- country:USA
- region:New York City
- style(s):Jazz
- label:New African Production
- type:Band
- gender:male
- instrumentation:vocal, guitar
- artist posted by:New African Production, Inc.
Line up
- HESHIMA MOJA (dynamic Bassist, Vocalist, Composer)
Links
Heshima Moja is a dynamic Bassist, Vocalist, Composer, and Cultural Arts Presenter, who walks in a world where music, art, and scholarship intersect.
He is heavily guided in his work by the influences of Black Classical Music (often termed jazz), orchestral music, Afro-Cuban Rumba, Hip Hop, The Music of the Arab world, Sufi Music, Ghazals, Indian Classical Music, as well as other musical forms from throughout the African Diaspora, the work of James Baldwin, Eugenio Maria de Hostos, Gaye Theresa Johnson, Fernando Ortiz, Juan Flores, Maria Theresa Linares Savio, Steven Biko.
Heshima believes that art should be used as a tool to aid in the development of critical consciousness and to inspire people to imagine new ways of being in the world.
“A CONSTANT QUESTION THAT I SEEK TO ANSWER IN MY EXPLORATION AND CREATION OF MUSICAL WORKS IS, ‘HOW DO WE PRESERVE CULTURAL MEMORY(THE STORIES, TRADITIONS, PRACTICES) OF BLACK AND BROWN PEOPLE WHILE STILL ALLOWING CONTEMPORARY NARRATIVES TO EVOLVE INDEPENDENTLY OF THE EXPERIENCES OF THE PAST?”.
THE ANSWER: I EMPLOY MANY DIFFERENT APPROACHES IN ORDER TO INVITE AUDIENCES TO ENGAGE IN COMMUNAL EXPERIENCE”.