Biography
The genre-splitting vocals and lyrically-potent songwriting of rising artist Sparlha Swa offers us an alternative/folk/soul music that is truly honest and evocatively so; sparse, powerful and to the point.
Sparlha’s songs are simple yet profound, soulful and resonant on the level of spirit. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, the artist pulls her inspiration from around the globe with mentors like Sade, Astrud Gilberto, Miriam Makeba and Ravi Shankar.
With solo tours to Hawaii, Canada, the UK, Paris, the Netherlands, Japan, Brazil, and all across the US, Sparlha has headlined with a full band at NYC's Blue Note Jazz Club, Joe's Pub, and BAM Cafe all to audiences of standing room only.
Notable musical landmarks include being signed to Japanese label Village Again for her debut album In The Distance, 2 songs licensed (Love Addiction, Too Late) to the TV show Girlfriends, and having her music video aired on BETJ globally for 6 months. She has written score music for several independent films, including the award winning short "Pariah" which went to Sundance in January 08, and which will be developed into a feature film in the summer of ’09. In the summer of 2008 Sparlha co-starred in the Bill T. Jones production of Fela! Off Broadway, which won rave reviews and 5 Audelco awards.
Sparlha has opened for or/shared the stage with Bilal, Fertile Ground, DJ Giles Petersen, Wumni, Malcolm Jamal Warner, Zion I, Tamar Kali, N'Dea Davenport, Anthony David, Imani Uzuri, Angela Johnson, Maya Azucena, Martin Luther, Cody Chestnutt, Burnt Sugar, Junior Kelly, & Slim Kid (Pharcyde).
Instrumentation
Sparlha Swa - Vocals and Guitar
Shyam Das - Bass and Percussion
Amali Premawardhana - Cello
Kevin Raczka - Drum Kit
Simona Premazzi - Piano
Discography
Uprising (the home recordings), '03
In The Distance, '04
LIVE from NYC, '08
Links
| http://www.sparlhaswa.com |