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Kavita Shah

Visions

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Kavita Shah - VISIONS (EPK)
OJU OBA - Kavita Shah & Lionel Loueke
Kavita Shah, Live in The Greene Space
Reportagem da Televisio de Cabo Verde
1 Sodade
2 Visions
3 Little Green
4 Tabla Interlude
5 Paper Planes
6 Triste
7 Moray
8 Deluge
9 Oju Oba
10 My Time Is When
11 Rag Desh: Alaap
12 Rag Desh: Teentaal Gat
13 Rag Desh: Meltdown
14 Sodade Postlude
15 When
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A vivid self-portrait in mosaic form, Kavita Shah's Visions (available May 27 on Greg Osby's Inner Circle Music) heralds the arrival of a strikingly original, globally minded new voice. The gifted vocalist/composer brings together a rich variety of musical, cultural, and personal influences into a formidable debut album that combines a jazz quintet with Indian tablas and the West African kora.

Visions interweaves Shah's multicultural background (she's a native New Yorker of Indian descent fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, and French) with her wide-ranging musical tastes (reared on 90s hip-hop, Afro-Cuban music, and bossa nova, she studied jazz voice and classical piano) and her fascination with ethnomusicology (which she studied at Harvard). The album was co-produced by the renowned Benin-born guitarist Lionel Loueke, a kindred spirit who shares the singer's cohesive view of a multi-hued musical experience.

"My experience of diaspora has not exactly been linear, but more like a kaleidoscope. So musically, I wanted to bring together different elements that I love, and combine them in a way that may be surprising to others but makes sense to me," Shah says. "We have one sound," adds Loueke. "You listen to the album from the beginning to the end, and even if the textures are different, it has a unity."

Shah's own cultural heritage pointed to some unexpected directions. Her paternal grandfather moved from Mumbai to New York in the 1940s, a full generation before immigration from South Asia became common. After witnessing the birth of the United Nations, he returned to India as the first publisher to bring American books to the country, and Shah's father later retraced his path to New York to attend college. Shah's mother was one of 13 children, born to a father who insisted on educating his daughters rather than simply marrying them off; music, seen as a distraction, was forbidden. "I didn't grow up in a traditional household," Shah recalls. "My parents wanted to expose me to music, an opportunity they didn't have growing up, but not just to Hindi film songs or Indian classical music. They immigrated to New York in the 1970s, so there was a lot of pop in the house: The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra." Both sides of that early musical diversity are represented on Visions: Shah sings Joni Mitchell's "Little Green" and Stevie Wonder's "Visions," while one of her first collaborators on the project was tabla player Stephen Cellucci. The two met while working on tabla virtuoso Samir Chatterjee's project "Rabi Thakur."

  • Kavita Shah chats about: 'Cape Verdean Blues' with Madison WI 89.9WORT
    Posted At: December 20, 2023
    Award-winning vocalist, composer, and educator Kavita Shah’s latest album, Cape Verdean Blues is a culmination of a diasporic quest to find a spiritual home. Released on September 15, 2023, via the new global music label Folkalist Records, the carefully curated album of traditional Cape Verdean mornas and co- ladeiras is also a tribute to the charismatic and unapologetically individual Cape Verdean vocalist...

  • New Sounds Live: Kavita Shah, from National Sawdust
    Posted At: December 5, 2023
    New Sounds writes…..Kavita Shah is a New York based singer is an award-winning vocalist, composer, ethnomusicology researcher, and educator whose original projects blend modern jazz, new music, and world traditions. Her repertoire includes her own songs, jazz standards, Stevie Wonder covers, and the songs of the late Cesaria Evora. Evora was the leading singer in the style known as morna, a bluesy, emotiona...

  • Kavita Shah finds her own 'morna' in Cape Verdean Blues / 88.3WBGO Q&A
    Posted At: November 7, 2023
    Kavita Shah is an award-winning vocalist, composer, researcher, and educator who makes work in deep engagement with the jazz tradition, while also addressing and advancing its global sensibilities. A lifelong New Yorker of Indian origin hailed for possessing an “amazing dexterity for musical languages” (NPR), Shah incorporates her ethnographic research on Brazilian, West African, and Indian musical traditio...

  • Kavita Shah's 'Joia' makes Afropop: Top Videos for October
    Posted At: October 31, 2023
    Award-winning vocalist, composer, and educator Kavita Shah’s latest album, Cape Verdean Blues is a culmination of a diasporic quest to find a spiritual home, will be released September 15, 2023 on the new global music label Folkalist Records. The carefully curated album of traditional Cape Verdean mornas and co- ladeiras is also a tribute to the charismatic and unapologetically individual Cape Verdean vocal...

  • Kavita Shah joins 'WNYC: All Of It' for a 'Cape Verdean Blues' Listening Party
    Posted At: October 17, 2023
    Award-winning vocalist, composer, and educator Kavita Shah’s latest album, Cape Verdean Blues, a culmination of a diasporic quest to find a spiritual home, will be released September 15, 2023 on the new global music label Folkalist Records. The carefully curated album of traditional Cape Verdean mornas and co- ladeiras is also a tribute to the charismatic and unapologetically individual Cape Verdean vocalis...

  • WFHB: Lotus Live hosts in-studio session with Kavita Shah
    Posted At: September 29, 2023
    Award-winning vocalist, composer, and educator Kavita Shah’s latest album, Cape Verdean Blues, a culmination of a diasporic quest to find a spiritual home, will be released September 15, 2023 on the new global music label Folkalist Records. The carefully curated album of traditional Cape Verdean mornas and co- ladeiras is also a tribute to the charismatic and unapologetically individual Cape Verdean vocalis...

  • Kavita Shah's 'Cape Verdean Blues' is the RDP Africa: Album of the Week
    Posted At: September 22, 2023
    Award-winning vocalist, composer, and educator Kavita Shah’s latest album, Cape Verdean Blues is a culmination of a diasporic quest to find a spiritual home. Released September 15, 2023 on the new global music label Folkalist Records. The carefully curated album of traditional Cape Verdean mornas and co- ladeiras is also a tribute to the charismatic and unapologetically individual Cape Verdean vocalist Cesá...

  • Kavita Shah chats about 'Cape Verdean Blues' with Savanna GA's 107.5WRUU
    Posted At: September 21, 2023
    Award-winning vocalist, composer, and educator Kavita Shah’s latest album, Cape Verdean Blues is a culmination of a diasporic quest to find a spiritual home. Released on September 15, 2023 via Folkalist Records, the carefully curated album of traditional Cape Verdean mornas and co- ladeiras is also a tribute to the charismatic and unapologetically individual Cape Verdean vocalist Cesária Évora, and a love l...

  • Kavita Shah conducted extensive research on Sao Vicente island, inspiring 'Cape Verdean Blues' / World Music Central
    Posted At: September 16, 2023
    World Music Central's Douglas Sanders writes….Award-winning vocalist, composer, and educator Kavita Shah has just released her album, Cape Verdean Blues, through the new world music label Folkalist Records. The album is a result of her diasporic journey to find a spiritual home and pays tribute to the Cape Verdean vocalist Cesária Évora and the captivating archipelago she represented. Shah, the daughter of ...

  • 'Cape Verdean Blues' is a gorgeous blend of vocal scatting with finger-picked guitar and hand percussion / The Guardian
    Posted At: September 15, 2023
    Award-winning vocalist, composer, and educator Kavita Shah’s latest album, Cape Verdean Blues, a culmination of a diasporic quest to find a spiritual home. Released September 15, 2023 on the new global music label Folkalist Records, the carefully curated album of traditional Cape Verdean mornas and co- ladeiras is also a tribute to the charismatic and unapologetically individual Cape Verdean vocalist Cesári...

  • Co-Presented by WNYC's New Sounds, National Sawdust's Fall 2023 season presents: Kavita Shah - Cape Verdean Blues
    Posted At: July 13, 2023
    Having Established Itself as an Internationally Influential Hub of Artistic Innovation, National Sawdust Is Now, with the Purchase of its Home, Positioned to Grow Further and Meet the Evolving Needs of 21st Century ArtistsProgramming Exemplifies the Institution’s Unwavering Commitment to Mentoring and Empowering Diverse Artists and Developing and Presenting Innovative Multidisciplinary WorksNational Sawdust...

  • Kavita Shah brings her 'Night of Jazz Reverie' to Club B-10 at MASS MoCA / Northeast Public Radio
    Posted At: February 8, 2019

    This week's cultural highlights in our region include several jazz events, modern dance, orchestral music, an all-star comedy double-bill; and a whole lot more. Take one-part compositional jazz virtuoso, add voice with astounding range, fold in the staggering knowledge of a highly accomplished ethnomusicologist, and you arrive at the supremely talented vocalist, Kavita Shah, who brings her "Night of Jazz...

  • Kavita Shah presents 'Folk Songs of Naborea' at NYC's Rubin Museum
    Posted At: October 25, 2018

    Tomorrow evening - October 26th at NYC's Rubin Museum in New York, Kavita Shah presents a special performance of "Folk Songs of Naboréa" This represents Sha's most ambitious work to date, and was named by NPR as one of the Top 10 Jazz Performances of 2017. First premiered in November 2017 at NYC's Park Avenue Armory, "Folk Songs of Naboréa, is an interdi...

  • Watch Francois Moutin & Kavita Shah Duo - INTERPLAY
    Posted At: January 6, 2018

    Vocalist and composer Kavita Shah follows up her Inner Circle Music debut recording - Visions, collaborating with Bassist François Moutin in an intimate yet extraordinary new project titled: Interplay. The album features special guests and NEA Jazz Master Sheila Jordan, Shah's mentor, along with Martial Solal. The disc will release on February 16 via Dot Time Records.  p.p1 {margin...

  • Kavita Shah set for the BOP STOP / Cool Cleveland
    Posted At: October 31, 2016

    Vocalist/composer/pianist Kavita Shah is a native New Yorker with an MFA in jazz voice from the Manhattan School of music. But her horizons are much broader than that implies. She draws on the cultural traditions of her Indian heritage, her fluency in Spanish, French and Portuguese, her research in Afro-Brazilian music, and her background listening to and playing everything from opera to folk to hip hop ...

  • Kavita Shah brings potent mix of cultures and styles / The Boston Globe interview
    Posted At: November 18, 2014

    You might hear the arrangement of an Indian raga on singer Kavita Shah's sparkling debut, Visions, or the prominent tabla on her version of the Stevie Wonder title track, and jump to conclusions about an immigrants' daughter on a roots trip. That wouldn't be quite right. Shah's Indian parents had little music at home save for a few LPs; her first instrument was the classical piano, and she only dabbl...

  • Kavita Shah plays Boston's Regattabar / WICN Interview
    Posted At: November 15, 2014

    On this edition of WICN: Worcester - Jazz Matinee Host Chet Williamson will be joined by singer Kavita Shah. Kavita Shah who is playing Boston's Regattabar this Tuesday November 18 is gaining a reputation as a visionary young singer, composer, and arranger. Hailed by Downbeat Magazine as the "Best Graduate Jazz Vocalist" (2012) and winner of the ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composers A...

  • Kavita Shah - Visions / Santa Fe New Mexican: Pasatiempo review
    Posted At: October 24, 2014

    Visions is the debut album by singer Kavita Shah, a native New Yorker of Indian origin who is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, French, and English. Musically, she's just as multidimensional, and for Visions she has collected the musicians to embody that character. Among them are Benin-born guitarist Lionel Loueke, her co-producer; African kora player Yacouba Sissoko; pianist Steve Newcomb and bassist Linda...

  • Kavita Shah on KCSM / In The Moment
    Posted At: September 18, 2014

    Kavita Shah's performance at the California Jazz Conservatory (formerly the Jazzschool Institute) in Berkeley aired September 18, 2014 on San Mateo, CA's KCSM: In the Moment, a Jazz performance series hosted by Jim Bennett. Shah's concert was part of a west coast tour supporting her debut album Visions, and featured Pat Carroll, Steve Newcomb, Noah Garabedian, Guilhem Flouzat, and s...

  • Kavita Shah@Jazz Standard / WNYC - Soundcheck: Gig Alert
    Posted At: September 2, 2014

    Kavita Shah is at Jazz Standard tonight.    WNYC - New York / Soundcheck: Gig Alert A first generation Indian-American singer, Ms. Shah reaches back into her cultural heritage to add ornament to her striking jazz interpretations. Listen to Kavita's version of Stevie Wonder's "Visions."    ...

  • Kavita Shah plays Old Lyme CT / Hartford Courant profile
    Posted At: August 20, 2014

    Singer Kavita Shah's journey to the recording of her debut album, "Visions," was a long one, involving hours spent honing her skills - on stages and in classrooms - punctuated by bursts of inspiration and self-discovery. If you want to talk degrees and accolades, Shah's pedigree is impressive: the undergraduate diploma from Harvard (she majored in Latin American Studies). The master's deg...

  • Kavita Shah plays Old Lyme CT / WNPR feature
    Posted At: August 20, 2014

    Shah's music reflects the insatiably curious mind of an ethnographer, the soul of a poet, and the eye of a painter. An artist of many parts, Kavita Shah, an ascending, young singer/songwriter of Indian descent, applies her keen, empathetic intelligence, ethereally beautiful voice and adventurous spirit by using global music and multi-cultural influences as sources of inspiration for expressing her pe...

  • Kavita Shah plays Old Lyme CT / WWUH Interview
    Posted At: August 19, 2014

    Kavita Shah creates music without boundaries. A native New Yorker of Indian heritage, Shah developed broad musical tastes as a child, studying classical piano, listening to her parents' pop albums, singing in multiple languages with the acclaimed Young Peoples Chorus and soaking up hip hop on the radio. Eventually, jazz became Kavita's focus, but her music continues to incorporate influences and ...

  • Kavita Shah's Visions makes KMUW: Global Village's Top 40 Albums of July 2014
    Posted At: August 4, 2014

    A vivid self-portrait in mosaic form, Kavita Shah's Visions heralds the arrival of a strikingly original, globally minded new voice. The gifted vocalist/composer brings together a rich variety of musical, cultural, and personal influences into a formidable debut album that combines a jazz quintet with Indian tablas and the West African kora. Ms. Shah's new album, Visions, is included on Wichita&#...

  • Kavita Shah - Visions / Downbeat Magazine review
    Posted At: July 29, 2014

    Kindred spirits and fellow sonic globetrotters-singer Kavita Shah, the native New Yorker of Indian descent, and Benin-born guitarist and co-producer Lionel Loueke-join forces in this breathtakingly beautiful collaboration that brings a wealth of musical influences to bear. With Loueke's distinctive percussive guitar work weaving in and out of the mix, Shah soars with understated majesty while alternately...

  • Kavita Shah - Visions is 'Jazz Weekly' - Ringer Of the Week
    Posted At: July 24, 2014

    Looking for some inspiring and creative jazz vocals? Here's the disc you've been dreaming of! A native of New York, of Indian descent and fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and French (don't you want to meet her parents?!?), Kavita Shah uses her earthy yet kaleidoscopically crystalline voice to mix with American, European , African and Indian instruments to create a rich curry of sounds that is spicy, attract...

  • Kavita Shah performs at Seattle's Royal Room / AXS review
    Posted At: July 15, 2014

    It was hotter than hell, but inside Seattle's Royal Room last Tuesday night, New York vocalist Kavita Shah brought her own special kind of shade. Brilliant with evocative, dream-drenched vision, bursting with vibrancy, Shah and her young, traveling band - Brisbane, Australian pianist Steve Newcomb, Perth bassist Des White, Parisian drummer Guilhem Flouzat - painted the small nightclub/bar with beauti...

  • Kavita Shah interview on KPFK - Los Angeles / Global Village Tuesdays with Betto Arcos
    Posted At: July 1, 2014

    Hailed by Downbeat Magazine as the "Best Graduate Jazz Vocalist" (2012) and winner of the ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composers Award (2013), composer/arranger/vocalist Kavita Shah showcases her debut CD "Visions" (Inner Circle Music) TODAY!!@Noon PT .Tuesday July 1 on KPFK - Los Angeles / Global Village Tuesdays with Betto Arcos. The show features Music from around the world and around the block. ...

  • Kavita Shah - Visions / WDCB: Chicago 'New Releases Spotlight'
    Posted At: June 17, 2014

    Kavita Shah - Visions: Released by Greg Osby's label (Inner Circle) and featuring a few of the same NYC based musicians that Gretchen Parlato utilizes on her albums, this is a modern jazz record in every sense of the word.  From the Stevie Wonder penned title track to the handful of originals that Shah wrote for the disc, this is without a doubt one of the most intriguing CD's I've liste...

  • Kavita Shah - Visions / Indian Express review
    Posted At: June 16, 2014

    On Visions, New York-based jazz singer/composer Kavita Shah gives classics a refreshing twist creating original scores with multiple layers. The jazzy interludes were always kept to a bare minimum, as Ms. Shah never liked the idea of the whimsy of jazz lurching around the lyrics. READ THE FULL Indian Express ARTICLE...

  • Kavita Shah interviews on new 'Visions' release with WRTI - Philadelphia
    Posted At: June 12, 2014

    On WRTI - Philadelphia 'The Bridge' J. Michael Harrison presents his award-winning blend of jazz that takes you from the mainstream to the edge of the art. Rarely heard artists are played with regularity, as is a dash of jazz poetry. Mr. Harrison recently sat down with singer/composer Kavita Shah around her latest CD release - Visions. Released on Greg Osby's Inner Circle Music, Vis...

  • Kavita Shah - Visions / AXS review
    Posted At: June 10, 2014

    Kavita Shah's new album, Visions, is exactly as she intended: jazz as viewed through an enchanted prism. All 15 compositions, including a bonus track, force the listener to open up another channel of perception. It's all jazz, but played with global enlightenment, transforming jazz into a revelatory, blossoming dream just on the other side of the world. Released on Inner Circle Music May 27, 2014, Sh...

  • Kavita Shah - Visions / Buffalo News review
    Posted At: June 10, 2014

    Indian singer Kavita Shah, whose new disc "Visions" was produced by Lionel Loueke and includes Steve Wilson, bassist Linda Oh and a whole bunch of compositions from Indian tradition and Brazil along with Stevie Wonder, Wayne Shorter and Joni Mitchell. What it means is that we are now accustomed to hearing singers in foreign tongues with "native" instruments making music that marries beautifully, indeed h...

  • Kavita Shah - Visions / Le Devoir review
    Posted At: May 30, 2014

    New York singer of Indian descent, Kavita Shah launches here first disc - Visions. His experience of diaspora is not linear, but kaleidoscopic, rightly explains the statement. Accompanied by a jazz quintet, she adds kora and tabla to broaden the spectrum of his musical heart beating. She sings gently and delicately navigates between world and jazz at all, Indian classical music, Brazilian ...

  • Kavita Shah - Visions / About.com review
    Posted At: May 27, 2014

    Diversity is the watchword of today's young artists, whether they're piano players from Cuba or singers from New York City. Kavita Shah is the latter, a third generation New Yorker of Indian descent who speaks four languages, has sung in many more, has studied ethnomusicology at Harvard and who considers NYC hip hop radio station HOT97 among her many influences. All those many elements of her...
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