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We are excited to announce the latest addition to the North Star Media roster, Amai Kuda & Y Josephine!
Amai Kuda and Y Josephine are singers, songwriters, percussionists, community activists and educators who live in a caravan in the country part-time. They believe in the power of music to heal and change the world. Towards this end, they have created their own brand of music dubbed AfroSoul. The duo’s latest release, AfroSoul Volume II: MaZai, was called "earthy and rootsy and good for your ears" by CBC's Errol Nazareth. It has also received high praise from The Toronto Blues Society's John Valentyn. This release is the follow-up to Amai Kuda's debut Sand from the Sea album, which was touted as “One of the year's most exciting discoveries” by Nicholas Jennings (Canada's foremost music journalist and historian).
As a solo artist, Amai Kuda has also been featured on CBC's Big City Small World, and opened for Kellylee Evans, Climbing PoeTree, LAL, d'bi young, Kinnie Starr, and Sarah Slean. Her bandmate, Y Josephine, has over two decades of experience as a working musician. During this 20-year solo stretch, she performed and recorded with a host of bands in Venezuela, Aruba, Spain, the UK and Canada. As Edinburgh's The Skinny (magazine) said, "Y Josephine plays guitar, somehow gets a whole drum kit out of a Peruvian fruit box, and sings in a sweet, smoky, untouchably cool voice.”
The two first united for a tour in the spring of 2013. They have since developed their sound while performing on the street, at local farmer's markets and at more traditional venues like the University of Windsor, The Rivoli and The Garrison. Over the past eighteen months, Y n' Amai have also presented workshops on music, decolonization, African culture and percussion at public schools, universities, libraries and community centers throughout Toronto and other cities in Southern Ontario. Whether on the street, the stage or in the studio, for these two, music is about healing–– the healing of ancestors, the land, the self, the community and society.
To learn more, visit their new artist page: https://www.northstarmedia.com/#/artist/MTkwOTEyLWUzNzI0Zg/