SOPHIE LUKACS

Recently returned to Canada after 7 years in Mali, Sophie will showcase tunes from her forthcoming album. Montreal-based Lukacs is a kora player, singer and composer, born in Budapest, Hungary, and raised in Canada. She grew up studying classical violin, but it was a chance musical encounter during a trip to Burkina Faso that changed her life and musical direction. In Ouagadougou, she discovered the kora, a 21-stringed African instrument and soon began lessons. She travelled to Paris for a master class with kora legend Toumani Diabaté and when he invited her to study with him in Bamako, Mali, she packed her bags and never looked back. She spent seven years fully immersed in studying the instrument and tradional repertoire.

Because the kora is primarily played by men born to griot families, it's a real acknowledgement of her skills that Lukacs is one of the few women in the world recognized as a kora player. She's collaborated with some of the best-known Malian musicians, including Habib Koité, who's also featured on her forthcoming album.

Sophie is the recipient of several grants (FACTOR, CCA, CALQ, and CAM) and will perform at the upcoming 2021 Mundial Montreal showcase. Her debut album Falling will be released in fall 2022 by Disques Nuits d'Afrique.

Onstage, she sings in English, Bambara and Hungarian. She is accompanied by Michel Medrano Brindis (calabash) and Laszlo Koos (cello).

*** Please note that masks must be worn at all times.

Venue's covid policy: https://www.tranzac.org/covid-policy/

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