JOIN US FOR OUR NEXT INSTALLMENT OF AFRO WAVES, A CCCADI CONCERT SERIES THAT SHOWCASES THE BLACK CULTURAL EVOLUTION WITH VANGUARD ARTISTS OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA.
We’re celebrating International Women’s Day with a virtual concert featuring avant-garde Black women musicians, Melanie Charles and iamchelseaiam. These artists are part of regional and musical lineages whose use of electronic music and compositional innovation shapes new space in the overall landscape of African Diasporic sounds.
This installment of AFRO WAVES is part of our five-month-long celebration of Black music entitled Rhythm, Bass and Place: Connections and Reflections on Music of the African Diaspora. Discussions about Black women’s creative contributions to the music industry have been pushed to the margins of popular music history. Yet, artists like Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, Celia Cruz and Miriam Makeba have pushed the boundaries of sound, genre and cultural activism so far ahead of their time, that their impact is still being felt and drawn upon by other artists. Drawing inspiration from such pioneers, AFRO WAVES intends to lift up women musicians who have inherited the work of these influential women and are forces in the field of music themselves.
For Rhythm, Bass and Place, these two artists represent the futuristic possibilities and the historical brilliance of Black women in music. Their respective performances will be one for the archives.
iamchelseaiam
The smells of incense and Pine Sol along with the melodies of powerful R&B singers such as Anita Baker and Mary J Blige were a familiar weekend scene for iamchelseaiam growing up in Cincinnati, OH. As an artist she has been featured on Hot 97, Sway in the Morning and BET Jams for the premier of her music video for "Nice Guys Lie". As an international touring artist she has had the opportunity to perform at the Blue Note NYC, City Winery and numerous festivals across the country. Her touring has led her to open up for the likes of Lucky Daye, D Smoke and SWV. Her documentary for her first project "A Beautiful Struggle" has been screened at several film festivals in Minneapolis, Philadelphia and at the Hip Hop Film Festival here in NYC.
Her most recent project "A Beautiful Struggle", was released in 2021 and launched "The Struggle Tour" spanning various stops across the country. She is currently working on new music for release later in 2023.
Melanie Charles
There are very few artists whose sound can capture the sentiments of a generation. The Brooklyn born and raised, Melanie Charles, is one of these artists. Over the past few decades, she has made a name for herself through dynamic engagements with jazz, soul, and R&B. Her bold genre-bending style has been embraced by a range of artists including Wynton Marsalis, SZA, Mach-Hommy, Gorillaz, and The Roots. In 2021, she appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk and stunned with her eclectic style. Through it all, she has remained committed to making music that pushes listeners to consider new possibilities—both sonically and politically.
Melanie recently received a GRAMMY for her work on Terri Lyne Carrington's album "New Standards Vol. 1", a record of compositions by modern female jazz composers. “Make Jazz Trill Again,” a project that she launched in 2016, demonstrates her allegiance to everyday people, especially the youth and is focused on taking jazz from the museum to the streets. “I love jazz, I really fell in love with it deeply. But I was interested in young people interacting with it,” Charles says. The album Y’all Don’t (Really) Care About Black Women is reflective of Charles’ tremendous versatility and imagination as an artist but of also her deep care for community.
Enter into the creative realm of her electrifying performances and leave entertained, educated, and empowered on the Official Melanie Charles Website with just a click here
You can follow Melanie Charles on her social media @melaniecharleisdflower
You can view this virtual event here on March 8th or via our CCCADI Facebook and Youtube.