About Aviva Chernick

Aviva Chernick is an award-winning singer, singing in Hebrew, Ladino, and English.

She was the first Canadian to be awarded a Virginia Folk Life apprenticeship to continue study with ‘American National Treasure’ and Sephardic musician Flory Jagoda whose music she celebrates in La Serena.

Aviva was one of the founding members and lead singer of the Canadian World Music group Jaffa Road with whom garnered awards as well as two Juno nominations, recording as well as touring across Canada and to the United States and Brazil (2002-2016).

Aviva is also trained in the Cantorial Arts and as a meditation teacher through the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. She leads the meditation and singing community in Toronto called neySHEV.

The live project of La Serena features the musicianship of the full quartet which is Aviva (vocals), together with Joel Schwartz (guitars), Justin Gray (bass), and Naghmeh Farahmand (Persian percussion). Special guests on the recording include Ernie Tollar (winds), Maryem Tollar, (vocals), Derek Gray (drum kit and percussion), Lyle Molzan (drum kit) and Aaron Lightstone (oud).

Aviva’s collaborative recordings have garnered nominations and awards including Juno nominations for Jaffa Road’s albums Sun Place (2010) and Where The Light Gets In (2013), a Canadian Folk Music Award for Where The Light Gets In (2013), a Canadian Folk Music Award Nomination for When I Arrived You Were Already There (2012) as well as for Under the Canopy (2008). Aviva and her co-writers from Jaffa Road won the John Lennon International Songwriting Grand Prize for their rendition of “Lo Yisa Goy”, a prayer for peace.