Leila Adu received a (PIIRS) Princeton Institute of International and Regional Studies grant towards a visit to Accra, Ghana, for her PhD research on electronic music and hip-hop producers. Leila’s father is London-based a Ghanaian poet, playwright and musician and she is keen to reconnect with her culture on her first visit in fifteen years.

On her stay, Leila is also playing at Republic Bar and Grill, a hotbed of culture for local Ghanaians, many of whom have returned from living abroad, as well as expats. (Read more about Republic’s contemporary take on Ghanaian food in this Guardian article A foodie revolution cooking in West Africa).

Republic has weekly live performances on Wednesdays curated by Omon Blanks, as well as DJs at the weekend, curated by, Akwaaba Music’s Benjamin Le Brave. French/American, Le Brave founded Akwaaba Music in San Francisco, and moved the label to Accra three years ago; Akwaaba (“welcome” in Ashanti Twi) is dedicated to making African music easier to access worldwide through releasing, distributing, licensing and growing an online presence in a way that is fair for the artists.

Leila is collaborating with Accra artists and has recorded two tracks at 2 1 Entertainment with Ghanaian poet, Kwame Write.

All About Jazz News
Published: 2014-07-18

Belts and Whistles hits Cameo Gallery on Wednesday July 23 at 10pm for their joint label launch and album release party. The Brooklyn and NJ based electronic and improvised tape cassette label drops its first album, Emotional Performance Motorcycle, from The Miz’Ries.

Electro-kraut digital hardcore supergroup, The Miz’Ries: uber-americo noise nerd Quinn Collins plays broken records on a turntable with crazy effects, mad genius inventor Jeff Snyder plays his own analog synth creation whilst Neuseelander songstress Leila Adu sings and plays electronic drum pads. The Miz’Ries have been described as “a noise band that plays 3-minute pop songs”, and as “the music that plays in the club the bad guys hang out in”.

Over the past year — singer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, improvisor and Miz’Ries’ member — Leila Adu has toured New Zealand, Japan and featured in Spin Magazine with Lord Echo aired backing vocals and percussion with popular 90′s alt-rock band and Beastie Boys’ labelmates, Luscious Jackson, on MTV VH1 and Late Night with David Letterman. Leila previously won MTV Iggy’s Artist of the Week, is this year’s Orchestra Wellington’s (New Zealand) Emerging-Composer-in-Residence and recorded albums with Steve Albini and for the Italian National Radio. As founder and lead designer of Snyderphonics, Jeff Snyder designs and builds unusual electronic musical instruments including the Manta, which is played by over 150 musicians around the world; the JD-1 Keyboard/Sequencer, which was commissioned as a specialty controller for Buchla synthesizers; and the custom analog modular synthesizer on which he performs in The Miz’Ries. He frontsOwen Lake and the Tragic Loves as his electro-country alter-ego. The Miz’Ries turntablist, Quinn Collins is a composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music combining rigorous formal processes with rock energy. His music has been performed by ensembles such as the orkest “de ereprijs,” members of Bang on a Can, TRANSIT, Cadillac Moon Ensemble, Loadbang and TV Buddha.

Brooklyn based, Tristan Shepherd/Michael Foster Duo kick off the night. Composer, improviser and turntablist from Dearborn, MI, Tristan Shepherd most recently, curated “Incidental Music”, an exhibition of site specific installations and performances at the Fragmental Museum’s project space: a 4 story, 50,000 sq. ft. former zipper factory and has performed at Roulette, MoMA PS1 and the Whitney Museum of American Art. In this pairing, multi-instrumentalist, Michael Foster, plays sax and amplified small objects. Foster works within the fields of free improvisation, composition, noise, punk, and industrial music and video, with gigs and tours with Weasel Walter, Steve Swell, Pascal Niggenkemper, Psychic TV, Airway, Chris Corsano, Spiritualized, Kid Millions, Nate Wooley, Sean Ali, Han Bennink, Marina Rosenfeld. Foster divides his time between Amsterdam and New York. Recent live performances include Michael Foster Live at Smokey Bear Cave on Youtube and Tristan Shepherd Live at the Control Room on Vimeo.

The Cameo Gallery evening ends in a dance party from BABL: a man whose voice box is running on prosthetic peripherals, a man who has outsourced his memory for unprecedented processing power. BABL is a song and a dance calibrated for optimal lumbar gyrational support and skeletal-rhythmic synchronization. He is influenced by the likes of John Zorn, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Pharaoh Sanders, Pharoah Monch, Shostakovich, D’Angelo, Flying Lotus, James Blake, and Bach and has played at The Stone, Carnegie Hall, Lincon Center Out of Doors.

Go into the draw to catch all three acts for free: :WIN A PAIR OF TICKETS at gimmi.io for the joint Tape Release Party for The Miz’Ries and Belts and Whistles Label Launch Party.

Cameo
93 N 6TH ST
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
WED JULY 23
DOORS: 10PM, $8

Visit Website | Purchase

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Leila was raised in Aotearoa and will be playing a series of shows in intimate venues in the country. She plays first in her hometown of Christchurch at darkroom.

At Te Manawa Museum of Art, Science and Technology in Palmerston North, Leila will play songs on Michael Parekowhai’s Venice Biennale 2011 entry, He Korero Purakau mo Te Awanui o Te Motu: story of a New Zealand river – an ornately carved red Steinway grand piano. Parekowhai’s piece is being exhibited alongside works by Ralph Hotere as part of the Black Rainbow exhibition.

Finally, Leila will perform two songs alongside numerous New Zealand artists, as part of BEYOND THE OHLALA MOUNTAINS | ALAN BRUNTON | POEMS 1968-2002 | BOOK LAUNCH. See details below.

New Zealand LEILA ADU Shows

saturday 15 march, 9pm
Leila Adu
darkroom
336 St Asaph St
Christchurch

thursday 27th March, 7pm
Leila will musically perform Alan Brunton poetry alongside a huge lineup of artists, see details
BEYOND THE OHLALA MOUNTAINS | ALAN BRUNTON | POEMS 1968-2002 | BOOK LAUNCH
Wharekai – Waipapa Marae AK University
16 Wynyard St
Auckland

sunday 30 march, matinee show
Leila Adu
Te Manawa Museum of Art
346 Main Street
Palmerston North

Leila features in Lord Echo’s single “Molten Lava” and is singing in the live tour of Auckland, New Zealand, as well as shows in Tokoyo, Niigata and Kyoto, Japan. Check out this sneak preview of the Lord Echo’s Bastard Jazz (New York) and Wonderful Noise (Osaka) release at Spin Magazine: Her voice sounds beamed in from ’60s Brazil, but the production soon ramps up and we find ourselves in the middle of a modern dance floor. Listen and Read More…