Oliver Schroer, 52: Boundary-pushing violinist

 Well, folks, a great musician, wondrous spirit and dear old friend has left the planet. Oliver Schroer passed away on Thursday July 3rd, 2008 after a 16-month battle with leukemia.

I knew him first as my father's (Trichy Sankaran's) student. He studied anything he could get his hands (and voice) on - I remember singing at the York University recitals with him, his smiling face adding to the sheer delight of simply making music.

Later, as solo artist, with the Stewed Tomatoes and within other wild and wacky musical contexts, I watched and listened as he brought the fiddle into the world and the world to his fiddle.

Dylan Bell and I got married on April 9, 2000, and Oliver, along with many other Toronto artists, graced our East-meets-West-meets-music-night (cleverly disguised as a "Wedding Reception") by playing a song he wrote for the occasion. He used the letters of my name to create the title Sing Up Bird Above. It was magical.

Never have I met one being who embodies the essence of what I believe music is -- a cosmic connection between the voice, body, spirit, soul and mind in free artistic play. You are truly an inspiration.

You will be so missed Oli, but never forgotten.

Below are 2 of Oliver's songs Autorickshaw performed on May 29th at our Lula Lounge show with special guest Ben Grossman, as well as a song called sing up bird Above, that Oliver wrote for me on the occassion of my wedding:

Humours of Aristotle: 

Deep Water: 

Since it’s taken me almost a year to get this website up and running, I should probably give you my 2007 Year in Review! This was an amazing year of touring, traveling, music-making and collaborating, from autorickshaw’s tours of India and Sweden, and directing the Collaboratory project at the Vancouver Island MusicFest (5 bands/artists performing a 90-minute musical invention created only days before the festival) to my 2-week, 6-country choral workshop tour in Europe with Dylan Bell. Also of note, my voice can now be heard in a permanent installation at the Royal Ontario Museum AND in spaaaace!!!