Andy and Ariana, (formerly known as t@b), could be called a folk music duet. They play original, acoustic music with guitar, fiddle and two voices. But that's the tip of the iceberg. As a pair, Ariana Nasr and Andy Flinn project the exuberant energy of a Caribbean septet. While Ariana sings jazzy melodies and plays reggae fiddle, Andy beat-boxes a vocalized bass line, plays guitar, and operates parts of a drum kit with his heels. There's nothing like them.
The following biography was written by Wanda Waterman St. Louis:
When Andy Flinn was back in Switzerland jamming his fingers into church organ pipes to create overtones Ariana Nasr was running screaming from her music lessons. Later, when Andy was running to Canada to dodge the Swiss draft, Ariana was mastering the finer points of her own spirited style of jazz improvisation.
It was in a sound studio in Toronto that the fresh-faced Teuton, looking the ideal candidate for the Hitler Youth, met the young pacifist Scheherazade. And the rest is--- well, just listen to a couple of tracks.
Verily, God is a hyperactive kindergartner with an overactive imagination.
But the early musical career of the duo formerly known as first Thugs at Bay and then t@b, was not auspicious; their gigs at bookstores were comprised of long, intricate shoegaze instrumentals punctuated with incoherent mumbling while audience members shot confounded glances around the corners of book stacks.
To hear Andy and Ariana perform today is to be blown sideways by the brilliant lyrics, the self-assurance, the interwoven rhythms, the deftness on myriad instruments (including some of the most innovative scat-boxing you’ve ever heard), the spot-on pitch, and the yummy goulash of musical genres.
They’re currently working on their 7th CD, to be released in the fall. Truly it will be at the very vanguard of all that is worthy in this vale of tears.
Darren Arsenault, LaHave Festival Director:
"...the freshest happening item on the pop jazz scene in Canada..."
Wanda Waterman St. Louis, Voice Magazine, Athabasca University:
"...Mad Geniuses of the New Millennium..."
CD Baby:
"...They do sound almost main stream, in an outer-galactic kind of way..."
Click here to view t@b music videos.
The following video-portrait created by Dale Leckie of Eastlink Magazine
