Kenyan composer and sound artist Nyokabi Kariũki (
@nkariukimusic
) radiates healing with her ethereal live performance of ‘Nazama’, the closing track from her debut album ‘FEELING BODY’. 💗
FULL SHOW:
Nazama | A COLORS SHOW is out now 🤍
shoutout to the experimental & underground music scenes in Nairobi. We out here!✊🏾✨
muchh love to my style team:
Sabrin💄 and
@NjeriDuchez
👗
& a warm thank you to
@colorsxstudios
for having me✨
FULL SHOW:
Nairobi, see you tonight at Kenya National Theatre, where my music is being performed by the Kenya International Cello Festival & Ghetto Classics, amongst works by other composers themed around Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's "Wizard of the Crow"!🌷
Tickets 500/- via mpesa, info below.👇🏽
FEELING BODY, my debut album, is finally out today via
@CmntxRecords
. i'm over the moon to be sharing this music with you 🧚🏾♀️💙
out digitally, on cassette tape, and with an accompanying art booklet 🌾
🎧
The Kenyan premiere of my piece, "Ngurumo, or Feeding Goats Mangoes", at the National Theatre this week!🌷
A big thanks to Senior Choir for your stunning voices & to KICF for having me. A pleasure to perform alongside you all. ✨
🎧 full recording:
"As someone making experimental music from the African continent, I find myself at odds with how the industry wants to define music by African sound-makers..."
Been sitting on this essay since September last year. Glad to finally be sharing it.
spotlighting this special compilation project, INSHA, by
@Nairobi_Ableton
User Group, which features tracks by 14 amazing artists from the ~underground electronic scene in nairobi.
v honoured to be a part of the compilation.
🎧Soundcloud:
i'm planning to be in the UK/EU this november & december, and I'd love to perform a few more shows before/after my performance at
@LeGuessWho
on Nov 11th! hmu if you are interested/have any leads ✨
vid from my show last month in helsinki with defunensemble💕
Thank you everyone who came to my show this past Friday in Helsinki! My heart is so full. I've been here 2 months now, & I am thankful for all the wonderful people I've met.
A big thank you to defunensemble, truly an honour to work with these amazing musicians.💫
Kiitos!♥️
i made a mix for
@crackmagazine
and it's got v lush music from v cool artists 🌸
also, i've snuck in an unreleased track from my upcoming album, which is my fave track on it (so perhaps i just couldn't wait to share it).
happy listening! ✨
announcing my first full length album, FEELING BODY, out March 03 via
@cmntxrecords
.🪁☔️
With this special artwork by
@sersesh
.🥀
a tough journey to write the album, but i’m very proud of the music and can’t wait for you to hear it.
preorder:
"the Kenyan composer folds field recordings, ambient textures, and layered vocalizations into a gripping meditation on illness and healing."
always appreciate
@allisonhussey
's thoughtfulness in how she engages with my music 🥺 thank you
@pitchfork
!💕✨
hi, a tiny little snippet from a rehearsal of my upcoming performance in NYC with String Orchestra of Brooklyn & Matt Evans! 😁✨ come thruuu~
wed march 22nd / 8pm at
@Roulette_NYC
info/tix:
@thesobWOW
@ThisIsMev
Excited to share with you the dates for my upcoming tour in Europe starting next week. :))
Full info/tix:
Looking forward to meeting some of you along the way!🌷✨
Surreal to be sharing that a 40-minute sound art film I created was a finalist for
@ThirdCoastFest
's "Audio Unbound" category. I had been rather quiet about this work as I made it at an emotional point at the start of the pandemic, but I'm stoked to be sharing it now!🥺💕
.
@nkariukimusic
positions herself in the spaces between knowing and unknowing, spotlighting the unexpected moments of stark beauty and staggering clarity found in these gray places
The vinyl of my debut EP, ‘peace places: kenyan memories’, is finally here! 🌻🕊
Thank you all for your patience with this! If you pre-ordered the EP, expect it soon — and if not, you can order it here:
(
@Bandcamp
Friday is back this friday😉)
my 1st eu/uk tour is over💫 an IMMENSE thank you to everyone who came to my shows! some of you came for multiple shows - wow? thank you.💗
here's a clip from my performance w/
@defunensemble
in Helsinki, FI. we're performing 'feeling body'.🌷
Here I am, rocking out with String Orchestra of Brooklyn & Matt Evans last night!
My heart is so full! Thank you everyone who came out for this, in person & virtually. A big thank you to
@Roulette_NYC
for having us!
livestream:
@thesobWOW
@ThisIsMev
‘feeling body’ airs tn on
@BBCRadio3
at 22:45 GMT🌧
The commission also serves as the titular track for my new album (this is an unofficial album announcement😂); both a reflection of my time with long covid last year. more soon☔️💙
🎧 ⚡️
gig alert: i’ll be ushering in the final sunset of 2023 with a performance at the
@SanturiProject
stage for
@Beneathebaobabs
Festival in Kilifi ✨ stoked to be sharing the stage with all these awesome folks!!
first and last show of 2023 in Kenya let's goooo❤️🔥🫶🏽
Excited to share with you the dates for my upcoming tour in Europe starting next week. :))
Full info/tix:
Looking forward to meeting some of you along the way!🌷✨
mad stoked that this is happening and mad stoked to be a part of it. it's about time — so much cool sh*t is happening in the electronic music scene in east africa! let's goo❤️🔥
Save the date! East Africa’s first ever music technology and innovation symposium lands in Nairobi from February 12th to the 18th, 2024. Stay tuned for more information at or by pre-registering your interest at
‘Galu’ from my first record, ‘peace places: kenyan memories’, with
@defunensemble
in june earlier this year at
@Musiikkitalo
in helsinki, finland 💕
will share my upcoming uk/eu mini tour dates soon :)
Honoured to have my piece, 'feeling body', be selected as finalist for this years'
@ThirdCoastFest
"Directors' Choice" category!
Thank you
@FallingTreeProd
for commissioning & supporting this work that went on to become the core of my first full-length album.🌷💕
@al_cronicas
@folha
@je_maes
@_nataliabsilva
@CUIRPodcast
@estonoesradio
Congratulations to the Directors' Choice Finalists! This category is a way TC staff adds to what work is being recognized, sharing our own values after to every single entry in the Competition. Explore the full list & the links for each of these works:
OUT TODAY: My single"Nazama", made with gentleness 🌊☔️
"Nazama" means "I sink" in Swahili, and as the final track on my album about my time with illness, I reflect on what my body taught me about itself in that time, and how to look ahead.💙
🎧:
I was part of a special collaborative performance with two amazing artists, Sophia Mitiku & Lucian Lovén, at the Helsinki Winter Garden yesterday 🌿✨
Thanks to everyone who came out for this. Holding this memory very near to me as my residency in Helsinki comes to an end 🥺
Honoured to have won the Hearsay 'Art' Award last night! More than anything, I'm just so inspired by the
@HearSayFestival
community and the amazing art I've experienced through it. Excited to connect with other audio makers at their next physical festival in Ireland!💙
New York! I'll be performing alongside the wonderful String Orchestra of Brooklyn at
@roulette_intermedium
on March 22nd (7pm), with the amazing Matt Evans on percussion. plus, some new music from jazz trio, Nepenthae. 🤗💞
🎫tix:
You can now listen to my piece, 'A Walk Through My Cũcũ's Farm', on Youtube! The work recently received the 2021 Hearsay "Art" Award that is given to "Sound Art or Radio Art that is on the edge of our senses and understanding." Headphones recommended ;). Happy listening! 🎶
🎧Listen: HearSay Prize 2021 WINNER: 'A Walk Through My Cũcũ's Farm' by
@nkariukimusi
(Kenya 🇰🇪 / USA 🇺🇸)
🎧Listen here:
CREATE - Art Award - Sound Art or Radio Art that is on the edge of our senses and understanding
⚠️ EU Gig Alerts🌸
Been in Helsinki making music & I'm excited to share that I have a few shows coming up in Rome, Copenhagen and Helsinki these next few weeks 🌸.
All event info (times, links, tickets) on my website: ✨
📸: Danny Perez
Tonight! I perform music from my two records with the wonderful String Orchestra of Brooklyn & Matt Evans at
@Roulette_NYC
(8pm). come say hello 😁✨
info/tix:
ah damn ty
@guardianmusic
for including 'peace places: kenyan memories' on this list!
many people on this list that i look up to - Emahoy Guèbrou, Meredith Monk, Duval Timothy,
@ewakilihick
- congrats 🎉
The only mix you need today. For the Sunday series,
@nkariukimusic
leads us on an “adventure in the way acoustic instruments, including the voice, find themselves in electronic spaces”
Listen now:
A musical evocation of landscape, language and tender attention to the ground beneath your feet…
@nkariukimusic
’s
@HearSayFestival
-winning short ‘A Walk Through My Cũcũ’s Farm’ is today’s Radio Atlas podcast…
I will be giving the first live performance of the music from my debut EP "peace places: kenyan memories" in Utrecht this September at
@gaudeamusnl
— joined by percussionist Matt Evans, vocalist
@Alev_Lenz
, & Cello Octet Amsterdam (
@cello8ctet
)!✨
tix:
i have TWO shows in Helsinki coming up on Dec 02 (with
@defunensemble
) and on Dec 09 (solo and i might play piano?) !!
it feels really special to be closing out this wondrous & wild tour in helsinki. i’m really happy to be back 🍂🌷
info & tix:
"a powerfully empathetic listening experience; patient and generous, overflowing with interior beauty."
very appreciative of the kind words from
@LeahKardos
in
@thewiremagazine
on my upcoming record, 'FEELING BODY'! thank you🌾
The Wire 469 is out now!
On the cover: The Necks: Onward, ever onward with the inexhaustible Australian outfit. By Daniel Spicer.
Plus: Aksak Maboul + Crammed Discs, Širom, James Brandon Lewis, Avalanche Kaito, Debby Friday, Gamut Inc, and much more!
i have an upcoming performance in helsinki with the amazing defunensemble! we will be sharing some of the new music i’ve written while here🌱✨
it’s gonna be really cool, come with a friend :)
june 16, 7pm, free~
info:
imagining my ‘peace places’ during times of anxiety was a way to nurse & heal. weird time we live in right now. hoping that this EP gives you a lil place to feel peaceful — and that in my sharing my peace places, you might find yours too.
out now 🌿🕊
Was thrilled to perform my new arrangement of 'Nazama' (from FEELING BODY) for string orchestra, with Matt Evans on vibraphone.✨
you can watch the full performance on YT:
Thank you again
@thesobWOW
@ThisIsMev
@Roulette_NYC
💕
Still thinking about this magical performance of my EP, 'peace places: kenyan memories', that I got to do with
@cello8ctet
,
@ThisIsMev
&
@Alev_Lenz
at
@TiVre_Utrecht
for the Gaudeamus Festival 2022!
What a dream to work with you all — hope to do it again soon :) ✨
My marimba trio, "the season of Big rain (Mbura ya Njahĩ)" is on
@incipitsify
, with audio from the amazing
@ThirdCoastPerc
. Very very cool to be on a page that I've discovered so much inspiring concert music from. enjoy✨
@userdeactivatd_
also it's not really 'claiming' him. it's well-meaning humour. Along with wes, josh, and kaz, it's nice to have people on screen who we can identify with.
The first single from my upcoming EP is out next week via
@sa_recordings
, and I’m so excited for you all to hear it! Pre-save here:
...& stay tuned as I share more info soon!🌻🕊
#kenyancomposer
#experimentalmusic
My new album, FEELING BODY, is out March 03, 2023 via
@CmntxRecords
- though some music from it may be coming out sooner than you think 😉
a lil clip from my performance at The Mist, Nairobi on jan 13th, 2023 💖
preorder: 🪁☔️
#experimentalmusic
thanks to everyone who's taken the time to engage w/ an essay i recently shared. had been nervous to share it for almost a year, but a conversation with a friend led me to see that sharing it now was perhaps the right time to do so.🌷
full essay:
Meet Naila Aroni, the painter behind
@nkariukimusic
's քɛǟƈɛ քʟǟƈɛֆ: ӄɛռʏǟռ ʍɛʍօʀɨɛֆ 🕊️
She describes her painting ʟǟɨӄɨքɨǟ, which formed the artwork for ɛզʊǟȶօʀ ֆօռɢ 🌍 as "a fusion of my love of nature and lust for colour."
Pre-order: 💫
"The Kenyan artist Nyokabi Kariũki offers a swelling and expanding experimental composition...a beautiful, challenging and captivating piece."💫
A lovely review of 'Galu' from Tome the Weather Machine :)
#experimentalmusic
#composer
FEELING BODY cassettes & the limited edition booklet are still available, but! we have verry few booklets left!
profits from the latter are going to Body Politic, who support people with long COVID.
you can get the booklet + cassette as a bundle ➡️
ahh this surprise write up of my double bill show with
@_kamaru_
at The Mist (Nairobi) has made my day!
A huge thank you to everyone that showed up for the event. Thanks Chia for these lovely words!❤️🔥
“A choir of Nyokabis”😂
my classical pieces have found homes in recent releases:
🌸 my marimba trio, “the season of Big rain (Mbura ya Njahĩ)" on
@ThirdCoastPerc
's EP🌧️
🌸the VERY first piano piece i wrote in uni, “It Only Ever Rains in November”, on Lara Downes “Love At Last”
@PENTATONEmusic
🍁
finally posted some vids onto my youtube account from my shows with two amazing ensembles this year —
@defunensemble
in Helsinki, and
@thesobWOW
in NYC.
had a blast arranging & performing music from my records for them. happy listening!🧵💫
Honoured to have had 'peace places: kenyan memories' highlighted as
@guardianmusic
's 'contemporary album of the month'.🌿
"...utterly transcendent in its scope and space-age in its sonic ambition." thank you!✨
@userdeactivatd_
He stated on the show that he's half St Helenian and Half English. St Helena is an island closest to Africa, and I think a lot of the people there are of a bunch of different races including black, chinese, white. Pics of him with his father do show that he's not only white.
"A breathtaking mix of catharsis, weariness, and aspiration flickers like golden fireworks through “Nazama,” the final track on Nyokabi Kariũki’s forthcoming FEELING BODY."
Surprise! My single “Nazama” premieres TODAY on
@foxydigitalis
!💞
got an honorary mention for the Giga-Hertz Award 2023 ✨ congrats to the other honorary mentions + to the winners! thank you to the jury &
@zkmkarlsruhe
🌷
And just like that, the year is over! 2018 has allowed me to set foot in 11 countries, and I'm so thankful for the opportunities and experiences. Here are my travel highlights: Read/comment, subscribe & have a
#HappyNewYear2019
!!
#travel
#btravelbloggers
Very stoked to be playing Le Guess Who? Festival this year as part of Nala Sinephro's curation!
Truly amazing curators & a truly amazing lineup.🌷💫
Info👉🏽
See u therr❤️🔥💫
@LeGuessWho
#LGW23
"A deeply soothing, hypnotic soundscape inspired by a recovery from long-term illness,[...] the track is a considered, experimental blend of soft vocals and instrumentation that tentatively celebrates the regaining of physical and emotional strength."
ty!
@getinherears
✨
ahh loved this - "...the music occupying its own magical place between imagination and reality."🥺✨
thank you sm
@theQuietus
/
@AlterAnthony
for the kind words!♥️
'Peace Places: Kenyan Memories feels like a vision of an artist’s inner world filtered through the tangible, while each of the six cuts on the EP creates its own psychogeography.'
@nkariukimusic
- PEACE PLACES: KENYAN MEMORIES
@sa_recordings
Listen back on 2023 with our list of the 50 best* albums of the year. A pan-African selection that spans from Durban to Tunis, bringing together the sounds of kuduro and Afrobeats to electro-shaabi and traditional embaire music…
Tonight! I'll be performing a reimagining of my EP 'peace places: kenyan memories' with the amazing group of musicians that is Matt Evans,
@alev_lenz
, and Cello Octet Amsterdam🎻 — live at
@TiVre_Utrecht
for
@gaudeamusnl
.
See you there!🥹✨
tix:
My 2023 favorites, Songs of Our Lives Style. Music that made me happy, made my cry, tapped into my romantic side, changed my perspective, & more. And, for the first time ever, an actual AOTY pick from FD. All this + so, so much more. Thanks for being here.
"['Equator song'] is an acceptance of the diaspora’s constant condition of loss, and the beauty that exists within it."
Check out my latest single on a
@nytimes
playlist of their most notable new songs and videos from last week!✨
'Equator song' is out today! With beautiful cover art by the brilliant
@baesquiat
, who I've had the pleasure of knowing for years♥️
The track is part of my EP, ‘peace places: kenyan memories’, based on places at home that were emotionally significant to me. Happy listening!♥️
We're pleased to share with you
@nkariukimusic
's latest release, ɛզʊǟȶօʀ ֆօռɢ, the debut single from her upcoming EP քɛǟƈɛ քʟǟƈɛֆ: ӄɛռʏǟռ ʍɛʍօʀɨɛֆ 🕊️
Listen to ɛզʊǟȶօʀ ֆօռɢ and pre-order the vinyl: 🌍