- Date:
- 2020-09-14
- Main contributors:
- Jea Street, Jr.
- Summary:
- Jea Street, Jr. (Wilmington, Delaware) Jea Street, Jr. is a singer/songwriter born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware. Jea has sung professional operatic and Broadway roles, produced a hip-hop album, and recorded several of his own projects. He was commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Delaware Art Museum to co-write a work that told the story of the 1968 occupation of Wilmington, Delaware after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. Jea has completed a recording project entitled “The Sit Down,” which tours as a production of Artivism brought to life in the form of a musical experience, and he performed the inaugural set of Firefly CHATs in 2019 on the topic of Artivism. Jea created Ronapalooza, one of the first online music festivals “by artists and for artists,” at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, as a way to continue creating music and engaging with fans. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 09/14/2020.
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- Date:
- 2020-09-22
- Main contributors:
- Jeanie McLerie
- Summary:
- Jeanie McLerie and Ken Keppeler (Silver City, New Mexico) Bayou Seco plays music from the Southwest. Jeanie and Ken have collected music from older traditional American musicians for most of their lives and have learned to play many of their tunes and songs. They especially focus on Cajun music in southwestern Louisiana and, since 1980, have learned from traditional Hispanic, Cowboy, and Tohono O’odham musicians in New Mexico and Arizona. Both of them play fiddle and guitar and sing. Ken also plays one- and three-row diatonic accordions, five-string banjo (fretless), harmonica, and mandolin. They play at concerts, dances (where they can teach Spanish colonial dances from New Mexico and other dances), art centers, schools, museums, folk clubs, weddings, wakes, state fairs, and other types of events. They help run the radio station Gila Mimbres Community Radio (GMCR.org) in Silver City and their radio show, Roots and Branches, airs on Saturday (8-10 a.m. MST) with a jam-along with Ken and Jeanie from 9 to 9:30 a.m. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/22/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-06
- Main contributors:
- Jemar Phoenix
- Summary:
- Jemar Phoenix (New Haven, Connecticut) Jemar Phoenix is a musician and organizer born and raised in New Haven, Connecticut. He is a singer and acoustic guitarist specializing in genres ranging from pop, R&B, hip-hop, soul, and Latin music. Along with Cajon player Mike D, he formed the music duo The Hooch, which has performed across the Northeast Metro area. Their EP Cold Fusion (2020) features original lyrics and poetry, and fuses traditional aesthetics of guitar, percussion, and vocals with elements of contemporary American genres. Outside of music, Jemar is also an active member of Ignite the Voice, a non-profit New Haven based youth organization with a mission to equip the youth with the ability of self-expression through the arts. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/06/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-15
- Main contributors:
- Jessica Pacheco
- Summary:
- Jessica Pacheco (Los Angeles, California) Jessica was born and raised in Miami, Florida, to Cuban parents Miriam and Jose Pacheco. Growing up, Jessica partook in numerous extracurricular activities, such as ballet, piano, art, music, drama, and classical Spanish dance/flamenco. Dancing highlights include performing at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England during the Monkees’ 2011 World Tour, performing with the Florida Grand Opera in Carmen, Turandot, and La Traviata, as well as the Los Angeles Opera in Carmen and El Gato Montés. Jessica’s dance company, Flamenco Tropical, combines classical Spanish, traditional flamenco, and modern rumba into one high energy show. Some of her theater credits include playing Celeste Finley in Tennessee Williams’ Sweet Bird of Youth, Adela in Federico García Lorcas’ La casa de Bernarda Alba, and María in Daimary Sánchez Morenos’ Are You Bringing Something From Mexico? Jessica has been cast in several Telemundo telenovelas. Since moving to L.A., she has appeared on the TV shows General Hospital, To Tell The Truth, and Superstore, to name a few. She is also very proud to have been part of Pixar’s animated feature, Coco. Currently, she has just finished producing, directing, and starring in a comedic web series she wrote called Cuban Tales. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/15/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-09
- Main contributors:
- Jesús "Chuy" Guzmán
- Summary:
- Jesús "Chuy" Guzmán (Los Angeles, California) Originally from San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, México, Jesús (Chuy) Guzmán is the musical director of the acclaimed Los Angeles-based Mariachi Los Camperos. Born in 1964 and passionate about playing violin since age six, Jesús, known by the nickname “Chuy,” moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1980s determined to be part of Los Camperos, a mariachi group he had admired since he was a little boy. Former Los Camperos musical director Nati Cano invited Chuy to join the group in 1988 and has been the musical director of the group since 1992. Los Camperos’ abundant accolades, including multiple Grammy awards and nominations and highly praised performances on premier concert stages such as Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and the Getty Center, can easily obscure the fact that its leaders come from humble roots, deep within a mariachi tradition shaped by family and community. In 2018, they provided the musical accompaniment for the New York debut of the world’s first mariachi opera, Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (“To Cross the Face of the Moon”) by the New York City Opera. In 2019, Smithsonian Folkways released De Ayer para Siempre. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/09/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-03
- Main contributors:
- Jimbo Hart
- Summary:
- Jimbo Hart (Nashville, Tennessee) Bassist and Alabama native Jimbo Hart has been holding down Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit's low end for over a decade, touring the world and earning a Grammy for the group’s 2017 album, The Nashville Sound. Recorded in his home studio, Jimbo articulates why geology plays a significant role in the music of Muscle Shoals, the joy he gets from recording others (like projects for Ross Adams and King Corduroy), and the importance of meaningful connection between musicians as well as a reverence for the past. As one of many musicians intertwined with the Muscle Shoals scene, Jimbo Hart has made his own name as a producer, bassist and writer. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 10/03/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-09
- Main contributors:
- John Dell
- Summary:
- John Dell (Austin, Texas) Guitarist and singer for El Tule, John Dell grew up in Monterrey, Mexico, and moved to Austin, Texas, where he founded the group in 2004. Playing original music, having fun, and making people dance, El Tule has been honing its unique sound, combining influences of cumbia, merengue, salsa, reggae and Latin jam in Austin, TX. Their original music is about history, art, and culture, often focusing on legends and tales of the mystical. The sound that El Tule brings to each performance naturally transcends all cultural and social backgrounds. Their high-energy live show has brought them to festivals and venues across the country, including SXSW, Tropical Heatwave, Viva Big Bend!, First Night Austin, Old Settlers Music Festival, Pachanga Fest, Pecan Street Festival, Austin Reggae Festival, Xemumba World Music Fest, Texas Salsa Fiesta, Festival De Cumbia En La Capital, and Austin City Limits Music Festival 2015 in front of an estimated 70,000 people. El Tule released its latest single Mil Mascaras on Cinco de Mayo, 2020. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/09/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-18
- Main contributors:
- John Moschioni
- Summary:
- John Moschioni (Houston, Texas) Born in the United States Air Force in 1954, John Moschioni spent seventeen years growing up in the military. He lived in various places in the United States and Germany. He is a self-taught musician and comments that culturally, he identified with blues, soul, and R&B music. John Moschioni, “Texas Johnny Boy,” has been playing blues for over forty years. He knows how to command a stage and his specialty is “old-school” R&B and traditional blues. He plays in live settings and is a one-man band. Besides primarily being a lead singer and frontman, he also plays diatonic and chromatic harmonica, flute, and saxophone. He makes half of his living playing music, doing art of all sorts, and buying/selling antique documents on eBay. [Texas Johnny Boy, an authentic Houston bluesician often playing with guitar player Milton Hopkins, passed away on November 27, 2020, after a short battle with cancer. “His relentless passion of da blues filled his life with enough music to bluesify the heavens into eternity,” his baby brother (ninth of ten) says. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/18/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-25
- Main contributors:
- John Santos
- Summary:
- John Santos (Oakland, California) Born in San Francisco, CA, John Santos was raised in the Puerto Rican and Cape Verdean traditions of his family, surrounded by music. The fertile musical environment of the San Francisco Bay Area shaped his career in a unique way. His studies of Afro-Latin music have included several trips to New York, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Brazil, and Colombia. He is known for his innovative use of traditional forms and instruments in combination with contemporary music and has earned much respect and recognition as a prolific performer, composer, teacher, writer, radio programmer, and record/event producer whose career has spanned four decades. John has performed and/or recorded with acknowledged multi-generational masters such as Cachao, Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Bebo Valdés, Eddie Palmieri, and Jerry Gonzalez, to name a few. John is widely respected as one of the top writers, teachers, and historians in the field and was a member of the Latin Jazz Advisory Committee of the Smithsonian Institution. He is currently part of the faculty at the California Jazz Conservatory (Berkeley, CA), San Francisco State University, Jazz Camp West (since 1986), and the College of San Mateo (CA). His fourteenth recording, Art of the Descarga, was just released (June 2020) on the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings label. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/25/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-30
- Main contributors:
- John Stevens
- Summary:
- John Stevens (Swoyersville, Pennsylvania) John Stevens is an accordion player and polka musician based in Swoyersville, Pennsylvania. In 1995, he founded the John Stevens Polka Band. The band has released eighteen cassettes and albums, including Doubleshot Preview (1995) and Come On Let’s Dance (1996). They have performed across the United States, appearing at festivals including Pillar Polkabration (CT), Pulaski's Big Polka Celebration (WI), Polka Spree By The Sea (NJ), The Bethlehem Musikfest (PA), Polka Fireworks (PA), and Polkamotion By The Ocean (MD). In 1997 their song “Everyone’s having Fun” was named number one tune of the year on the Jolly ST. Nick’s Polka Revolution show heard over WPHB 1260AM in Houtzdale, PA. The band has been on numerous Television shows including Pennsylvania Polka, The Jolly Joe Timmer Show, Let’s Polka, and The Bethlehem Musikfest. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 09/30/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-15
- Main contributors:
- Johnny Rawls
- Summary:
- Johnny Rawls (Purvis, Mississippi) With a career spanning more than 50 years, Johnny Rawls is an internationally recognized recording artist, music producer, and songwriter who tours extensively throughout North America and overseas. The Blues Music Awards, Blues Blast Awards, Living Blues Awards, and the W. C. Handy Awards have all acknowledged Johnny with multiple awards and nominations, including Soul Blues Album of the Year and Soul Blues Artist of the Year. Living Blues Magazine described him as a “soul-blues renaissance man” when he was featured on the cover in 2002. Johnny is mentioned on two markers along the Mississippi Blues Trail: one in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, marking the Hi-Hat Club, and another in Rocklin, Maine, marking the migration of blues from Mississippi to Maine. Born in Columbia, Mississippi, in 1951, Johnny grew up in Purvis (near Hattiesburg) and Gulfport. At age fifteen, Johnny’s high school band teacher asked Rawls to join his band as a saxophone player. Well into his career, in the mid-1970s, Johnny became the band director for soul singer O.V. Wright, and toured with O.V. until his death in 1980. Wright’s band, under Johnny’s leadership, continued to perform as the Ace of Spades band for several years. Johnny then became the band director for Little Johnny Taylor and in 1985, began touring as a solo artist and made his first solo recording. Rawls has released more than fifteen albums, and to date, ten of Johnny’s albums have been nominated for Soul Blues Album of the Year, with I’m Still Around winning in 2019. Johnny tours extensively throughout the US and internationally, playing approximately 200 dates every year. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 10/15/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-25
- Main contributors:
- Jon Dee Graham
- Summary:
- Jon Dee Graham (Austin, Texas) Jon Dee Graham was born in 1959 in the Texas Panhandle and grew up on the Texas/Mexico border. For over forty years, he has been a working musician with eleven albums and an artist specializing in bears, having sold over 300 paintings and drawings. He lives with his wife, son, two dogs, and two cats south of the river in Austin, TX. He plays regularly at the Continental with his rock band when he is not touring solo with his guitar—which he does 150 days out of the year—or with his band. His live shows and his Americana/rock music feed off of live audiences’ rapport. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/25/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-23
- Main contributors:
- José Alfredo
- Summary:
- José Alfredo (Chicago, Illinois) José Alfredo Guerrero is an educator and musician who grew up in Chicago’s La Villita. A graduate of DePaul University’s School of Music, he is a member of Madera Once, a band that pays tribute to Mexican-regional and traditional music with a contemporary spin. Madera Once's mission is to keep Mexican and Latin American music alive as it forges a new identity through the musicians’ and audience’s lived experiences within the U.S. Their debut EP, Amado, enjoyed regional success. José Alfredo has a natural teaching talent, whether it be as a schoolteacher (his day job) or as a representative and champion of traditional Mexican songs. He performs original content but also has an impressive knowledge of traditional Mexican songs and repertoire, understanding the importance of carrying these songs not only to new generations but to older generations in the United States who are missing their home country of Mexico. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 09/23/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-14
- Main contributors:
- Joshua Asante
- Summary:
- Joshua Asante (Little Rock, Arkansas) Joshua Asante is a musician, writer, and photographer. He is the lead vocalist and guitarist/keyboardist for the Little Rock, Arkansas-based indie bands Amasa Hines and Velvet Kente. Asante has also toured extensively as a solo performer, sharing what he calls “astral soul,” a blend of electronic and soul music. Onstage, Joshua sings lyrics inspired by travel through space, the paintings of Hughie Lee Smith, and the literary work of Black speculative fiction giants Henry Dumas and Octavia Butler. For his live iterations of these ideas, Asante positions himself alone surrounded by synthesizers, drum machines, guitars, and a saxophone. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 09/14/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-26
- Main contributors:
- Jrdarappr
- Summary:
- Jrdarappr (Richmond, Virginia) Jrdarappr aka JR is a rapper based in Richmond, Virginia. His debut album Highway To Hell was released in the spring of 2020 and explores subjects like police brutality, homicide and the ups and downs of living in the United States. The album was made in collaboration with Richmond-based producer NameBrand, along with members of the Poverty Crew, composed of JR, Vonton Soup, and Esco. Other featured artists on the album include Richmond hip hop artists Michael Millions, Young Flexico, and Nickelus F. Beyond the album, JR has performed in open mics around the city, and released a number of music videos driven by visual aesthetics and narrative flow, including “Way 2” and “This That.” JR has collaborated with the Poverty Movement, a project of his and the Poverty Crew that uses creative mediums to further Black radical liberation. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 09/26/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-08
- Main contributors:
- Kai Lyons
- Summary:
- Kai Lyons (San Francisco, California) Kai Lyons is a twenty-five-year-old jazz guitarist. Growing up in the Excelsior District of San Francisco, he was surrounded by music and community from an early age. He completed his studies at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts in 2012 as the first to graduate from the acclaimed Classical Guitar Program. From 2012-2014, on full scholarship, Kai attended the prestigious jazz program at William Paterson University in New Jersey. He studied with Vincent Herring, Gene Bertoncini, Harold Mabern, Rich Perry, and Hal Galper. Kai received a Bachelor of Arts in Music from San Francisco State University, where he studied with Andrew Speight, Michael Zisman, and Hafez Modirzadeh. Ever since returning to the Bay Area in 2015, he has freelanced extensively and also traveled frequently to New York City, New Orleans, and the Caribbean on music trips. Besides working with his own trio, Kai has performed with Mike Clark and Donald Harrison of Herbie Hancock’s Original Headhunters, Louis Romero, award-winning organist Wil Blades, Larry Vuckovich, Sueños, and Illy Bogart. He plays Cuban music and bossa nova music as well and is passionate about music playing. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/08/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-14
- Main contributors:
- Kalyn Heffernan
- Summary:
- Kalyn Heffernan (Denver, Colorado) Combining humor, playfulness, radical political perspectives, compassion, and undeniable musical chops, Wheelchair Sports Camp is Denver's biggest smallest band. Fronted by the wheelchair-using, rap-heavy, beat-making, freedom-fighting producer, educator, and foul-mouthed rebel rouser Kalyn, the band is a combination of live and electronic instruments with a more noisy, jazzy, and experimental combination for the traditional hip hop group. Raised by the DIY (Do It Yourself) spirit of experimental independence, the band has stretched itself into theatre, performance art, public television, politics, prison tours, permanent installations, and more to come. Kalyn led Denver's first disabled and queer artist campaign for the mayor’s seat in 2019. The tiny, happy mayor has long been advocating for herself and other marginalized communities through music, direct action, education, and art. Commonly known for fighting for access to human rights and calling out those in power who protect capital interests over the future, Kalyn makes herself heard with a very loud, distinct, and high-pitched sense of humor. The band unknowingly started the summer of 1997, when Kalyn moved back from California to her hometown. The band tours the States and beyond from their home in Denver. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/14/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-29
- Main contributors:
- Kamalakiran Vinjamuri
- Summary:
- Kamalakiran Vinjamuri (Washington, D.C.) Kamalakiran Vinjamuri started learning the Indian carnatic violin tradition from his grandfather, Sri. Parthasarathy Iyengar. He then received training from Smt. Malladi Vijayalakshmi. His father, Sri. Subhash Vinjamuri, started teaching him the violin at the age of seven and followed with a tutelage from Sangeethakalanidhi A. Kanyakumari. Kamalakiran has won several prizes in different music competitions, both in India as well as in the U.S. In December 2010 and 2013, Kamalakiran received the Best Performer Award from Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha, Chennai. Kamalakiran was also awarded the Lalgudi G. Jayaraman Award for Best Violinist in the 2014 Gokulashtami Series in Krishna Gana Sabha. Kamalakiran has been performing in major venues in India and the US since 2009, including the Kennedy Center. In the 2014 Spirit of Youth series, and the 2016 and 2017 Music Seasons, Kamalakiran was selected as Best Violinist in the prestigious Music Academy in Chennai. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 09/29/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-26
- Main contributors:
- Karen A. Smith
- Summary:
- Karen A. Smith (Oakland, California) Karen A. Smith is a vocalist, sound healer, dancer, and eternal student of music and dance from around the world. She adores and sings music from a wide variety of genres in a wide variety of settings, including, but not limited to, Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian Yoruba chants and songs, Sanskrit mantras, Hawaiian oli and mele, Haitian Creole songs, R&B, and inspirational music. She studies and performs with numerous cultural organizations in the Bay Area including Arenas Dance Company, Na Lei Hulu I Ka Weiku, Brasarte, Cuba Caribe, Alafia Dance Ensemble, Las Que Son Son, and many others. She conducts sacred sound and movement workshops in local spiritual communities. When she is not singing or dancing, she is teaching, making jewelry, or baking delicious pies. A New York native of Jamaican, American-Indian, and African ancestry, Karen feels honored and grateful for the opportunity to share her vocal gifts as a part of the Loco Bloco Ensemble. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/26/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-01
- Main contributors:
- Karen Celia Heil
- Summary:
- Karen Celia Heil (San Francisco, California) Karen Celia Heil, a longtime resident of San Francisco, has a thriving practice playing and teaching American old-time music on fiddle and guitar and performing locally, nationally, and internationally with bands such as the Bucking Mules, KC & the Moonshine Band, Plaid Strangers, and many other luminaries of old-time music. She has won awards for her playing at Clifftop with the Bucking Mules (First, First, Second and Fourth) and for her fiddling (Second), as well as at the Santa Barbara Fiddler's Festival (First and First). Karen is a skillful, fun, and enthusiastic teacher and teaches at camps and festivals, holds classes locally, and teaches private lessons. Her performing experience includes being cast in an award-winning production of the musical Fire On the Mountain (2015) and the Kate Weare Dance Company production and recording of Brightlands (2011). A natural live wire, she brings lots of spark and current to her teaching practice and to old-time music at large. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 9/1/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-05
- Main contributors:
- Keith Brintzenhoff
- Summary:
- Keith Brintzenhoff (Kutztown, Pennsylvania) Keith Brintzenhoff is an autoharp musician and school teacher by profession based in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. He studied autoharp with leading musicians including Bryan Bowers, Bonnie Phipps, and Becky Blackely, and was a consultant for the large size autoharp built by Folkcraft Instruments of Connecticut. He is an expert researcher on the mountain dulcimer and its Pennsylvania German connections. Keith also plays guitar and old-time banjo, and has performed solo, duo or with his band the Toad Creek Ramblers both in Pennsylvania and in Germany. He has performed in venues including the Hershey Museum and the Historic Schaefferstown, Der Dutch Peddler Homecoming (Ohio), and has served as musical advisor for the Kutztown Pennsylvania German Festival. His performances in Germany included a tour for the 700th anniversary of Switzerland Fescht in his ancestral hometown. Keith has also recorded music for various videos and films. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/05/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-30
- Main contributors:
- Keith Jones
- Summary:
- Keith Jones (Maywood, New Jersey) Keith Jones is an artist and activist based in Maywood, New Jersey. As an artist, Jones is a rapper, musician, poet, and visual artist. In 1978, he began writing lyrics and performing as a rapper known as Fezo. He has recorded multiple albums including Vocal Tai Chi (2015). He is the co-founder of Krip-Hop Nation, an affiliation of artists around the world with various disabilities seeking to raise artist creativity and inclusion in mediums including music, dance, and poetry. Additionally, Jones is president and CEO of SoulTouchin’ Experiences, an organization that sits at the intersection of public policy, community development, disability, and race. Jones has worked to provide outreach support in relationship to the arts and independent living skills. He was recognized for his leadership by the state of Massachusetts and President’s Commission for Employment for People with Disabilities, as well as the Disability Law Center’s 2011 Individual Leadership Award. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 09/30/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-30
- Main contributors:
- Ken Allen
- Summary:
- Ken Allen (Reno, Nevada) Ken Allen, DJ and founder of Amplified Entertainment has pushed the limits of nightlife entertainment throughout northern Nevada. Many will tell you that Amplified has grown to be one of the most versatile entertainment companies to date, reaching many genres: country, EDM, Latin, hip hop, top 40, pop, and reggae. With Ken Allen leading the way for over eighteen years, Amplified has reached places that were once thought to be unreachable. Self-taught, Allen is a sought-after DJ for his ability to mix any genres of music together. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/30/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-22
- Main contributors:
- Kenny Endo
- Summary:
- Kenny Endo (Honolulu, Hawaii) Kenny Endo is a vanguard of the taiko genre, continually paving new paths for this Japanese style of drumming. A performer, composer, and teacher of taiko with numerous awards and accolades, Kenny Endo is a consummate artist, blending Japanese taiko with rhythms from around the world into original melodies and improvisation. Originally trained as a jazz musician in the Asian American cultural renaissance of 1970s California, in 1980, Endo embarked on a decade-long odyssey in his ancestral Japan, studying and performing with the masters of classical drumming, traditional Tokyo festival music, and ensemble drumming. In the greater musical world, “Kenny Endo” has become synonymous with “taiko.” He is arguably one of the most versatile musicians in the genre, crossing easily between the classical Japanese style and his own neo-traditional, globally-inspired variety. Endo has performed to critical acclaim with numerous musicians, comfortable collaborating with artists of all genres. He continues to tread new ground for this ancient instrument, inspiring all with his creativity, technique, and infectious groove; has recorded numerous CDs of original taiko compositions; and has traveled across Asia, Africa, Europe, Oceania, the former Soviet Union, Australia, and the Americas in his effort to share taiko with the world. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/22/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-25
- Main contributors:
- Kevin LaMarr Jones
- Summary:
- Kevin LaMarr Jones (Richmond, Virginia) Kevin LaMarr Jones is a dance artist, choreographer, and performer. He is the artistic director of the community-based dance company and academy called Claves Unidos (translated United Rhythms), a collective of independent artists that celebrates the multiple Afro descendent roots—dances from different parts of the world, especially the Caribbean and the Americas. Kevin believes that beyond the barriers of race, age, gender, religion and geography, it is the African presence in the arts that unites the world. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/25/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-18
- Main contributors:
- Kevin Locke
- Summary:
- Kevin Locke (Wakpala, South Dakota) Kevin Locke (Tokaheya Inajin in Lakota, translated as “First to Rise”) is a world famous visionary Hoop Dancer, preeminent player of the Indigenous Northern Plains flute, traditional storyteller, cultural ambassador, recording artist, and educator. Kevin is Lakota and Anishinaabe. With nearly forty years of performing to hundreds of thousands of people in over ninety countries, Kevin’s concerts and presentations at performing art centers, festivals, schools, universities, conferences, state and national parks, monuments and historic sites, powwows, and reservations number in the hundreds annually. Eighty percent of Kevin’s presentations are performed through the educational system and shared with children of all ages in schools, community centers, and festivals internationally. As a folk artist, he uses his talents to teach others about his specific tribal background. His special joy is working with children on the reservations to ensure the survival and growth of indigenous culture. Kevin’s goal is to empower today’s youth in culture and “raise awareness of the Oneness we share as human beings.” His belief in the unity of humankind is expressed dramatically in the traditional Hoop Dance, which illustrates “the roles and responsibilities that all human beings have within the hoops (circles) of life.” Kevin Locke dedicates his life’s work to Baha’u’llah. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/18/2020
- Date:
- 2020-10-14
- Main contributors:
- Kozue Matzumoto
- Summary:
- Kozue Matzumoto (Los Angeles, California) Born and raised in the Tohoku (東北) area in Japan and having lived in Tokyo as well, Kozue is now based in the Los Angeles area. She has played the koto since she was three years old under Ikuta-ryu (生田流) Miyagi-kai (宮城会) and holds a semi-master title (準師範). She has also played the shamisen and the shinobue since she was very young. In North America, she has been collaborating with various musicians and movement, visual, installation, and other types of artists. Not only does she play traditional, contemporary, and experimental music, she also improvises, composes, and creates mixed media arts. She has contributed her koto sounds to 2020 Tokyo Olympics (postponed) as well as Ghost of Tsushima, a PS4 game released in 2020. She has participated in various projects and performances including at Center for World Music (San Diego, CA), SASSAS (Los Angeles, CA), Washington Street Art Center (Boston, MA), and Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble (Vancouver, Canada), to name a few. A Japanese music ensemble instructor at California Institute of the Arts, she has been invited as a guest lecturer by schools in California and also travels throughout the U.S. for lectures, master classes, and workshops. She studied improvisation, composition, and music technology, and graduated with a Performer-Composer MFA from California Institute of the Arts. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/14/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-13
- Main contributors:
- Kuki Tuaiasosopo
- Summary:
- Kuki Tuaiasosopo (American Samoa) Kuki Tuaiasosopo is an ethnomusicologist, musician, vocalist, and church choir leader. He received his Masters of Music from the University of Hawaii in Manoa, where he completed a thesis on the sacred music of the Congregational Church of Jesus in Samoa. He is Chairman of the Fine Arts Department at American Samoa Community College, where he teaches Music, Drama, and Speech. He is a member of the ICTM Study Group for the Music and Dances of Oceania, ICTM Regional Liaison for American Samoa, and a Music Researcher for 20th Century Fox Movies. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 10/13/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-01
- Main contributors:
- Kumera Zekarias
- Summary:
- Kumera Zekarias (Washington, D.C.) Kumera Zekarias is a multilingual singer-songwriter, producer, and the band leader of Kino Musica, a five-piece group based in Washington, D.C. Originally from Austin, Texas, Kumera’s diverse and reflective music is rooted in the soulful expression of blues and the bilingual traditions of the southwestern United States. Kumera founded Kino Musica in 2014 to explore his own East African musical heritage. Recently he conducted ethnomusicological research at the Library of Congress, exploring the relationship between music from the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, and Afro-Colombian music from the Pacific coast, culminating in a concert at the 2019 Library of Congress Archive Challenge. He recorded an EP in Bogota, Colombia in late 2018 titled Biyya Chonta. Kumera has also worked as an educator in the Washington, D.C., area for twelve years, designing inclusive programs focused on supporting immigrant youth and their families. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 10/01/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-16
- Main contributors:
- Lakota John
- Summary:
- Lakota John (Pembroke, North Carolina) Lakota John is a Native American artist, songwriter, producer, and musician from Southeastern North Carolina. Lakota John has toured nationally and internationally, performing in venues including the Kennedy Center, the Institute of American Indian Arts Music Fest in Santa Fe, and the Piedmont Blues Festival. He has shared the stage with artists including Pura Fe, Taj Mahal, Keith Secola, and Dom Flemons. He has studied with blues masters John Cephas and Phil Wiggins, among others, and was an artist with the Music Maker Relief Foundation, performing locally as one of their Next Generation Artists alongside elder Bluesmen. His recorded releases include Old Bluez That’s Newz to Me (2009), Lakota John and Kin (2013), and The Winds of Time (2017). Lakota John was awarded a Carolina Music Award in the America/Bluegrass category and has won first place in the 2019 Road to Memphis PBPS Blues Challenge Solo/Duo Competition. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/16/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-26
- Main contributors:
- LaRhonda Steele
- Summary:
- LaRhonda Steele (Portland, Oregon) Gospel, jazz, and blues singer LaRhonda Steele began her musical journey in Jones, Oklahoma, at age 13 singing her first solo in church. Her journey continued to Portland, Oregon and beyond culminating into a powerful legacy of musical experiences. Throughout her musical career, she has enjoyed working with local, national, and international artists including Gino Vannelli, Curtis Salgado, Norman Sylvester, Janice Marie Scroggins, and Tharp Memory. She is the 2017–2019 Muddy Award winner for Best Female Vocalist presented by the Cascade Blues Association and is a member of the Cascade Blues Association Hall of Fame. Performing in Porretta, Italy, at the 30th annual Porretta Soul Festival honoring American Soul Music; Lincoln Center with Obo Addy in 2005; and her yearly appearances at the Waterfront Blues Festivals are just a few of the many highlights of her career. LaRhonda currently enjoys directing the nonprofit Portland Interfaith Gospel Choir, serving as music director of the Portland Center for Spiritual Living, performing with her own LaRhonda Steele Band, vocal coaching, and songwriting. LaRhonda will be inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame in 2021 since the 2020 inductees have to wait a year due to COVID. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/26/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-23
- Main contributors:
- Larry Lee
- Summary:
- Larry Lee (Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands) Larry Lee is a ukulele player and music educator based in Saipan, the largest of the Northern Mariana Islands. Originally from Hawaii, Larry moved to the Marianas around 1990. He has served as music instructor at Northern Marianas College, developing and teaching ukulele courses. He has also taught at junior high schools on the island as well as private lessons and classes at the Public Library. He has performed regularly at venues such as the Surf Club restaurant and produced music videos with his son, musician Kui Lee. Lee is also the co-founder and organizer of the annual Marianas Ukulele Festival, which has received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities to produce a documentary video about ukulele in the Northern Mariana Islands in 2020. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/23/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-12
- Main contributors:
- Lawrence F. Archambault
- Summary:
- Lawrence F. Archambault (Fort Yates, North Dakota) Lawrence (Larz) Archambault, a Hunkpapa Lakota from the Standing Rock Sioux Nation of North and South Dakota, is the drummer for the recording group Stones of Red. Fans describe their music as a mix of Lenny Kravitz, Big Head Todd & the Monsters, and Delbert McClinton, which Stones of Red finds humbling as all have been their influences. Since regrouping the band in 2016, Stones of Red has progressed at an astonishingly quick rate to emerge on the music scene as a budding young, high-energy group coupled with the group’s hauntingly soulful vocals and musicianship. Stones of Red is backed by seasoned musicians, playing original music and a variety of cover music during their live shows. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/12/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-06
- Main contributors:
- Layth Sidiq
- Summary:
- Layth Sidiq (Boston, Massachusetts) Layth Sidiq is a violinist, composer and educator. Born in Iraq and raised in Jordan, Layth trained at the National Music Conservatory with Timur Ibrahimov, and later at the Chetham's School of Music in Manchester, U.K. He holds a BM from the Berklee College of Music as well as an MM from the Berklee Global Jazz Institute ,where he studied with artists including Danilo Perez and Terri Lyne Carrington. Layth has performed internationally with artists including Simon Shaheen, Javier Limon, and Jack Dejohnette, and has recorded on Grammy-nominated albums. He has performed as leader and sideman in venues including the Boston Symphony Hall and the Kennedy Center, and in 2018, he won second place in the Zbigniew Seifert International Jazz Violin Competition in Poland. Layth is the director of the Arab Music Ensemble at Tufts University and the Center for Arabic Culture’s Youth Orchestra Program and teaches at Simon Shaheen’s Arabic Music Retreat in Massachusetts. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/06/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-24
- Main contributors:
- Leroy Moore
- Summary:
- Leroy Moore (Berkeley, California) Leroy F. Moore, Jr., founder of the Krip-Hop Nation, since the 1990s, has written the column “Illin-N-Chillin” for POOR Magazine. Moore is one of the founding members of the National Black Disability Coalition and activist around police brutality against people with disabilities. Leroy has started and helped start organizations like Disability Advocates of Minorities Organization, Sins Invalid, Krip-Hop Nation. His cultural work includes film documentary Where Is Hope, Police Brutality Against People with Disabilities, spoken-word CDs, poetry books, and children’s book Black Disabled Art History 101 published by Xochitl Justice Press. His graphic novel, Krip-Hop Graphic Novel Issue 1: Brown Disabled Young Woman Superhero Brings Disability Justice to Hip-Hop was published by Poor Press in 2019, and in 2020, Leroy also published Black Disabled Ancestors with Poor Press. Moore has traveled internationally, networking with other disabled activists and artists. Moore has written, sung, and collaborated on music videos on Black disabled men. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/24/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-16
- Main contributors:
- Lesli Wood
- Summary:
- Lesli Wood (Seattle, Washington) Lesli Wood, front person, guitarist, and songwriter for Skates! (pop band, upbeat, energetic, with a lot of punk influence), also plays lead guitar in the punk band Trash Day and bass for Seattle songwriter Craig Jaffe. Skates! is an outlet for Wood's carefree pop songs and unforgettable melodies. Influences hint at Hüsker Dü, Talking Heads, and Best Coast. Skates! live shows are energetic and full of melodic goodness, beyond catchy melodies. Proficient Lesli Wood is passionate when talking about her band, their live shows, and the energy they get out of their audiences and vice-versa. She is grateful for her life, her music making, and her bandmates. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/16/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-19
- Main contributors:
- Lezlie Webster
- Summary:
- Lezlie Webster (Concord, New Hampshire) Lezlie Webster is a Scottish Highland piper and dancer based in Concord, New Hampshire. A native of Ontario, Canada, she began her training in Ontario and Nova Scotia, and studied piping and Scottish highland dancing in Scotland. Lezlie has won many piping competitions in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., and is a graduate and examiner of the Institute of Piping. She is also an adjudicator for the Easter U.S. Pipe Band Association. Lezlie and her husband, renowned piper Gordon Webster, were co-founders of the New Hampshire School of Scottish Arts in Manchester, NH, Lezlie and Gordon were invited to represent Scottish Highland piping and dance traditions for New Hampshire’s presentation at the 1999 Smithsonian Folklife Festival and again for the expanded recreation Celebrate New Hampshire festival held in 2000 in Hopkinton, New Hampshire. Lezlie has been honored by the St. Andrew’s Society for her contributions to the Scottish Community. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/19/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-15
- Main contributors:
- Lu Fuki
- Summary:
- Lu Fuki and Tazeen Ayub (Detroit, Michigan) Lu Fuki and Tazeen Ayub are performing artists and community organizers based in Detroit, Michigan. Lu Fuki is a guitar player and composer, as well as a director at Dream of Detroit, a nonprofit organization in the Westside of Detroit that focuses on fairness and equity in economics and housing. Tazeen is a composer, instrumentalist, and vocalist, as well a professor of Arabic. They have performed in a wide range of venues including the St. John Coltrane Church in San Francisco and the Burning Man festival in Black Rock City, Nevada. Together, they are founders and members of the collective Lu Fuki & Divine Providence, which comprises dancers, visual artists, and poets, as well as an Afro-Jazz Spirit band. They are also co-directors of GAMA Detroit, the local chapter for Gather All Muslim Artists, a national non-profit organization that seeks to create a platform that nurtures Muslim artists in the United States. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 09/15/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-02
- Main contributors:
- Luc Reynaud
- Summary:
- Luc Reynaud (Winthrop, Washington) Luc Reynaud is a musician, producer, and humanitarian who lives by the code that anything is possible if we do not limit ourselves. Along with his band Luc and the Lovingtons, a globetrotting world-soul-reggae band, he co-founded the Goodness Tour, a nonprofit organization that brings music and art experiences to people facing adversity all over the world. The tour travels to refugee camps, disaster zones, homeless shelters, hospitals, and anywhere that humans are in need of a positive outlet for expression. In 2005, Luc co-wrote a song with a group of kids in an evacuation shelter after Hurricane Katrina called “The Freedom Song,” which Grammy Award-winning artist Jason Mraz would cover on his Love Is a Four Letter Word album. In 2016, Luc and the band released a music video called "Welcome to My House," which was filmed in a Syrian refugee camp in northern Jordan and in the northwestern United States. The song and video paired Syrian and American youth together singing “You’re welcome to my house” in Arabic and English. In 2017 and 2018, Luc directed a project through the Goodness Tour that brought over a hundred Puerto Ricans together to write and sing a song in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. In 2019, Luc began co-writing a musical with Bahamian evacuees living in disaster shelters in the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian. Luc continues to respond to his calling with a dedication to serve humanity through music. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/02/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-08
- Main contributors:
- Luis Herrera
- Summary:
- Luis Herrera (Fillmore, California) Luis Herrera is brother number two in his family band, Hermanos Herrera, a musical group consisting of five brothers and their younger sister. The group plays various styles of traditional Mexican music such as son huasteco, son jarocho, and norteña music. They have shared their music with a wide audience, performing throughout the U.S. and Mexico at world-renowned venues, and shared the stage with Los Tigres del Norte, Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano, Linda Ronstadt, Los Lobos, Intocable, Julieta Venegas, and Banda el Recodo, to name a few. In 2015, Hermanos Herrera joined the nationwide campaign to encourage Latinos in the United States to attend and graduate from college. Through their music they have raised over $100,000 for the community and have assisted in countless fundraising and community service events, educating children and assisting those in need. Hermanos Herrera continue to promote cultural awareness and appreciation of their Mexican heritage with musical presentations and workshops at both the elementary school and collegiate levels. They released their ninth recording, Ayer, Hoy y Para Siempre in April 2020. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/08/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-11-02
- Main contributors:
- Lyla June
- Summary:
- Lyla June (Albuquerque, New Mexico) Lyla June is an Indigenous environmental scientist, doctoral student, educator, community organizer, and musician of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne), and European lineages from Taos, NM. Her dynamic, multi-genre performance and speech style has invigorated and inspired audiences across the globe towards personal, collective, and ecological healing. Her messages focus on the climate crisis, Indigenous rights, supporting youth, inter-cultural healing, historical trauma, and traditional land stewardship practices. She blends her undergraduate studies in human ecology at Stanford University, her graduate work in Native American Pedagogy at the University of New Mexico, and the indigenous worldview she grew up with to inform her perspectives and solutions. Her internationally-acclaimed performances and speeches are conveyed through the medium of prayer, hip-hop, poetry, acoustic music, and speech. Her personal goal is to grow closer to Creator by learning how to love deeper. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 11/02/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-02
- Main contributors:
- Maggie Delaney-Potthoff
- Summary:
- Maggie Delaney-Potthoff (Madison, Wisconsin) Founding member of Harmonious Wail, Maggie Delaney-Potthoff is a vocalist extraordinaire whose percussive instrument of choice is a cardboard box (but who can also rock almost any household object). Harmonious Wail plays Americana-infused Gypsy Jazz. Along with her illustrious yet humble artist bandmates, she vows that every performance is played from the heart and infused with a perfect balance of inspiration, emotion, wit, and storytelling. Presently, the group celebrates ten recordings and over thirty years of existence. Their music has been played in films and they have received the 2017 Musicnotes Outstanding Musical Career Achievement. Award and the 2020 18th Annual Independent Music Awards Acoustic Song category for “Move.” Maggie’s captivating voice captured voters’ hearts and made her the 2020 AARP Superstar recipient. She also teaches voice. In this interview you will hear her talking about her teaching. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/02/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-06
- Main contributors:
- Marcella Simien
- Summary:
- Marcella Simien (Memphis, Tennessee) Born into one of the first Creole families to settle in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, Marcella René Simien took her South Louisiana heritage to Memphis, Tennessee, where she is based. Daughter of two-time Grammy Award-winning zydeco artist Terrance Simien, Marcella grew up immersed in sound and performance. A graduate of the prestigious Memphis College of Art, Simien is now the front woman for her band, Marcella and Her Lovers. Her music is a hybrid of classic Memphis soul and New Orleans funk performed with the help of Creole accordion. As one of only 500 artists in America nominated for a prestigious USA Artists Fellowship, in 2016 Marcella and Her Lovers were also featured on the nationally syndicated radio program Beale Street Caravan. She has been a featured performer on the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise alongside greats such as Marcia Ball, Allen Toussaint, and Irma Thomas. She sang lead vocals on a track off her father’s album Dockside Sessions, which won a Grammy for Best Regional Roots Album of the Year (2014). Simien’s first full-length album, Got You Found, with Marcella and Her Lovers, was engineered and co-produced at American Recording Studio by Pete Matthews and Toby Vest. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 10/06/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-07
- Main contributors:
- Marika Hughes
- Summary:
- Marika Hughes (New York City, New York) Marika Hughes is a cellist based in Brooklyn, New York. Although trained in Western classical music, Marika has worked with a wide range of artists and musical genres including Whitney Houston, Lou Reed, Anthony Braxton, Adele, Henry Threadgill, D’Angelo, and Idina Menzel. She was a founding member of the Bay Area-based bands 2 Foot Yard and Red Pocket. She is a teacher and director for Young Arts, a teacher at the Heifetz Institute, and a teaching artist at Carnegie Hall’s Lullaby Project. Marika has released a number of albums, including The Simplest Thing (2011), Afterlife Music Radio (2011) and New York Nostalgia (2016). She has led her own bands Bottom Heavy and the New String Quartet and played as a cellist in the Tony award-winning show Hadestown on Broadway. Beyond playing music, Marika has been a guest host for All Ears on WQXR and is a featured storyteller on The Moth. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/07/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-14
- Main contributors:
- Marlysse Simmons
- Summary:
- Marlysse Simmons (Richmond, Virginia) Marlysse Rose Simmons-Argandoña is a first-generation Chilean-American pianist, composer and educator based in Richmond, Virginia. She is the band leader, arranger and pianist for the globally renowned indie-salsa band Bio Ritmo and the bolero-inspired project Miramar. With her projects she has toured North America, Europe, Russia, and Georgia. She is a recipient of the Mid-Atlantic Touring Arts grant, recorded for Brooklyn’s Daptone, Barbès, and Spain’s Vampisoul Records. She studied composition under Grammy Award-winning artist Arturo O’Farrill and has traveled the world to make independent studies of various musical traditions including Brazil, Cuba, Chile, Puerto Rico and country of Georgia. Simmons also works as a commissioned arranger, educator and lecturer. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/14/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-06
- Main contributors:
- Martha Redbone
- Summary:
- Martha Redbone (Harlan County, Kentucky) Martha Redbone is a Native and African American vocalist, songwriter, composer, and educator. Drawing on the tradition of her gospel-singing African American father and the spirit of her mother’s Cherokee/Shawnee/Choctaw culture, Redbone explores the boundaries of American Roots music and gives voice to issues of social justice. She draws from a number of genres, including folk, blues, and gospel. She has recorded numerous albums, including The Garden of Love: Songs of William Blake (2012), a collection of William Blake poems set to the music of Appalachia. In her work in theatre, Redbone composed original music for the 2019 revival of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf, the choreopoem by Ntozake Shange. Redbone’s own musical Black Mountain Women for The Public Theater addresses the ongoing environmental destruction of her ancestral homeland in Appalachia told through the lives of four generations of women in her matriarchal Cherokee family. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/06/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-02
- Main contributors:
- Marv Hamilton
- Summary:
- Marv Hamilton (Salt Lake City, Utah) Marv Hamilton (guitar, vocals, harmonica), is an award-winning performing songwriter with two hard-won CDs to his credit. Hamilton’s folk and acoustic blues songs have earned him a reputation as one of Utah’s finest songwriters. Marv returned from Vietnam in 1970 and in his recovery efforts, he picked up his first guitar to play along with John Prine; Cat Stevens; James Taylor; the Beatles; the Byrds; the Doors; Dylan; and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. He says that his music is 100% organic, cage-free folk, roots and blues. Earth music, breakup songs, blues, and ballads. Slices of life in the hills and windblown ridges of the Wasatch mountains or Black Hills of Dakota, a plane load of “grunts” on their way to Vietnam, a Cadillac, train, old truck, a motorcycle. Portraits of characters: an eco-warrior, dogs, a 1960s stewardess, icons of rock ‘n roll, lovers. Emotional journeys: grief, anger, angst and sorrow, joy and hope. At present, he plays with the Hamilton Cantonwine Clark Trio, a unique blend of folk, roots, and blues, lots of Marv's originals and some not-so-often-covered tasty covers to round out the mix. Marv supports his guitar habit as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in private practice in Salt Lake City. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/02/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-12
- Main contributors:
- Mary Flower
- Summary:
- Mary Flower (Portland, Oregon) An internationally known and award-winning picker, singer/songwriter, and teacher, the Midwest native relocated from Denver to the vibrant Portland, Oregon, music scene in 2004. She continues to please crowds and critics at folk festivals, teaching seminars and concert stages domestically and abroad, that include Merlefest, Kerrville, King Biscuit, Prairie Home Companion, and the Vancouver Folk Festival, among many. A finalist in 2000 and 2002 at the National Finger Picking Guitar Championship; a nominee in 2008, 2012, and 2016 for a Blues Foundation Blues Music Award; and many times a Cascade Blues Assn. Muddy Award winner, Flower embodies a luscious and lusty mix of rootsy, acoustic blues guitar and vocal styles that span a number of idioms – from Piedmont to the Mississippi Delta, with stops in ragtime, swing, folk and hot jazz. Flower’s twelve recordings, including her four for Memphis’ famed Yellow Dog Records—Bywater Dance, Instrumental Breakdown, Bridges and Misery Loves Company—show a deep command of and love for folk and blues string music. For Flower, it’s never about re-creation. Her dedication to the art form is a vital contribution to America’s music. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/12/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-14
- Main contributors:
- Melissa Carper
- Summary:
- Melissa Carper (Bastrop, Texas) Melissa Carper grew up playing bass and singing in her family’s country band. She went on to study upright bass at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln before performing a repertoire of old-time country, Western swing, and bluegrass with multiple groups across the South, including the Austin, Texas-based band, The Carper Family, which won Best Country Album in 2011 at the Independent Music Awards and again in 2013 with their album, Old-Fashioned Gal. In 2013, the group also made an appearance on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion (this was the second time Melissa had been featured on A Prairie Home Companion). Carper has spent many years moving back and forth between her home base in Arkansas and now Texas, where she continues to perform with the Buffalo Gals Band, whose debut album, Brand New Old Time Songs, made it to Number 2 on the European Americana charts in 2018. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 09/14/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-07
- Main contributors:
- Mercedes Mendive
- Summary:
- Mercedes Mendive (Elko, Nevada) Accordionist Mercedes Mendive is the daughter of Joe and Veronica Mendive. She attended schools in Elko and has lived in Reno, as well as eleven years in Miami, Florida. Her father was one of her greatest influences beginning at a very young age, when the sound of the accordion was constantly present in her world. Mercedes' musical journey has taken her to prestigious accordion festivals in Texas, Orlando, Florida, Miami, as well as festivals in California, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and all over the state of Nevada. Mercedes was invited to perform in July 2016 for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival while accompanying the Elko Ariñak Basque Dancers (Basque Dancers of the Great Basin). One of Mercedes' latest endeavors is the Ariñak Project that she co-founded during the summer of 2016 with lifelong friend and fellow dancer/musician Janet Iribarne. Their focus is to elaborate on the Basque culture not only with traditional dances, but with new dances, new music, instruments, language, and songs. Most recently, Mercedes was a featured performing artist with her band, Melodikoa, who performed throughout the prestigious 2018 National Cowboy Gathering in late January/early February in Elko, Nevada, titled Basques and Buckaroos. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/07/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-02
- Main contributors:
- Miera Kim
- Summary:
- Miera Kim (Iowa City, Iowa) Classical violinist Miera Kim is based in Iowa City, Iowa, where she runs the Red Cedar Chamber Music group alongside her husband. Red Cedar Chamber Music brings innovative and entertaining concert projects and residency programs to broad and diverse audiences. Miera has extensive orchestral and chamber music experience. She was named a member of the core ensemble and Executive Director of Red Cedar Chamber Music in 2016. Her extensive orchestral experience is reflected in her work as a professional violinist since the age of 16 with Orchestra Iowa. Miera has appeared frequently with the Quad-Cities Symphony String Quartet and the Maia Quartet. She studied with Jascha Brodsky at the Curtis Institute, Allen Ohmes at the University of Iowa and Doris Preucil at the Preucil School of Music. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 10/02/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-15
- Main contributors:
- Mike Reardon
- Summary:
- Mike Reardon (Scottsdale, Arizona) Mike Reardon studied jazz at Berklee College of Music from the Fall of 1980 to the spring of 1982. He has played with many rock, jazz, punk, folk, and blues bands in the Boston, MA; Rapid City, SD; and now in the Phoenix, AZ, area. Mike teaches guitar, bass, and ukulele at Strum University in North Phoenix. He is currently the vocalist and lead guitarist with Coda Blue, a classic rock band, and also fronts the Neil Young tribute band Danger Bird. During the pandemic, Mike is making at-home videos with his students. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/15/2020
- Date:
- 2020-10-08
- Main contributors:
- Miss Kam
- Summary:
- Miss Kam (Baltimore, Maryland) Miss Kam, born Kamaria Alexis, is a West Baltimore emcee. Miss Kam’s work moves between viral appeal on social media, freestyle series, and prolific collaborative efforts in and out of her community. Miss Kam has collaborated with multiple artists in the DMV region, including Chris Cassius, Baby Kahlo, and Kam’s collective group People Like Us Global. She has gained placements on The Demo Tape’s 2018 playlist and performed with renown acts like JPEGMAFIA. Her performances include cyphers, The Boiler Room, and Red Bull Miss Kam. Beyond live shows, Miss Kam has released multiple singles, including a number produced by producer Doowy Lloh. Her debut EP Birthday Pack was released in 2020. Miss Kam’s music videos, such as “We Are The World, ft. Zadia” seek to feature strong visuals of Baltimore in order to capture the city’s essence. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/08/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-26
- Main contributors:
- Moises Nuñez
- Summary:
- Moises Nuñez (Portland, Maine) Moises Nuñez aka Mosart212 is a DJ, producer, electronic artist, and educator based in Portland, Maine. His productions and DJ sets feature breaks, funk, bloops, bleeps, and rare finds from far corners of the globe. His released recordings include the EP 212 Pill (Morebeats.lesssleep Collective, 2018), and he is the host of the podcast Symphony Sessions. A mainstay in the Portland, Maine, arts community, he has performed at venues including Space Gallery and the Portland Museum of Art, in addition to touring across the Northeast and beyond. Nuñez was the winner of the Phoenix’s best DJ Music Award in 2011. Outside of music, he has worked as an educator with the Great Schools Partnership, where his focus is on issues of teen violence, restorative justice practices, the social-emotional education of teens, family engagement, and creating inclusive school environments for students. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/26/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-06
- Main contributors:
- Mollie O'Brien
- Summary:
- Mollie O’Brien (Denver, Colorado) Mollie O'Brien and her husband, guitarist Rich Moore, have for nearly forty years quietly made it their mission to find, mine, and reinvent other artists' songs. They are geniuses at the craft of interpretation in the way that great singers since the beginning of popular American music have made the songs of their era their own. As songwriters, they add their own tunes to the canon of American roots music they inhabit and show us they’re completely at home with their musical selves. A Grammy winner, Mollie has long been known as a singer who doesn’t recognize a lot of musical boundaries, and audiences love her fluid ability to make herself at home in any genre while never sacrificing the essence of the song she tackles. She is a singer at the very top of her game who is not afraid to take risks both vocally and in the material she chooses. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/06/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-05
- Main contributors:
- Monika Nieves Maldonado
- Summary:
- Monika Nieves Maldonado (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico) Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Monika Nieves Maldonado is considered one of the great and most versatile vocal performers in Puerto Rico. By age twelve, she was the main voice of the Areyto Folkloric Ballet. As a singer-songwriter for Puerto Raíces, she performed throughout Puerto Rico as well as the U.S. They shared stages with bands such as Los Pericos, Aterciopelados, La Oreja de Van Gogh, Cultura Profética, La Secta, and Fiel a la Vega. Currently, he plays güiro and sings Música típica with her family group, Herencia Musical, in which Monika joins forces with her brother, cuatro player extraordinaire Christian Nieves and her father, composer, cuatro and guitar player, Modesto Nieves. He collaborates with numerous Puerto Rican musicians and is a recording artist. Her musical project, Pasajeros del Tren, is a fantastic venue for Monika’s creativity. The group plays a fusion of Caribbean rhythms, flamenco and pop-rock. She defines her musical style as JibaRock, a refreshing and innovative formula that combines her subtle and powerful voice and musicianship, as well as her charming energy on the stage. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/05/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-31
- Main contributors:
- Montanette "Mooody" Miller
- Summary:
- Montanette “Mooody” Miller (Washington, D.C.) Montanette “Mooody” Miller is a singer based in Washington, D.C. In addition to her solo musical projects, she is a singer in the go-go band Suttle Squad. Forming as Suttle Thoughts in 1994, the band later became known as Suttle, Suttle Squad, or Squad Suttle. Suttle has opened for national recording artists such as The Isley Brothers, Jay Holiday, and Anthony David. The band has held weekly performances every Friday night at the Historical Takoma Station, one of the longest running Friday night happy hours for any go-go band. The Squad has also performed for local events and community rallies such as the Safeway Barbecue Battle, the Howard Theater, A Tribute to the Legendary Father of Go-Go, Chuck Brown, MPD Beat the Streets Annual Event, Six Annual Chuck Brown Day Virtual Party, and Bethesda Blues & Jazz. In addition to performing locally, Suttle Squad has toured as far as Cancun, Puerto Rico, Dallas, and Miami. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/31/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-06
- Main contributors:
- Monte Briggs
- Summary:
- Monte Briggs (Marty, South Dakota) Guitar player Monte Briggs lives in Marty, South Dakota. His mother is from the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Pine Ridge, and his father is from the Standing Rock Reservation. He grew up in a musical family and learned to play music from his uncle, who also taught many musicians in the Black Hill area. Monte was passionate about playing music since he was a child. With his brother, Robert Briggs, he plays and tours extensively with their group Still River, which in 2016 regrouped as Stones of Red, a high-energy group with haunting, soulful vocals and musicianship. With the release of their album Arianna Rain, Stones of Red showcase their ability to meld various genres and create vintage sounds with a whole lot of soul. The album was released and immediately gained traction within the blues and blues rock communities. To this day, the track “Arianna Rain” plays on major radio stations across America. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/06/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-15
- Main contributors:
- Monty Lane Allen
- Summary:
- Monty Lane Allen (Nashville, Tennessee) Monty Lane Allen, a multi-talented artist from South Carolina, is based in Nashville, Tennessee and is a well-known guitarist in the modern country music scene. After the release of his debut album Great Big World in 2008, several of his music videos aired on CMT and GAC and the song “Falling Water” eventually earned him a Telly Award for Best Music Video. Apart from his solo career, Monty Lane has toured as a member of Alan Jackson's backing group, The Strayhorns, for many years. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 10/15/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-11-02
- Main contributors:
- Morgan Morrison
- Summary:
- Morgan Morrison (Harpers Ferry, West Virginia) Morgan Morrison is a musician based in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. Morgan comes from a family of professional musicians across diverse genres. She began studying the music of Virginia in her teens in various music festivals across the state, but her musical interests span many genres across the world. She plays guitar, bouzouki, and sings. Morgan is a band member and principal manager of the band Furnace Mountain, and performs extensively in the United States and internationally. She teaches mandolin and guitar to local students. Morgan also coordinates more than 200 volunteers for the annual River & Roots Festival and Watermelon Park Festival in Clarke County, and is the Program Director of Barns of Rose Hill, a nonprofit performing arts venue and community center located in historic downtown Berryville, Virginia. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 11/02/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-20
- Main contributors:
- Nat Hulskamp
- Summary:
- Nat Hulskamp (Portland, Oregon) Born in Portland, OR, Nat Hulskamp began studying guitar with guitarist/composer Paul Chasman at age seventeen. He was soon introduced to flamenco guitar by José Solano. His interest in the influence of Arabic music on flamenco led him to study oud in Morocco. After returning to the U.S., he moved to Seattle to study ethnomusicology at the University of Washington. In 2000, he co-founded the Vancouver, BC, based Arabic/flamenco group Aire. In 2004, he moved to Portland and formed the group Shabava with kamancheh/sehtar/violinist and singer Bobak Salehi. In 2010, he formed the trio Caminhos Cruzados with master jazz guitarist Dan Balmer and Ghanaian percussion virtuoso Israel Annoh. Nat has studied with the top flamenco guitarists of today, including Diego del Morao, Manuel Parrilla, Pepe del Morao, Dani de Morón, and Antonio Rey, among others. He has recorded in Spain with Diego del Morao, La Macanita, Luís de Perikín, and LaBejazz, and has performed with José Antonio Rodríguez, Santiago Lara and Antonio Rey during their US tours. He now resides in Portland, composing and performing with Shabava, Caminhos Cruzados, and Seffarine. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/20/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-26
- Main contributors:
- Natasha O'Neill
- Summary:
- Natasha O’Neill (Indianapolis, Indiana) Natasha O’Neill is one third of the Indianapolis, Indiana-based outfit Wife Patrol. Alongside bandmates Nicole (bass/vocals) and Greg (guitar/vocals), Natasha, who plays drums and sings vocals, defines their sound as “sifting through ‘90s grunge and alt-rock, ‘80s pop and new wave, and ‘70s punk.” Formed in 2015, the band self-released their 2016 EP, Electric Blizzard. Following the release of that record, they embarked on a tour of the Midwest, including shows at LadyFest Cincinnati (2017) and the MidWay Music Festival (2017, 2019) in Bloomington, Indiana. Wife Patrol released their debut full-length album, Too Prickly For this World, in 2020. The band recorded and mixed the eleven-track album with their producer, P. David Hazel (The Lemonheads, Extra Blue Kind) throughout 2019, and the output is a punk/pop/metal mashup with vocal harmonies throughout. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 09/26/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-01
- Main contributors:
- Nathaniel Kuster
- Summary:
- Nathaniel Kuster (Albuquerque, New Mexico) Known as a “virtuoso de la quena,” Nathaniel Kuster (whose stage name for many years was Chichí Pérez) plays wind instruments from the Andes Mountains, including the quena, the quenacho, and the zampoña or siku. Nathaniel first heard the music of the Andes Mountains as a child in Peru. When he was an adolescent, he realized that it was the music he wanted to play. He soon mastered the quena and the zampoña with the help and support of many friends who encouraged him and accompanied him on the journey. He subsequently learned to play many other Andean wind instruments. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he works as the principal of Coronado Elementary School. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/1/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-14
- Main contributors:
- Nesby Phips
- Summary:
- Nesby Phips (New Orleans, Louisiana) The grand-nephew of Mahalia Jackson, New Orleans-native Courtney Nero, better known by his stage name, Nesby Phips, is a multi-instrumentalist, rapper, and producer who is known for his soulful approach to production. He has produced songs for Wiz Khalifa, Lil Wayne, Curren$y, Juvenile, and countless more, and due to his incorporation of many different genres of music-making into his production, co-headlined a sold-out performance at New Orleans’ famed jazz venue Preservation Hall, marking one of the first shows at the Hall headlined by a New Orleans rap artist. Nesby Phips has also worked as a cultural liaison for many writers, filmmakers, and journalists documenting New Orleans music and culture, including ESPN, Converse, VICE, Complex, VIBE, The New York Times, and more. His 2017 album, Black Man 4 Sale, was co-produced by Atlanta/LA-based producer, DJ Fu. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 09/14/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-06
- Main contributors:
- Nique Love Rhodes
- Summary:
- Nique Love Rhodes (Detroit, Michigan) Nique Love Rhodes is a hip-hop artist and organizer/activist from Detroit, Michigan. As a performer, Nique leads a multi-faceted ensemble of musicians known as the NLR Experience, playing interactive shows that fuse hip-hop music with jazz and rock. Nique has performed at festivals and headlined venues including the South by Southwest Music Festival (Texas), the North by Northeast Music Festival (Toronto), Dally in the Alley (Detroit), and the Nuyorican Poets Café (New York City). Nique has independently released studio albums including Against All Odds (2019) and The NLR Experience (2018). Nique is also involved in initiatives that are rooted in community and culture. She launched the nonprofit Rise Up Higher, which aims to use music as a tool for social good, and is also the co-founder of D.Cipher, a music mastermind collective dedicated to advancing the Detroit music economy through collaboration and partnerships. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/06/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-09
- Main contributors:
- Oliver Thompson
- Summary:
- Oliver Thompson (Boise, Idaho) Oliver Thompson started playing classical violin as a kid and progressed to bluegrass, blues and rock, and finally jazz when he earned a B.A. in Music from San Jose State University. While studying East Indian music in the San Francisco Bay Area, he started to develop his interests in world music styles. He has recorded with several artists including Bob Culbertson, Mondo Raga Samba, Amuma Says No, and Steve Fulton. Oliver currently plays with Serenata Orchestra and the Basque group Kalimotxo Cowboys. In addition, he performs and records with the Moody Jews of Boise, a band that favors a high-energy klezmer (Eastern European), Jewish-American jazz, and Sephardic (Middle Eastern and Spanish) and Israeli tunes. Audience favorites at events like Deli Days: Idaho’s Jewish Festival, World Village Festival, and Hyde Park Street Fair, the Moody Jews of Boise have entertained and educated listeners about the multi-faceted world of Jewish Music. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/09/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-09
- Main contributors:
- Orlando Pimentel
- Summary:
- Orlando Pimentel (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Orlando Pimentel began his musical training in Venezuela’s System of Youth Orchestras, also known as “El Sistema.” From 1989 to 2009, he was a member of the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra and performed with such renowned conductors as Claudio Abbado, Sergiu Comissiona, Gustavo Dudamel, Judit Jaimes, and many others. In 1988, together with three other colleagues, he formed the Caracas Clarinet Quartet (1996 National Artist Award: Best Classical Ensemble), a chamber ensemble that has performed throughout Venezuela, as well as in China, Europe, South America, and the United States of America. Since he moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 2009, Orlando has performed regularly with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, Fox Valley Symphony, Racine Symphony, Kenosha Symphony, and Festival City Symphony Orchestra. He performs also with his wife, pianist Elena Abend, as part of the Elisio Ensemble. Orlando received his master’s degree in Clarinet Performance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee studying under the tutelage of Todd Levy. Most currently, he has been appointed as Faculty of Clarinet at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/09/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-14
- Main contributors:
- Oscar Chirinos
- Summary:
- Oscar Chirinos (Ogden, Utah) Oscar Chirinos has been playing flamenco guitar since he was a little child. Born in Lima, Peru, his family moved to United States when he was nine. He picked up his passion for flamenco from his Spanish grandfather, a guitar player himself. He now lives in Ogden, Utah, where he works for an advertisement company so that he can pursue his passion, music. In 2019, Oscar and Romina Notaro formed the flamenco fusion band AmoRoma along with Rodrigo (percussion), Jaesi (violin), and Barbara (dancer). Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/14/2020
- Date:
- 2020-09-30
- Main contributors:
- Oscar Rios Pohirieth
- Summary:
- Oscar Rios Pohirieth (Lincoln, Nebraska) A first-generation Mexican immigrant who came to Nebraska at a young age, Oscar Rios Pohirieth is a performer of traditional musics of Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, and Chile. He performs often on the panpipes, quena, and charango and is also a teacher who helps his students better understand Andean music and culture through song. As a Nebraska Arts Council artist, Pohirieth teaches students and community members through storytelling and songs sung in both Spanish and Quechua. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 09/30/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-08
- Main contributors:
- Pablo Batista
- Summary:
- Pablo Batista (Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania) Pablo Batista is a master percussionist based in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. He has performed, recorded and toured internationally since the 1980s with renowned musicians across genres, receiving the rare distinction of having performed on Grammy-winning releases in jazz, R&B and gospel. Pablo worked with Grover Washington, Jr. since 1985, and served as his touring percussionist 1991-1999. Between 2000-2012, Pablo recorded and toured with Alicia Keys, performing alongside her at such venues as the 2010 World Cup ceremonies in South Africa for an estimated audience of over one billion viewers. Pablo has received grants for research on Afro-Cuban percussion and composer commissions from organizations including the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage. Pablo leads his own ten-piece Mambo Syndicate salsa conjunto. As an instructor, he has taught at the Curtis Institute of Music, as well as taught low-income students at schools and community centers in North Philadelphia. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/08/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-04
- Main contributors:
- Paul Anastasio
- Summary:
- Paul Anastasio (Richard, Louisiana) Paul Anastasio began studying violin at age nine and soon gravitated to popular and folk music. By his mid-twenties, he had studied with jazz violin pioneer Joe Venuti and had begun performing in Merle Haggard’s band, the Strangers. Later he served four years in the western swing band Asleep at the Wheel and worked for three years with Larry Gatlin and two years with Loretta Lynn. From 1997 to 2006, he traveled to Mexico to study and archived the folk fiddling of southwestern Mexico’s Tierra Caliente, transcribing over 1,000 tunes, which became an ongoing project. Paul has been teaching vintage jazz, swing, western swing, improvisation, traditional country, and Mexican fiddling annually at music camps and workshops across the U.S. He is a musician in Lafayette, Louisiana-based bands including Stop the Clock Western Swing and Runaway Fiddle. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 09/04/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-16
- Main contributors:
- Pepe Santana
- Summary:
- Pepe Santana (Stanhope, New Jersey) Juan Pepe Santana is a musician, educator, and instrument maker based in Stanhope, New Jersey. Born in Ecuador, Pepe moved to the U.S. in the 1960s, where he has performed and taught Andean traditions. Pepe plays over twenty Native wind instruments and multiple string instruments. He founded the Festival of the Andes at Waterloo Village, and directed several Andean festivals at Lincoln Center, Town Hall, and Symphony Space. Pepe has lectured nationally and internationally. He was an artist in residence at the National Museum of the American Indian: Smithsonian Institution, and has delivered workshops on instrument making in venues including the Museum of Natural History. Pepe founded the ensemble INKHAY (Quechua: “to tend the fire”), which interprets traditional music from the Andes Mountains of Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador. Pepe was a master folk musician in the Apprenticeship Program of the NJSCA, and was awarded the National Merit and Title of Great Gentleman by the Ecuadorian Government. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/16/2020
- Date:
- 2020-10-14
- Main contributors:
- Queen Quet
- Summary:
- Queen Quet (Georgia Sea Islands) Queen Quet Marquetta L. Goodwine is a singer/vocalist, author, computer scientist, lecturer, and cultural historian. She is the founder of the premiere advocacy organization for the continuation of Gullah/Geechee culture, the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition. Queen Quet was the first Gullah/Geechee person to speak on behalf of her people before the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland and was also one of the first of seven inductees in the Gullah/Geechee Nation Hall of Fame. In 2008, she was recorded at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, at a United Nations Conference in order to have the human rights story of the Gullah/Geechee people archived for the United Nations. She worked with US Congressman James Clyburn to ensure that the United States Congress would work to assist the Gullah/Geechees. Queen Quet then acted as the community leader to work with the United States National Park Service to conduct several meetings throughout the Gullah/Geechee Nation for the Special Resource Study of Lowcountry Gullah Culture. Due to the fact that Gullah/Geechees worked to become recognized as one people, Queen Quet wanted to ensure that the future congressional act would reflect this in its name and form. As a result in 2006 the “Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Act” was passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by the president. Queen Quet has appeared in numerous documentaries and films, and in print and other media. She uses her voice and vocal performances as healing arts. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 10/14/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-05
- Main contributors:
- Qya Cristál
- Summary:
- Qya Cristál (Provincetown, Massachusetts) Qya Cristál is a singer, musician, and drag performer based in Provincetown, Massachusetts. She is former Miss Gay USofA Massachusetts 2018, and 4th Runner up for Miss Gay USofA 2018, as well as the winner of the Boston Drag Idol 2019. She holds a degree from Berklee College of Music and has performed in venues across the North Eastern Drag community. She has put on her own one woman shows and performed at events in venues including House of La Rue, Provincetown and Jonathan Hawkins Richardson’s Broadway on the Beach at Crown & Anchor. Through her creative work, she seeks to share messages of love, peace, and acceptance, as well as to continue to show support for her LGBTQIA+ family and assert that Black/Trans/POC Lives Matter. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/05/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-23
- Main contributors:
- Rabbi Sandra Lawson
- Summary:
- Rabbi Sandra Lawson (Elon, North Carolina) Rabbi Sandra Lawson is a rabbi, activist, public speaker, and musician based in Elon, North Carolina. Known for teaching Judaism in unique ways, Rabbi Sandra is known as the Snapchat Rabbi, and she has been featured in the Jewish Telegraph Agency as one of 10 Jews you should follow on Snapchat” and “The 50 Jews everyone should follow on Twitter.” She was ordained as a rabbi by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. Rabbi Sandra is a guitar player and singer. Her musical projects include the Barefoot, Bluegrass and Blues on the Porch virtual series, and The Torah of the Blues, which explores connections between Judaism and the Blues in relation to her perspective as a Black rabbi with southern roots. Rabbi Sandra serves as Associate Chaplain for Jewish Life at Elon University. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/23/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-11
- Main contributors:
- Rachel Reynolds
- Summary:
- Rachel Reynolds (Fox, Arkansas) Rachel is an artist and folklorist with a background in art and cultural policy and arts-focused grassroots organizing in underserved communities. Reynolds received a B.A. in American studies from the University of Arkansas and M.A. degrees in public history and heritage studies from Arkansas State University. She received a fellowship from the Southern Foodways Alliance to document Arkansas barbecue and was in the first cohort of Creative Community Fellows through National Arts Strategies. Her arts- and food-focused project, the Oregon County Food Producers and Artisans Co-Op, has been featured in Mother Earth News, Rural Missouri, Acres U.S.A. and others. In 2015, she founded the #NotMyOzarks campaign to counter anti-racial sentiment in the Ozarks region. Rachel is the Head Project Steward of Meadowcreek, Inc., a land- and art-based incubator in the Arkansas Ozarks, co-founder of the People's Library Project, and the Executive Director of the Arkansas Craft School. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 09/11/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-27
- Main contributors:
- Randy Sabien
- Summary:
- Randy Sabien (St. Paul, Minnesota) Randy Sabien has over forty years of performing experience as a contemporary violinist. He also has extensive touring and guesting experience, having toured as singer/songwriter Jim Post’s sideman, doing recordings with Greg Brown, appearing on Austin City Limits with Kate Wolf, guesting on Prairie Home Companion, and doing shows with Corky Siegel. Over the years, he has led his own bands as well, often featuring triple fiddles. Randy founded the string department at the Berklee College of Music in Boston in 1978, and then thirty years later, headed the string department at McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul. He is the author of the ground-breaking jazz method for strings, Jazz Philharmonic, published by Alfred Music. He has recorded a dozen albums to date. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 09/27/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-09
- Main contributors:
- Rebecca Whitney
- Summary:
- Rebecca Whitney (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) Director of Education of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Rebecca Whitney, tells us about the different ways MSO has managed its programming during the COVID-19 pandemic in both regular season concert activity and education programs such as the Arts in Community Education (ACE) program, a nationally acclaimed program that enhances students’ total education through the integration of music and other art forms into the overall curriculum; MSO concerts for schools; and Bach Double Violin Competition in which winners perform with the MSO on the ACE concert series. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/09/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-14
- Main contributors:
- Reggie Padilla
- Summary:
- Reggie Padilla (Honolulu, Hawaii) Saxophonist, pianist, composer, and educator Reggie Padilla was born and raised in Long Island, NY. He began his musical journey at the age of seven on the piano, and by nine, began studying the saxophone as well. While studying classical piano, Reggie was also exposed to a wide variety of music. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Classical Piano Performance from Long Island University at C.W. Post, and a master’s degree in Music Education from New York University. In January 2007, Reginald relocated to Honolulu, Hawaii, and continued his musical journey. Reggie continues to perform and record around the world on both tenor saxophone and piano. He has a private lesson studio, teaching both saxophone, piano, classical, jazz, theory, and improvisation. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/14/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-11-07
- Main contributors:
- Rhoda Ethelbah-Case
- Summary:
- Rhoda Ethelbah-Case (Whiteriver, Arizona) Born and raised in the White Mountain Apache Reservation, Rhoda grew up the child of musicians Matthew J. Kane (Midnite) and wife Lee Kane. Midnite and Lee founded the band Apache Spirit and performed together for forty-seven years, covering the entire southwestern United States and playing a variety of different venues. They recorded fifteen albums and won the First Country Folk category for the Native American musical awards. Today, as a family band, Apache Spirit livens casino, club and rodeo audiences and dance floors with their hefty mix of country, Native Contemporary Originals, Oldies but Goodies, Rock N’ Roll and Blues. Currently she is the leader, background vocalist, keyboard, and drummer for Apache Spirit, Chris Kane Trio, and Lady Krow Roadshow & Rez Rootz. Currently, Rhoda manages and is the vocalist, keyboard, and drummer for Apache Spirit, Chris Kane Trio, and Lady Krow Roadshow & Rez Rootz. She is also a motivational speaker. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 11/07/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-30
- Main contributors:
- Ricardo Lemvo
- Summary:
- Ricardo Lemvo (Los Angeles, California) Ricardo Lemvo has established himself as a pioneer with his innovative music. Lemvo's blend of Afro-Cuban rhythms with pan-African styles (soukous, Angolan semba, and kizomba) has been described as seamless and infectious. This Congo-born artist of Angolan ancestry is the embodiment of the Afro-Latin Diaspora which connects back to Mother Africa via the Cuban clave rhythm. Lemvo is truly multicultural and equally at home singing in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Lingala, and Kikongo. Lemvo hails from São Salvador Do Congo (M'Banza-Kongo), Zaire, in Northern Angola. He grew up in Congo-Kinshasa, where he was introduced to Cuban music by a cousin who owned a large collection of vintage Cuban LPs. Lemvo came to the US more than thirty years ago to pursue a law degree but ended up devoting his life to music. Since forming his Los Angeles-based band Makina Loca in 1990, Lemvo has refined his craft and vision, raising his joyous voice with strength and inspiring his audiences to let loose and dance away their worries. Through the years, Lemvo has performed countless shows in many festivals, night clubs, and performing art centers throughout Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Australia. Lemvo's seven CDs have been enthusiastically acclaimed worldwide. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/30/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-06
- Main contributors:
- Rich Moore
- Summary:
- Rich Moore (Denver, Colorado) Singer Mollie O’Brien and guitarist Rich Moore have steadfastly made it their mission to unlock the secrets of the diverse array of styles that comprise the canon of American roots music. Geniuses at interpretation and never sacrificing the essence of the songs they tackle, they are at home with their musical selves. They are unafraid of risk taking, authoritative in their performance, and at the very top of their game. And to top it all off, they’re fun. Rich, while known to produce some of the funniest onstage running commentary, is also a powerhouse guitar player who can keep up with O’Brien’s twists and turns from blues to traditional folk to jazz to rock and roll. He creates a band with just his guitar and, as a result, theirs is an equal partnership that showcases their talent for unlocking the secrets to a diverse array of songs in authoritative yet very fun and unusual arrangements. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/06/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-24
- Main contributors:
- Rickie Monie
- Summary:
- Rickie Monie (New Orleans, Louisiana) Preservation Hall pianist Rickie Monie was raised in New Orleans’s Ninth Ward. Monie’s parents played piano in church, and at home they would spin records by Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, Teddy Wilson, and other pianists. Monie’s father began teaching him at the age of eight, and he eventually played piano and organ in church. In 1982, Rickie Monie began to perform at Preservation Hall, where he has remained since. In addition to piano, Monie is also an accomplished clarinetist and regularly plays the organ in churches around New Orleans. As an ambassador of music for New Orleans and the United States, Rickie continues to share his love of music with students of all ages. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 09/24/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-15
- Main contributors:
- Ricky B
- Summary:
- Ricky B (New Orleans, Louisiana) Raised in the St. Bernard projects of New Orleans, Ricky B is considered a pioneer of New Orleans bounce, an indigenous local subgenre of rap. Incorporating Mardi Gras Indian chants into his early records, Ricky is considered widely influential across multiple demographics, including rap, hip-hop, brass band, funk and more. Ricky B has multi-generational appeal, as the songs he wrote in the 1980s and 1990s are still regularly played by DJs throughout Louisiana. Ricky B is also a cultural historian and advocate for New Orleans music and culture. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 10/15/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-30
- Main contributors:
- Ricky Carrido
- Summary:
- Ricky Carrido (Albuquerque, New Mexico) Ricardo (“Ricky”) Carrido learned to play flute and Latin percussion from his father, Romeo Carrido, as well as Afro-Cuban traditional master drummers from Cuba. He has performed and recorded with such artists as Stevie Wonder, Jessica Simpson, Alfredo de La Fe, Chuchito Valdez, Chucho Valdez, Pete Escovedo, Charanga Cubana, B-side Players, and Poncho Sanchez, among others. As of the winter of 2008, Ricky Carrido became a sworn batá drummer (Omo Añá, or child of Añá, the deity that lives in the batá drum) from the batá set by the name Obbá koso that belongs to the Obbá Enrique Barriero, from Mantanzas, Cuba. Ricky resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he teaches Afro-Cuban Folklore Drumming at the New Mexico Jazz Workshop along with his father, leads the Cuban band called Luna Llena, and plays with the group Son como Son. Ricky is also active as a private instructor. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/30/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-18
- Main contributors:
- Robertico Arias
- Summary:
- Robertico Arias (Providence, Rhode Island) Robertico Arias is a Dominican musician and leader of the Latin Music Group Alebreke, based in Providence, Rhode Island. He started his music education at ten years old, supported by his mother, folklorist Juana Arias. At the age of seventeen, Robertico became one of the most prominent congas player in the Dominican Republic, eventually moving to New York City. He has toured internationally in Europe, Asia, and North and Central America, and has performed and recorded with musicians such as Wilfrido Vargas and David Byrne. In 1998, he founded the group Merengada which released multiple albums on the BMG Latin label. In 1994, he moved from NYC to Providence, Rhode Island, where he has taught at the Providence Music School and at the Rhode Island Philharmonic. Robertico has performed and taught at many universities in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, including the Berklee College of Music, Brown University, and Rhode Island University. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 09/18/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-24
- Main contributors:
- Ron Shirley II
- Summary:
- Ron Shirley II (Atlanta, Georgia) Ron Shirley II is an R&B, pop, and electro-dance performer from Atlanta, Georgia. With rich vocals, crafty songwriting, and artsy videos, Ron is a young artist who was supported by his mother, who served as the director at the Woodruff Arts Center. He was involved in musical theatre from an early age and began writing his own music in his early teens. He released his first few EPs in the early 2010s, where he says he explored more colorful sounds and created his own visuals to accompany the music. His later albums, Thanks For Nothing and About a Boy, expanded upon similar connections between colorful visuals and music. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 09/24/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-15
- Main contributors:
- Roy Bosh
- Summary:
- Roy Bosh (Salt Lake City, Utah) Originally from Caracas, Venezuela, percussionist Roy Bosh moved to United States when he was eleven years old. He got involved in percussion at an early age and later learned Latin percussion on his own. He grew up listening to Latin music, salsa, merengue, bachata, as well as African rhythms, some of the genres he loves to play. He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he plays with a number of groups. Roy is also working on documentaries with dancers and Afro musicians in the community, and is back at college working on two master’s degrees. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/15/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-02
- Main contributors:
- Samantha Crain
- Summary:
- Samantha Crain (Norman, Oklahoma) Samantha Crain is a Choctaw singer, songwriter, poet, producer, and musician from Oklahoma. She is a two-time Native American Music Award winner and winner of an Indigenous Music Award. Her genre spanning discography has been critically acclaimed by media outlets such as Rolling Stone, SPIN, Paste, No Depression, NPR, PRI, The Guardian, NME, Uncut, and others. She has toured extensively over the past eleven years nationally and internationally, presenting ambitious orchestrated shows with a band and intimate folk leaning solo performances. She has toured with First Aid Kit, Neutral Milk Hotel, Lucy Rose, the Avett Brothers, the Mountain Goats, Brandi Carlile, Langhorne Slim, and many other bands and artists. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 10/02/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-23
- Main contributors:
- Sandhya Sridhar
- Summary:
- Sandhya Sridhar (Nashua, New Hampshire) Sandhya Sridhar is a teacher and performer of Carnatic music based in Nashua, New Hampshire. Growing up in Matunga, Bombay, she studied at the Shanmukhananda Sabha arts center and under the tutelage of Smt.Alamelu mani. In New Hampshire, she founded the Aradhana School, a studio devoted to preserving, propagating, and increasing awareness of Carnatic music. In addition to music lessons and interactive lecture-demonstrations, the studio also sponsors performances at community events. Sandhya has taught students who have performed in several premiere venues of the Greater New England area and have won many prestigious prizes. Sandhya has been a grantee of the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship program at the New Hampshire State Council of the Arts, and has been inducted into the Council’s Board. She also serves on the board of directors of MIT’s MITHAS, an organization that hosts Hindustani and Carnatic Classical music concerts in the Greater Boston area. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/23/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-22
- Main contributors:
- Sari Reist
- Summary:
- Sari Reist (Nashville, Tennessee) Sari De Leon-Reist is Artistic Director of the Grammy-nominated Alias Chamber Ensemble. She plays with the Nashville Opera Orchestra and is a regular substitute for the Nashville Symphony. Sari was also a soloist with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra and the Nexus Chamber Orchestra. In the popular music realm, she can be heard on the recordings of Lady A (formerly Lady Antebellum), Kings of Leon, Faith Hill, Ben Folds, Train, Carrie Underwood, and many others. Sari received her Bachelor of Music degree in cello performance from San Francisco Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Irene Sharp. She was formerly on the faculty of Mannes College of Music, School for Strings New York, and the Children’s Orchestra Society of New York, as well as the Governor’s School of the Arts in Tennessee and Lipscomb University. In 2018, she was a guest artist in the First National Youth Cello Festival in Ningbo, China. Sari teaches at Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 09/22/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-11-30
- Main contributors:
- Sasha Renee
- Summary:
- Sasha Renee (Louisville, Kentucky) Sasha Renee is a rapper based in Louisville, Kentucky. Sasha Renee recorded her first song in 2010. By 2011, she was under the management of Double A Entertainment and released two underground mixtapes. A Proper Introduction and the Yearned Presence mixtapes were both released before 2012 and hosted by DJ Genius. Sasha Renee was nominated for #1 Female Hip-Hop Artist at the Kymp Kamp awards in Kentucky in 2013 and 2014. “Love Lost” was released as her first official single. She continued to record and release new music including a compilation album. She launched her weekly soul based open mic event The Vibe, which became a staple in the Louisville music scene, with artists, poets, and creatives traveling from surrounding cities to be heard. Sasha Renee released the EP I Am Sasha Renee in 2017 and won the KUEA award for Best Female Hip-Hop artist in Kentucky in both 2017 and 2018. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 11/30/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-22
- Main contributors:
- Shaheed Tawheed
- Summary:
- Shaheed Tawheed (Birmingham, Alabama) Hailing from Birmingham, Alabama, rapper and activist Shaheed Tawheed is one half of the hip-hop duo, Shaheed Tawheed and DJ Supreme, on the label Communicating Vessels. They say they don't fit the mold of most typical dirty south artists, as they are practitioners of traditional boom-bap hip-hop. They released two early LPs: Health Wealth and Knowledge of Self and Scholar Warrior (The Remix Album), which showcases Shaheed’s lyrical prowess and DJ Supreme’s soulful production. As a group, Shaheed and DJ Supreme have shared stages with Atmosphere, Jurassic 5, the Jungle Brothers, Brother Ali, Raekwon, DJ Shiftee, Scarface and Stalley. Their albums include guest appearances from artists like Akil the MC (of Jurassic 5), Amir Sulaiman, and W. Ellington Felton. Their most anticipated album to date was Knowledge Rhythm and Understanding and The Art of Throwing Darts Prequel, released on Communicating Vessels. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 09/22/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-24
- Main contributors:
- Shannon Heaton
- Summary:
- Shannon Heaton (Medford, Massachusetts) Deeply rooted in Irish traditional music, Boston-based flute player/singer/composer Shannon Heaton has appeared on stages with duo Matt & Shannon Heaton, and with other traditional performers from around the world, including dancers Kieran Jordan and Kevin Doyle, Tokyo-based tricolor, and guitarist/singer Keith Murphy. As ambassador of the tradition, Shannon hosts the culture podcast Irish Music Stories, and her free Tune of the Month video series and instructional books cater to students of Irish music. Stretching from pure traditional music, Shannon also composes for winds, strings, and piano in various contexts. Heaton received a 2016 Artist Fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Live Ireland named her Female Artist of the Year in 2011 and 2010, and Irish American News named her 2009 Female Musician of the Year. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 09/24/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-26
- Main contributors:
- Shin-Yi Yang
- Summary:
- Shin-Yi Yang (Cambridge, Massachusetts) Shin-Yi Yang is a musician and educator based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She plays both guqin and guzheng, and is the founder of the Boston Guzheng Ensemble and Boston Qin Society. She is a two-time winner of the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship given by the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s Folk Arts and Heritage Program, and recipient of the 2008 Chinese Culture Connection Award. She has performed in the greater Boston area, and given performances and lecture demonstrations in venues including Yale University, New England Conservatory, and multiple museums. As a contemporary musician, she has premiered compositions and performed with ensembles such as IIIZ+ in venues including the 38e Rugissants Festival. A native of Taiwan, Shin-Yi has studied guzheng and guqin with teachers including Wang Ruey-Yuh, Tzay-Pyng, and See-Wah, and is a graduate of the National Taiwan Academy of Arts and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/26/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-02
- Main contributors:
- Sims Delaney-Potthoff
- Summary:
- Sims Delaney-Potthoff (Madison, Wisconsin) Mandolin virtuoso and vocalist Sims Delaney-Potthoff is one of the founding members of the multi-award-winning trio, Harmonious Wail. The group plays Americana-infused Gypsy Jazz and takes their listeners on a ride via the music of the Hot Club sounds of Parisian cafes, to the deepest blues of the Memphis Delta, to the heartfelt folk scenes across every-town-America. This harmonious clique are sublime entertainers, great educators, and lifters of spirits. As stewards of the Gypsy Jazz genre, they have established the Midwest Gypsy Swing Fest, held twice a year in Madison, Wisconsin. They also offer to take the fest on the road as a special concert package. They have mastered a plan on how to bring amazing Gypsy Jazz All Stars from around the world and place them in front of concert audiences throughout the United States. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/02/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-16
- Main contributors:
- Sinclair Palmer
- Summary:
- Sinclair Palmer (Durham, North Carolina) Sinclair Palmer is a bass player, educator, and instrument maker based in Durham, North Carolina. They perform in a wide range of genres with multiple local bands, and have toured nationally and internationally. They are a member of the musical groups the Muslims, Violet Bell, and Loamlands. Sinclair is also a music educator, teaching in various contexts from private lessons to university settings. They have taught their own community music course titled Music Queery at the Durham venue Pinhook’s People’s School series. Sinclair also plays several other string instruments, in addition to building their own. They hold a BM in Music Performance in Double Bass from the Miles Davis Jazz Studies Program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (2017), and an MA in Music from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2019). Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/16/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-09-28
- Main contributors:
- Sissy Brown
- Summary:
- Sissy Brown (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) Oklahoma singer-songwriter and guitarist Sissy Brown has maintained a grueling touring schedule for many years. Originally from between Wichita Falls and Waurika, Oklahoma, the independent country singer grew up in a very rural area before relocating to urban centers in her adult life. She first settled in Spokane, Washington, where she played with rockabilly bands, then moved to Los Angeles, where she played at famed venues like the Viper Room. She also spent time living in Austin and Kansas City, but she chose to return home to Oklahoma in the late 2010s and refocus, beginning to spend less time on the road and more time alone, writing and slowing down. From a family of musicians, including a great-uncle who played with Jimmie Rodgers and Lefty Frizzell, Sissy Brown is a born artist who also collects and sells vintage western wear. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 09/28/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-13
- Main contributors:
- Soni Moreno
- Summary:
- Soni Moreno (New York City, New York) Soni Moreno (Maya/Apache/Yaqui) is a vocalist, actress, composer, and poet, based in New York City. She began her career as a cast member in the original San Francisco production of Hair, and has appeared on Broadway plays including Hair and The Leaf People. Off Broadway, she has performed in plays including Aladdin, America Smith, and Blood Speaks. Soni is the co-founder of First Nations a cappella women’s trio Ulali, touring extensively throughout North America and beyond from 1987 to 2010. She is a member of MATOU, a group of Native American and Maori musicians and performers, performing original compositions that celebrate culture and traditions. Soni has toured with musicians including Buffy Sainte-Marie and the Indigo Girls and performed with Martha Redbone’s concert performances of her play Bone Hill. She has contributed to soundtracks in multiple films and television shows and performed at the Sundance Film Festival Native Program: Celebration of Music in Film. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/13/2020.
- Date:
- 2020-10-06
- Main contributors:
- Sophiyah E.
- Summary:
- Sophiyah E. (Detroit, Michigan) Sophiyah E. is a producer, singer, and songwriter based in Detroit, Michigan. Her work with piano and technology explores genres that include house, electronic music, and jazz. In the fall of 2017, she began an ongoing multi-media social awareness exhibition highlighting artists and Black culture, which gave birth to her first musical production series Alignment, an introspective narrative comprised of interviews and musical arrangements. She has performed in venues such as Detroit’s Music Hall Jazz Café, Cultivate Coffee and Tap House, and the SXSW music festival. Additionally, she does music production and film scoring. Sophiyah E. is founder of Afro Moone, a Detroit-based resource furnishing event production services, content strategy, and accessible aid for healthy living. Sophiyha E. is also the Director of Artist Relations and Chief Strategist/Curator of DCIPHER, a Detroit based organization dedicated to advancing the community and music economy. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/06/2020.