- country:Malawi
- style(s):Jazz, Soul
- label:MPS Records
- type:Duo, Quintet
- artist posted by:Jazzhaus Artists
Line up
- Edward McLean (Bass)
- Lars Cölln (Guitar)
- Malia (Vocals)
- Nis Kotto (Piano)
- Reiner "Kallas" Hubert (Drums)
Links
Malia's music is an example of how music can transcend borders and genres. The singer, who was born in Malawi in East Africa, is portrayed as the pure embodiment of cool neo-soul jazz, then again as a reviver of the singing tradition of the great jazz divas like Billie Holiday or Nina Simone - but also as a musician who revives traditional African sounds.
Her debut album "Yellow Daffodils" was an immediate chart success, and her video "Purple Shoes" from her debut album became legend. This was followed in 2013 by the Echo Jazz award as "International Female Vocalist of the Year” for her Album Black Orchid, a tribute to Nina Simone her spiritual mentor. She has made countless concert appearances and recorded 8 albums to date. Malia has established herself in the top league of contemporary jazz and soul ladies. Today she can perform her songs with such intensity and maturity that the listeners feel deeply moved by the power and hunger for life with which this singer infuses in her songs. "Many of my lyrics have taken on a much deeper meaning for me today, as I have felt a strong inner urge to recreate them with my current experiences, including the hard times I have gone through in my life". She has often claimed to sing for salvation.
Malia moves between Jazz, Blues and Soul with an intuitive certainty. Whatever she sings or interprets: her sound is always cool, and yet very warm hearted, never dusty and always highly topical. Malia is one of the flagship artists of our global music culture.
And if blues means life, Malia is the energy that allows the blues to have a soul, a voice. It has been said that it has been a long time since a contemporary artist has made such a beautiful homage to the blues, her latest album "The Garden Of Eve", is a testament to her ever evolving creativity and determination to explore music without borders, crossing cultures and making aural pictures in the hope of elevating the human soul.