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Afua!!

Where is JUSTICE?!

About Me

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In 2006 Afua found herself growing closer to perfecting a sound around her vocal stylings and technique and soon set her sights on completing her own solo work. That same year she was fortunate to cross paths with up and coming emcee/producer/engineer: Indie Hip-Hop artist Tavi and reconnected with high-school buddy, Mercury of the Dugout to craft a sensual sound of collaborative rhythms, beats and sounds derivative of West Africa, the Caribbean and the epic soul of Black American music. This spring marks the debut of Invisible Woman, an autonomous collection of diversified melodies and thoughtful songwriting, gently crafted in the grain of rhythm and blues, hip-hop and soul while moving further toward something different altogether. Equal parts sacred and secular, Afua rests on the conventions of traditional gospel techniques and organic soul coupled with experimental drum and bass, ambient psychedelic grooves and good old dance music.
Raised in a diverse Brooklyn Baptist Church, taught and re-taught Hymns by her southern grandmother, and prone to intrinsic rhythms of her father’s West African homeland, Afua Addo has struggled to adequately conjure raw, under-explored elements of the musical genres she loves and adores. In the late 1990’s, jazz pianist extraordinaire, Pete Malinverni began composing jazz suites based on the Psalms of David. Upon Afua’s graduation from college and subsequent return to NYC, she began singing with Pete and his trio. That led to Pete arranging the 139th Psalm for Afua in 2005. Along with other amazing jazz vocalists and musicians, Afua was featured on the cd/dvd Joyful in 2006. Later that year she recorded her own Sacred Soul with Pete Malinverni on piano for limited release. Sacred featured an array of calm, soothing traditional hymns and started off with her very own, “Pray.” Mercury soon invited “Pray” to be included on his Natural Black Mixtape, featuring a collection of inspiring underground artists. This marriage of sacred and secular, fast and slow, new and old, Africa and America is really more of who Afua may be rather than what she is trying to convey through her versatile vocal styling ebbing across gospel, soul, funk and everything in between.
Powerfully motivated by eye-opening early successes on stage, in front of congregations and alongside jazz greats of the world, Afua is ambitious in her writing, focused in her musical production and unafraid to sidestep convention in an effort to retain total control of innovative musical interpretation. Poised, beautiful and always ready to create more; you surely have never heard a voice like hers before.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 8/22/2006
Influences: I’ve seen all of these greats live live live baby... Miles Davis Ruth Brown Darlene Love Stevie Wonder Al Green Patti LaBelle Chaka Khan Stephanie Mills Anita Baker Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds Tina Turner Whitney Houston Notorious BIG En Vogue Mary J. Blige Slick Rick New Edition Bobby Brown Boys II Men Raphael Saadiq Erykah Badu Jill Scott The Roots Angie Stone Lil Kim Junior Reid The Fugees Common La India Brand New Heavies TLC Usher Elephant Man Sizzla Damien Marley Beenie Man Sanchez Vicky Sue Robinson Johnny Kemp Brenda K Starr Sweet Honey in the Rock Darlene Love
Other Influences... Rick James Etta James Thelonious Monk Dinah Washington Thomas Dorsey Diana Ross The Pointer Sisters The Supremes Michael Jackson Gladys Knight Lauryn Hill Aretha Franklin Mariah Carey Pete Malinverni Jody Sandhaus Yvette Glover Randy Crawford Shirley Ceasar Mahalia Jackson Prince Sade Sam Cooke Nina Simone Roberta Flack Donnie Hathaway Sam&Dave Carole King James Ingram Jocelyn Brown James Cleveland Gwen McCrae Ella Fitzgerald Bob Marley DeBarge Rick James Carol King Yolanda Adams Phyllis Hyman Edith Piaf The Talking Heads Mammas &Papas Martha Reeves and the Vandellas The Ronettes The Clark Sisters Betty Davis Dionne Warwick The Temptations Pat Benatar Olodum Jody Watley Africando Olga Tanon Ofori Amponsah Grace Jones White Widow Tavi The Dugout
Sounds Like: Afua!
Record Label: Indie
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

Akwaaba

Welcome to my soul music site! You are in for a very unique experience because those of you who like hip-hop and rhythm and blues and didn't know you liked jazz will find that you do in fact like jazz...
Posted by Afua!! on Thu, 14 Sep 2006 11:06:00 PST