Maryem Tollar

Maryem Tollar
Born1968
Cairo, Egypt
Occupationvocalist

Maryem Tollar (born 1968 in Cairo, Egypt) is a Toronto-based singer who primarily sings Arabic songs.[1] She played with her own band called Mernie!.

Born in Cairo, Maryem went to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada with her parents when she was one year old in 1969. Four years later, her father began working in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, so her family moved back to the Middle East and stayed there until she graduated from The American University in Cairo. Throughout those times, Maryem always had a taste for music and sang in every school production. Her parents were originally against the idea of Maryem becoming a singer, but after university, Maryem started pursuing her dream. She first performed with Toronto-based Arab band Hot D.A.M. and later sang in Arabic for her brother's compositions. Later, she went to Syria and Egypt to further her studies and gained recognition from the Canada Council. She began receiving calls to perform with different groups as well as for recording sessions for commercials and films. Eventually, Maryem started a music group called "Mernie!" with her husband, Ernie Tollar. The band is a 10 piece ensemble while she and her husband compose all of the music and everyone in the band come from different cultural backgrounds. Together, they have made one CD so far, entitled Flowers of Forgiveness.[citation needed]

In 2007, director Liz Marshall made a Bravo!FACT funded a video for the Arabic lament "Mawal Saba".[citation needed]

Maryem sang "Mayya Mayya" song for the 2007 Bollywood film, Guru, composed by A. R. Rahman.[citation needed] Tollar is the artist behind the ending credits theme song used in the Canadian sitcom, Little Mosque on the Prairie, a rendition of the popular Islamic praise song Tala‘al Badru ‘Alayna (the press kit on her website misidentifies[citation needed] the show as "Little Mosque on the Prairies").[2]

Tollar was a candidate for the Green Party in the riding of Toronto—Danforth in the 2021 federal election.

Electoral record

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2021 Canadian federal election: Toronto—Danforth
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Liberal Julie Dabrusin 23,038 48.41 +0.58 $77,319.65
New Democratic Clare Hacksel 15,881 33.28 +0.08 $94,784.85
Conservative Michael Carey 6,105 12.83 +2.29 $25,348.44
People's Wayne Simmons 1,238 2.59 +1.49 $766.61
Green Maryem Tollar 949 1.99 -4.51 $2,899.08
Communist Elizabeth Rowley 204 0.43 +0.13 $0.00
Animal Protection Liz White 179 0.38 -0.02 $3,315.07
Independent Habiba Desai 125 0.26 $510.82
Total valid votes/expense limit 47,719 – – $110,583.29
Total rejected ballots
Turnout 47,719 59.84
Eligible voters 79,749
Source: Elections Canada[3]

Discography

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  • Book of Life album featuring Stolen Childhood, lyrics by Ehab Lotayef and other songs

References

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  1. ^ Jazz Times – Volume 38 Page 184 2008 "Egyptian-Canadian singer Maryem Tollar's Enya-like chants help "Europa" maintain its dual optimistic and haunting qualities."
  2. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ "List of confirmed candidates – September 20, 2021 Federal Election". Elections Canada. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
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