Pacifika


Pacifika is a Canadian world music band formed in Vancouver, British Columbia by high school friends Silvana Kane and Adam Popowitz in 2004 and joined by Toby Peter in 2006. According to Kane, who sings in Spanish, English and French, Pacifika “is simply the Latin way of saying ‘peaceful’ in the feminine, except that we changed the 'c' to a 'k'.” The group has released 4 albums; their independent debut Unveiled, and three with Six Degrees Records: Asunción, Supermagique and Amor Planeta.

Background

Kane and Popowitz met while attending Catholic High School in Burnaby, BC and formed the band Big Bottom Swing. Kane left the band to join the Canadian pop trio West End Girls, signed a record deal with A&M Records and had a top 10 Canadian hit with Not Like Kissing You in 1991. Popowitz helped form the Vancouver hard-rock band Mollies Revenge, signed a record deal with Atlantic Records via David Foster's imprint 143 Records and released the Rick Parashar produced Every Dirty Word in 1997. Popowitz and Mollies Revenge frontwoman Yvette Narlock then formed Yve Adam and released the Carmen Rizzo produced Fiction in 2000. Peter formed the fusion band Salvador Dream, signed a record deal with Warner and released UR in 1994. In 2004, K-os enlisted Peter for the touring band on his Joyful Rebellion World Tour. In the same year, Kane and Popowitz re-connected, then wrote and released Unveiled. After seeing a live performance in 2006, Peter approached Kane and Popowitz about joining the band. Now a trio, and with funding secured with a FACTOR album loan, they wrote and recorded Asunción which they then successfully shopped to Six Degrees Records.

Discography

Unveiled (2004)

Unveiled was released independently in 2004 under the band's original spelling "Pacifica". The album was re-released in 2011 with the current spelling. The eleventh track, Save The Day, was featured on the Syfy series Being Human in the episode Children Shouldn't Play With Undead Things and in the Space series Charlie Jade in the episode Bedtime Story.

Asunción (2008)

Asunción was released by Six Degrees Records and Universal Motown in April 2008. It reached the peak position on the iTunes Latino Album chart, was named Best Album of 2008 by NPR and was on the “2008 Editor Picks” by Amazon. Pacifika has been praised by the Wall Street Journal, New York Post, and KCRW. KCRW picked the band to perform at the Hollywood Bowl at their 2008 World Festival alongside Feist and Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings. The album's second track, Me Cai, was featured on the HBO series True Blood in the episode "Scratches". The USA Network used Libertad, Sol, and Paloma for their series Covert Affairs. The Asunción album tour included headlining spots at the Montreal Jazz Festival, Bumbershoot, Winnipeg Folk Festival, Vancouver Folk Music Festival, Calgary Folk Music Festival, and Sunfest in London, Ontario. Radio-Canada picked the band for their Révélations 2008 roster alongside Coeur de Pirate and Caracol.

Supermagique (2010)

Supermagique was released in August 2010 by Six Degrees. iTunes named the album the "Best World Album" of 2010 and was nominated for "World Recording of the Year" at the 2011 Juno Awards.
The album contains a cover of the song “25 or 6 to 4”, originally recorded by the band Chicago in 1970 and was featured in the pilot episode of The CW show "Ringer". Album touring featured their first headlining tour in the province of Québec.

Amor Planeta (2014)

Amor Planeta was released on May 6, 2014 by Six Degrees Records.