Music Life

Francisco Carrasco and N. Hardem are joined by Graciela Zaera Moraña and Beto Robledo Zaragoza of the band Chapulines to discuss creativity and the songwriting process. These four Latin American artists, who are on the line-up of this year’s La Linea Festival in London, UK, talk about their most constant themes in song writing, writing songs in different languages, the spiritual nature of Spanish literature and playing to audiences from different cultures.Francisco Carrasco is a Chilean musician who leads the band Grupo Luma. Born in Santiago but based in the UK, he’s a dynamic musician who plays everything from guitar and cuatro to congas and panpipes. He’s led art events across the world, including the Merseyside International Street Festival, as well as delivering lectures in universities across the UK, South Africa and Latin America.N. Hardem is a Colombian MC, beat maker and producer, and one of the country’s finest wordsmiths. He is the lead MC of British-Colombian ensemble Mestizo, an innovative group building musical bridges between Colombian folk and London hip-hop.Spanish violinist Graciela Zaera Moraña and Mexican singer Beto Robledo Zaragoza are part of Belgium-based band Chapulines. They play an interpretation of son jarocho, a traditional Mexican music genre from the southern state of Veracruz, and take inspiration along the way from the rhythms and sounds of Cuba, Colombia and the Caribbean.

Mark de Clive-Lowe, Iman Europe, dot and Pat Junior talk about financial equity for independent artists, building community with your fans and the future possibilities of using blockchain tech.Mark de Clive-Lowe was born in Auckland and started piano lessons when he was 4. In high school in New Zealand and Japan, he fell in love with sample-heavy 90s hip-hop and early UK drum’n’bass. He lived in London for a decade, where he helped to evolve the broken beat genre, and then later moved to LA. If you see him play live, you might catch him remixing classic jazz records in real-time, or joined by instrumental masters like Kamasi Washington, Pino Palladino or Eric Harland. Last year he released Freedom: Celebrating the Music of Pharoah Sanders.Iman Europe is a singer, lyricist and writer from Los Angeles, California. She specializes in crafting relatable lyrics through a hip-hop/soul/R&B fusion. Her latest single Surrender came out last year.Pat Junior is a hip-hop artist, writer, producer and sound designer. He describes himself as the ‘Gold Fanged Medjay’, making music and art that serves the wellbeing of others. Earlier this year he released the single ‘need that!’Kate Ellwanger, aka dot, is the founder and CEO of Unspeakable Records, an all-female label of producers and musicians, and member of beat collective Team Supreme. She’s based in Los Angeles, and she’s a producer, DJ, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist who fuses electronic, indie rock, and R&B elements.

Molly Rankin, Tracyanne Campbell, Mac DeMarco and Molly Nilsson talk about whether or not you need to be social to make your best work, whether you’re a creative fox or a hedgehog, and how much of yourself to expose in your work.Molly Rankin grew up in a musical family on the remote island of Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, Canada. Her father was a professional folk musician, and she started writing music with her neighbour Kerri MacLellan as a teenager, before forming Alvvays in 2011. They won the Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year in 2018, and last October released their third album Blue Rev.Tracyanne Campbell is a singer from Glasgow who formed the band Camera Obscura in 1996. Their first album was released in 2001 and was produced by Stuart Murdoch of Belle & Sebastian. They have since gained a cult following and released five LPs to date. She’s also one half of Tracyanne & Danny with Danny Coughlan.Canadian Mac DeMarco was once described as the “lovable laid-back prince of indie rock” by the New York Times. His latest album, Five Easy Hot Dogs, came out earlier this year and was recorded during a road trip from Los Angeles to New York.Berlin-by-way-of-Sweden synth-pop singer Molly Nilsson produces and performs all her music solo, and is determined to find magic in the everyday. She released her tenth album, Extreme, last year.

Baaba Maal, Tricky, Jah Wobble and Chi-Chi Nwanoku discuss the influence of African musical roots and traditions in Western classical music, the importance of collaboration, and rhythm and its position in the song writing process.Baaba Maal was born into a family of fishermen in the north of Senegal, but rather than go into the family business, he studied music in Dakar and Paris. Since then, he has recorded 14 albums, worked on the Black Panther soundtrack, and collaborated with Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Mumford and Sons and U2.Tricky is an icon of the hugely influential Bristol music scene. He grew to prominence as a member of the genre-defining act Massive Attack, before launching his own successful solo career working with Neneh Cherry, Björk, and Bobby Gillespie. In 2021 he released his latest album under the name Lonely Guest, which featured Lee “Scratch” Perry, Idles’ Joe Talbot, and Maxïmo Park’s Paul Smith.Jah Wobble is a music enthusiast, bass guitarist, and singer from East London. He met John Lydon, better known as Johnny Rotten, at college, and following the Sex Pistols' break-up, they formed Public Image Ltd. When he left the band, his solo projects led him to collaborate with a broad range of artists including Brian Eno, Chaka Demus, and Baaba Maal.Chi-chi Nwanoku is a classical double bass player from London, who took up the instrument aged 18 after her sprinting career was cut short by injury. As well as being a successful musician, she is also the founder and director of a foundation which supports Black, Asian and ethnically diverse classical musicians, and was awarded a CBE for services to music and diversity in 2022..

Ana Moura, Pedro Mafama, Herlander and Pongo discuss celebrating music that is tied to its place of origin, moving away from home to carve out a musical career, and discovering the happy parts of their song writing.Ana Moura is a fado singer born in Santarem, Portugal to an Angolan mother and Portuguese father. Introduced to fado music at a young age by her parents, she’s performed the traditional Portuguese music all over the world, including collaborations with legends such as Mick Jagger and Prince. Her latest album, Casa Guilhermina, came out in 2022 and is a tribute to her grandmother.Singer and producer Pedro Mafama's multifaceted sound draws from Portuguese aesthetics, as well as the African and Islamic past of the country.Herlander is a producer, composer, and singer who’s been making waves in Lisbon’s underground music scene, and lighting up venues across the city with his playful yet experimental sound. Angolan-Portuguese singer, dancer and pioneer of Kuduro music Pongo has previously featured as a guest on Music Life. She performed with Buraka Som Sistema for two years before releasing her first EP Baia in 2018, and released her full length album Sakidila in April last year.

Sun-Mi Hong, Jen Shyu, Mark Guiliana and William Parker discuss art as an outlet to process grief, and how touring is the best way to meet interesting people.Sun-Mi Hong is a jazz drummer and composer. She was born and raised in Incheon, South Korea, but moved to Amsterdam in 2012 to study music. She’s since made her mark on the European jazz scene and in 2017 formed the Sun-Mi Hong Quintet, performing original contemporary compositions as well as improvised jazz music. Her latest album “Third Page: Resonance” was released in November 2022.William Parker is a double bassist who is a giant of the American avant-garde jazz scene. His boundary-pushing antics over the last 40 years have led him to being labelled "the most consistently brilliant free-jazz bassist of all time", as well as playing next to some of the greats, including pianist Cecil Taylor and David S Ware.Mark Guiliana is a drummer and composer known for his technical mastery and genre-shifting abilities. Whether it’s acoustic jazz, boundary-stretching electronic music or next-level rock, he’s become one of the most influential drummers of his generation. He’s worked with David Bowie, and former Music Life guests Meshell Ndegeocello and St Vincent.Singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Jen Shyu is widely regarded for her virtuosic singing and riveting stage presence. Her extensive career has seen her study traditional music and dance all over the world, and she speaks 10 languages and plays 10 instruments.

Liraz, Derya Yildrim, Adrian Younge and Ladybug Mecca discuss art as propaganda, the exhaustion of performing on stage and having the courage to seek the unknown. Liraz is an Israeli-Iranian singer, musician and actress. In 2022 she released her album Roya, a collaboration between musicians from Israel and Iran. Adrian Younge is a former Music Life host and self-taught musician who re-imagines soul, jazz, funk and hip-hop into his own sound. He’s scored for film and TV, and has produced the likes of Kendrick Lamar and Jay-Z. He’s also the co-founder of the Jazz Is Dead label with A Tribe Called Quest’s Ali Shaheed Muhammad. Derya Yildirim is a saz player and lead vocalist of Anatolian psych-rock outfit Grup Şimşek. Her lush vocals draw inspiration from Turkish folk traditions, and with the band makes dancefloor-friendly reinterpretations of a classic sound.Ladybug Mecca is a New York rapper from the legendary group Digable Planets. She grew up in a musical household; her Brazilian parents were Jazz musicians, and her mum was a singer.

Mia Gladstone is a New York based singer, multi-instrumentalist, producer and programmer. Her genre bending style incorporates the cutting up of Jazz, Funk, and R&B, before reassembling it for the social media age. Promoting messages of self-acceptance, compassion, and creative freedom her Loopy project in 2022 explored gender, identity, social media, and the complexities of the human mind.Rommel Donald, better known as ROMderful, is a British producer, multi-instrumentalist and singer on the rise. Currently based in Seoul, South Korea, his slick, woozy, and experimental production style blends Pharrell Williams with Flying Lotus.Maiya Blaney is a singer from New York who released her debut album 3 in 2021. She writes about the nuances of human connection and emotion, and how they play big parts in the machinations of everyday society, soundtracked through the influence of jazz and soul. She also collaborated with Mia Gladstone on her Loopy project.Independent R&B singer Emmavie says she’s "addicted" to music, and that being an independent artist means working every day “with no PR, no label and quite often with no money”. She’s collaborated with the likes of Kojey Radical, Alfa Mist, and fellow guest ROMderful.Together they discuss the pain of song writing, processing emotions, being the vessels for their art and music, defining success and being nerds.In part two, ROMDerful shares a playlist of music he’s called Different Parts Of Your Adventure On The Road. It features tunes from Louis Cole, Hello Yello, Children of Zeus and Poom.

Amelia Moore, REI AMI, G Flip and Royal & the Serpent discuss favourite lyrics, the power of the second verse, getting inspiration in the shower, learning to become more vulnerable and how their upbringings influence their music.Amelia Moore is a singer and multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles, whose future pop sound is inspired by artists including Frank Ocean, SOPHIE and Flume. Having started playing violin at the age of 4, she taught herself piano and started writing songs at 13, before producing for other artists by the age of 16. During the pandemic she started sharing songs on TikTok, which led to a record deal and her debut EP, in a whirlwind journey she describes as “homeschool to Hollywood”.REI AMI is a South Korean-born, US-raised singer whose breakout single Snowcone went viral in 2019. Her rebellious pop sound has earned support from Billie Eilish and former Music Life guest FINNEAS, and her debut mixtape Foil was released in 2021.G Flip is an Australian singer, producer and drummer who makes synth-driven indie pop with vulnerable, relatable lyrics. Their powerful single Waste of Space reflects on and celebrates their non-binary identity.Royal & the Serpent is an American singer who blends rock guitar riffs and heavy hyperpop drums with experimental industrial sounds and deeply personal lyrics. Her latest EP, Happiness is an Inside Job, came out in October last year.

Sarathy Korwar, Nwando Ebizie, Sandunes and Abel Selaocoe discuss diversifying the classical music space, balancing capitalistic forces with creativity, and creating space in which to disappear.Sarathy Korwar is a composer and percussionist whose music combines jazz, Indian classical, Indian folk and electronic influences. His latest record, KALAK, explores what the past, present and future are, and how they interact.Nwando Ebizie is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work combines music, performance art and ritualistic dance from the African diaspora. She has released music under the alter ego Lady Vendredi, who she describes as a time-travelling pop star from another dimension.Sanaya Ardeshir, AKA Sandunes, is a composer, producer and pianist from Mumbai, India, who incorporates elements of dance and jazz to create something wholly unique. She describes her sound as rhythmic meditations on the future of pop and electronic music.Abel Selaocoe is a South African cellist and singer whose work blends everything from African dance rhythms to 18th-Century sonatas. His latest record, Where Is Home, wanders through his musical life so far, which sees him beatboxing a song about his nephew and singing counter melodies taught to him by his mother.