“Sur La Voie Ensoleillée” takes Malika Tirolien Back to Her Roots
We here at soulhead love artist and fellow culture maker Osmojam. One of the latest articles on her French Soul is Not Dead blog features the artist known as Malika Tirolien. The Caribbean born Francophone is talented and bursting with energy, but also strong, empowering roots as an artist.
If you came across Snarky Puppy‘s live dvd Family Dinner, maybe you noticed an energic songstress, singing in creole. One of the last signatures of label Ropeadope, Malika Tirolien is now starting to play in the big leagues, and performed last summer at Nice Jazz Festival and at North Sea Jazz, with Snarky Puppy.
Malika is born in Marie Galante in Guadeloupe, and she is the grand daughter of poet Guy Tirolien, close to poet and activist Aimé Césaire. At 5 years old, she was capable of picking Bach’s pieces by ear. It was written in her genes that she would choose an artistic carrier. After many years of practicing classical piano, she learned about many different styles, from gospel to “variété française” (french popular songs), and jazz, that she studied at Montreal University. She then “freed herself” from her theoric training, playing on the underground soul scenes in Montreal, and joining soul/hip hop/rock band Groundfood. ” True, I understood a lot while studying the way Charlie Parker composed, I gathered new vocabulary. But when you begin to master music theory, it can impede your musical evolution. Anyway, to my mind, academic training is a bit of a non sense for jazz. Good jazzmen don’t have any rules. They are not afraid to test new things, even things that are not supposed to sound good”.
Check out the full article below!
“Sur La Voie Ensoleillée” takes Malika Tirolien Back to Her Roots