Tiger Friends is a boutique record label offering selections from unique and inspiring artists. Known for their versatility, these artists are chosen for their dedication to their craft, strong community involvement, music knowledge, and personal commitment to bringing their best to the arts.
LORI ANNA REID
LORI ANNA REID
“Redemptive, soulful, narrative and touching”
~ Douglas Romanow
“Hauntingly beautiful”
~ Daniel Lanois
Lori Anna Reid bridges the gap between world music, folk and jazz. Ancient Celtic melodies rise out of her Newfoundland heritage, align with alluring, improvisational elements of jazz and are infused with the refinement of chamber music. Her work offers the elegance of classical music without the ivory tower, the risk taking of jazz, and the deep simplicity of ancient folk songs. Melodies that emanate from the collective consciousness are always moving and changing, always relevant and their themes, timeless. The style matters less to Reid than that they come from her Celtic heart.
Her many years of studying the classical repertoire as a soprano and as a professional alto with Canada’s pre eminent chamber choir The Elmer Iseler Singers combine with her passion for folk songs thanks to her Newfoundland upbringing. As well, Reid’s extensive experience singing with the likes of iconic rock/roots producer Daniel Lanois, and Canada’s darling troubadour, Lennie Gallant, as well as country music superstar Michelle Wright illustrate her rare and distinctive versatility. She is a generous collaborative musician who serves, above all else, the song.
For anyone this might seem an unachievable undertaking, but for this artist it makes perfect sense. Born in Newfoundland, the daughter of a military medic and a nurse, whose family were fishermen and carpenters; Lori Anna absorbed the traditional melodies that permeate her culture. Still, a love of ballet and classical music prompted her to pursue classical training at Memorial University on a scholarship and later to earn her degree in performance at the University of Toronto. She has sung as a mezzo soprano with orchestras all over Canada, notably Massey Hall with conductors such as Bramwell Tovey, Helmut Rilling and Frank MacNamara; has earned a Juno for her a capella singing in a movie score for Saint Monica written by Carlos Lopes and was a featured soloist on the premiere recording of Bramwell Tovey’s Requiem for a Charred Skull which also won a Juno award.
Lori Anna Reid’s craft continued to develop and expand when she was invited to sing with rock producer and roots musician Daniel Lanois. With Lanois she has performed on the stages of the Montreal Jazz Festival, the Winter Garden Theatre in Toronto and New York’s Carnegie Hall among many others across Canada, the United States and Europe. A highlight has been the joy of singing with Lanois, Bono and The Edge of U2 fame in Dublin and London. Reid and Lanois continue to share musical ideas: her suggestion to Lanois of a favourite hymn melody was used on U2’s most recent recording in the song White as Snow. She also played piano on Lanois recent Omni Series.
It was not long after this, however, that Lori Anna responded to a strong desire to return to her roots and she recorded a very personal a cappella rendition of favourite folk melodies and hymns, many of which were songs her father had sung to her as a child. One of these was Willie McBride also known as The Green Fields of France by folk icon Eric Bogle. This particular piece caught the attention of Irish conductor Frank MacNamara who invited her to be a soloist with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. Her interpretation also deeply moved General Rick Hillier when she sang it during a 90th anniversary of Vimy Ridge gala event, resulting in a personal invitation to sing for his troops in Afghanistan. Of his classic anti-war song, Eric Bogle himself has stated that her arrangement is the most original and moving version I have ever heard….it reminds me of why I originally wrote it.”
These days what excites Reid musically is experimenting with a new hatas collaborative songwriter. Her current band is one that includes core members George Koller, Mike Janzen and Greg Hawco, as well as Rob Piltch, Jorn Anderson and Christine Bougie. The core band has been doing concerts in Ontario and Newfoundland and, with them, she has opened up new avenues of creative expression that incorporate considerable improvisational elements. Using the voice as an instrument, her plaintive strains weave through Koller’s innovative upright bass, Janzen’s intuitive piano and Hawco’s earthy percussion. Their present recording project will combine Lori Annas influences and ideas under the producing guidance of the extraordinary George Koller. Some of the symphonic vocal melodies have been written especially for her by Daniel Lanois who will also produce some of the recordings.
Like the country of Canada, this project is a mosaic of many cultural elements: Newfoundland Folk; Jazz; French (Camille Claudel and la Tempête); and Aboriginal (Avalon and Miq Maq Honour Song). It is a rich and moving tapestry, one that Lori Anna Reid likes to call The Tangled Garden.
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