines these objects throughout history and the ways in which they still represent universal ideas and truths in the present day. 

 

Ways of Being
Lead Composer: Brittany Iwanciwski 

With so many different cultures, styles of music, and languages in the world, it is important to see and embrace the unique ways in which others exist. "Ways of Being” explores the fiddle tradition Brittany Iwanciwski grew up with and how that can be shared with others.

 

Home is Where I am 
Lead Composer: Maria Aragon 
Lyricist: Maria Aragon 

Through the lens of the immigrant experience, "Home Is Where I Am" poetically explores finding community and having the courage to show up as you are, wherever you are. 

 

Red Robe 
Lead Composer: Luis Anselmi  

Inspired by an intricate red velvet robe from the Museum's Collection, "Red Robe" dances between patterns of flamenco, boleros, and contemporary music. Luis Anselmi drew personal inspiration from the red tones in the robe which reminded Anselmi of their grandmother's favourite styles of music. 

 

Can You Hear Them 
Lead Composer and lyricist: Hiro Tanaka  

Fascinated by understanding family heritage and history, Hiro Tanaka’s "Can You Hear Them" explores the themes of the past and identity. 

 

Search for Nothing
Lead Composer: Dhaivat Jani  
Lyricist: Tejas Jani 

"Search for Nothing" is a composition inspired by the idea of oneness in Islam and its philosophical influence. 

 

Time Flows 
Lead Composer: Luis Anselmi 
Lyricist: Adina Vlasov 
Poems: ICMF Fellows 

 

Poetry 

 

Lac De Lacrimi 
Written by: Adina Vlasov with help from Mirela Vlasov 

Translation:  
We are a people with many names  
A lake of tears under infinite sky  
Let us all find ourselves in this world  
With peace in our chest and purpose united 

 

Truly sublime
Written by: James Griffith 

The wondrous ebb and flow of time 
Is that which makes it truly sublime 
As the different divergent hands pass it along 
Its artifacts and treasures find new homes to belong 

 

Uncovered
Written by: Brittany Iwanciwski 

Whose dream do we relive and replay 
With our entire existence?  
What have you been taught to want, to see? 
Uncovered ways of being 
We have been here as long as you have 

 

Unity  
Written by: Kaku Kenyi 

The beauty of unity cannot be defined 
For we all have differences uniquely designed 

 

Recollection
Written by: Tristan Oliver

I look around at all these faces 
Stories untold, stories lost in time 
How am I supposed to listen?  

 

Eto Ako  
Written by: Maria Aragon 

Translation: 
Here I am 
A product of love, destruction, perseverance 
A product of a colourful history that’s come before me  
A mirror of the world that’s around me  
A character in the book of life 

 

Tiempo Ambulante 
Written by: Luis Anselmi 

El cielo pinta de oro 
Para todos en la tierra 
Nunca el tiempo se aferra 
Al pueblo de mayor tesoro 
Solo cambia el coro 
Lleno de versos sin prisa 
Que el cantante improvisa 
Bajo la luna menguante 
Si para el tiempo ambulante 
El mismo astro precisa 

 

Translation:  
The sky paints gold  
For everyone on earth  
Time never clings  
To the town of greatest treasure  
It only changes the chorus  
Full of verses without haste  
That the singer improvises  
Under the waning moon  
If for the traveling time  
The same star precises   

 

"Waqt Ka Chakkar”  
Written by: Tejas Jani 

तुझसे पहले, तेरे बाद,  
तू रहेगा किसको याद? 
बंद मुट्ठी में रेत है जैसे, 
दबती मुठ्ठी, बहती रेत, 
वक्त का चक्कर श्याम और श्वेत। 

 

Translation: 
Before you came, and after you are gone, 
No one has ever remembered you. 
Just like the sand clutched in the fist, 
Tightening the fist, slipping sand, 
The cycle of time is black and white 

 

"A Forlorn Belonging”  
Written by: Hiro Tanaka 

They lived in a purgatory between two lands and two tongues
Their father spoke while they spoke one 
They were told to learn but they chose to run 
along with the other kids having their fun 
And those kids would ask 
Where were they really from? 
But the child thought they were from the suburbs 
same as everyone 

 

Reflections of the Past 
Written by: Elena Arsenchuk 

Translation: 
The river of time flows 
and takes away the past, 
emptying it into the sea of future 
Looking at those waters 
What do you see? 
I see you, I see me