reya aka vokal machete

all Flash designed and programmed by r. freeman 2007
..__________________________________________________________ ______ From the wild wild west coast in the sound lab located in the hull of her pop's houseboat or in the closet of her mom's depa, Reya a.k.a. Vokal Machete or Reya Sunshine has been cutting and pasting tape since day one. At age 12 she picked up her dad's guitar and taught herself some chords to accompany her voice which she found at the same time. At age 17 she moved to Montreal where, while enroled in a baccalaureate degree at Concordia university in the study of communications, she continued developing her love for multimedia, further advancing in studies of sound, video and web design. In 1999, reya started her 5 year career, teching for the radio show Dykes on Mykes at CKUT 90.3FM. Later, using her selecting skills and long love for the hot sound of music, she took her plates of burnin' reggae, hip hop, afrobeat, and funk to various parties and bars including Sala Rossa, Cafe Esperanza, and Parking Pub. During this period, her personal revolution began to take shape in the form of slam poetry, rhymes and acoustic jams which she took to the stage in 2003 doing solo shows at places like Casa del Popolo, Cafe Esperanza and then organic improve jams with Kalmunity Vibe Collective at Sablo Kafe. It was around this time Reya earned her name 'SunshIne' as she was constantly bringing light everywhere she went with her voice and her vibe. Somewhere in between she began to use her computer to record and sequence her own guitar and bass samples with which she developed beats and pieces to vocally improv on. Later she is known to have called together an all girl sound system called Les Sous-Soul Sessionistas with whom she performed an exciting and eclectic spectaculo opening for Nomadic Massive at Le Divan Orange before leaving the grand city of montreal in 2005.
her musical journey took her to mexico city where she lived for a year and a half, learning spanish and jamming with some djs before moving to Paris, France in november of 2006. Reya now resides in Paris with her guitar, melodica, a bass, amps and computer(all care of Paris massive!), creating new samples, rhymes, riddims, and strange chords, and generally shining light with some people who do similar things.
She continues to write and create with the vibes surrounding her. you can now catch her on scene solo or with the big reggae sound of Lion' Stepper sound crew in France.
Reya is currently collaborating on an album in Marseille with Dawta Jena and in Montreal with Boogat.
____________________________________________________________ ____ Reya SunshIne lleva siempre consigo un cuaderno y una pluma, lista para cada idea, cada pensamiento. Sus canciones vehiculan un mensaje. Se hunden en la intimidad y la verdad de su autora. Eso es un mundo en el que todo esta conectado: cada acci..n, pensamiento o palabra tiene consecuencias de las que tenemos que ser consientes.
Letras con sentido, un flow potente, una voz rica de varias influencias (reggae, dancehall, hip hop, soul, blues), acompa..ados de sus propios samples, ritmos y melod..as, producen su sonido original. Ning..n remix permitido. Algo nuevo ¡ bien chido g..ey ! ____________________________________________________________ ____ Reya SunshIne a toujours un papier et un stylo sous la main, pour ..crire chaque id..e, chaque pens..e. Ses chansons vivent par le message qu..elles transmettent. Chaque chanson d..couvre la profondeur de son intimit.., sa v..rit... Un monde o.. tout est connect..: toute action, pens..e ou mot a des cons..quences dont on doit avoir conscience.
Des paroles sens..es, un flow percutant, une voix aux influences tr..s vari..es (reggae, dancehall, hip hop, soul, blues), accompagn..s de sons, rythmes et m..lodies qu..elle compose int..gralement, font toute son originalit... Aucune reprise, ni remix. C..est tout simplement diff..rent. Et ..a bouge ! ____________________________________________________________ ____
a year and a half of life in mexico... un a..o y medio de vida en M..xico... un an et demi de vie au Mexique...
photos by r. freeman