American singer Maya Azucena is all set and excited for her first performance in India at the Delhi International Arts Festival on Thursday.
American singer Maya Azucena is all set and excited for her first performance in India at the Delhi International Arts Festival on Thursday.
The Brooklyn-born sing-er says that people usually tag her as an R&B singer. However, she says, her so-ngs are mixture of various genres, from jazz to hip-hop. “It’s a soup of many ingredients,’ she said.
She says that Brooklyn is a cultural pot, with people of varying culture living together. “I’m myself a mixed-American. So, since my childhood I have breathed, walked and talked fusion,” she says.
When asked what is then special about her music, she says that music is liking making a cake. Everyone has the same ingredients. “But the way you make it, makes it unique and special,” Ms Azucena says.
Calling herself an “advocate for art as power”, Ms Azucena says that music has the ability to bring people together and spread awareness about several issues. “Music is not something you debate upon. People come together over it,” she says.
Answering what triggered her to become an activist singer, she says that the 9/11 attacks in New York filled her with a feeling of overwhelming helplessness. “I wanted to get out and fight. And singing was the best way I could do it. It was as if I had discovered my superpower,” she says and adds that since then she has consciously used her music for social change.
Being a survivor of domestic violence, her songs now aim to raise awareness on issues related to women’s empowerment and gender-based violence. The songs have the theme of overcoming obstacles and fighting on.
To that, Ms Azucena adds that the women around the world need to unite. “They need to recognise the power of women-unification, Because when women get together, change definitely happens. And that change is much beyond politics and governments,” she says. She gave the example of the women of North and South Korea coming together and forming a musical choir.
Ms Azucena is also the artist ambassador for Bead for Life, a Uganda-based NGO which trains poor women to become empowered business women with sustainable skills, through jewellery making.
Ms Azucena says she is honoured and excited to have been invited on tour by the US embassy in New Delhi. Earlier on Wedn-esday, she spoke at Gargi College on raising awareness about women’s issues.
On Thursday, Ms Azucena with her band will be performing live at the Kamani Auditorium, after which she will be travelling to Chennai for another performance. She will also be addressing a workshop at A.R. Rahman’s Music Conservatory.
“I am having a greattime here. I love Indian music — the various scales it has. I am looking forward to an extended visit in India the next time,” she says.
