Pacifika

Canadian world fusion ensemble Pacifika crafts bright, melodic pop laced with Latin influences, anchored by the expressive, frequently layered vocals of Peruvian-born Silvana Kane, who previously sang with West End Girls and delivers her lines in Spanish, English, or French according to each track. Kane and guitarist Adam Popowitz, a high-school acquaintance, launched the project in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2004; two years afterward, in 2006, bassist and drummer Toby Peter completed the lineup. Each member arrived with prior experience in Canadian music: Kane through her work with West End Girls, Popowitz via stints in Mollies Revenge and Yve Adam plus his production credits, and Peter, a Canada-born, Barbados-raised dub-influenced player who had performed with the fusion outfit Salvador Dream. Before Peter’s arrival, Kane and Popowitz had already tracked and self-released their first album, Unveiled, in 2004; after catching one of their performances, Peter proposed expanding the duo into a trio. The resulting group cut its follow-up, Asunción, whose distinctive global-pop approach earned a contract with Six Degrees Records, the label that issued the record in 2008. Six Degrees subsequently put out two further albums, Supermagique in 2010 and Amor Planeta in 2014.