Now Reading
Zena Carlota – Muzinge

Zena Carlota – Muzinge

artworks 000306022557 943pkl original

Zena Carlota is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, singer, visual and theatre artist whose work navigates the space between dreams, ancestry and memory in sound and imagery. Inspired by the Jaliyaa music tradition of West Africa, Zena has spent the past ten years travelling in the US, West Africa and Europe studying the Kora, a 21-string West African bridge harp that originates from the Malian Empire during the 13th century. Learning both ritual and experimental forms of indigenous string music and storytelling with masters from The Gambia, and Guineau, she most recently completing an intensive training in Paris with Grammy award winner, and Kora virtuoso, Toumani Diabate of Mali. These teachings are the threads that have allowed Zena to combine the ancient past with the present moment, using language as both a sacred invocation of her ancestry and musical inspiration, by singing traditional and original songs in English, Bambara, Arabic and Spanish.

“The Confidence of Birds” is Zena’s debut EP inspired by the Sufi poem “The Conference of the Birds” written by the Persian poet Attar of Nishapur, which details the mythic journey of birds in search of enlightenment. Funded by a grant from The Center for Cultural Innovation in San Francisco, the EP was penned by Zena on Kora and Ùkelele and features original string trio and string quintet arrangements from Bay Area composers Minna Choi (founder, Magik Magik Orchestra), Omid Zoufonoun (Principal Conductor, Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra), Bassist Shuyler Karr (San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra) and Cellist Misha Khalikulov.

Recorded onto analogue tape at Tiny Telephone Studios in San Francisco between 2015-2017, Zena Carlota’s first EP culturally explores the relationship between West African string music, classical chamber music and folk-pop while embodying the journey from gravity to levity in song.

 

What's Your Reaction?
Buy me
0
Excited
0
Happy
0
In Love
0
Not Sure
0
View Comments (0)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

We are part of the Keychange movement!

© 2023 giveitaspin.gr | All Rights Reserved.

Scroll To Top
X