Kashimana is a mother, musician, vocalist, composer, producer and teaching artist with a rich soulful blues voice. The name Kashimana means “that’s their heart” and you can hear Kashimana’s heart beating in the compelling sound of their music, which combines Soul, R&B, Folk, Afro-funk and more. Kashimana’s Love from the Sun CD of original songs draws from her Nigerian heritage and her experiences growing up in Nigeria and Kenya and living in the United States. In 2019, she was the In Common Composer in Residence in Willmar, MN, a Cedar Commissioned Artist, and a Northern Spark Festival Artist (as well as in 2018).
Fellowship Statement
The need to create change and to use my voice to ignite this change drives my work. I use my voice to see other universes and possibilities. With my voice, I hear the joy, the pain, where I come from and where I am going; with my voice, I heal, soothe, and create; with my voice, I am able to connect, harmonize, magnify, communicate, and transmogrify. This is why I use my voice to write, compose, sing and share.
Currently I’m experimenting with loops to create drones, chants, hums, and dissonant harmonies in an effort to create a visceral tingling effect. I use improvisational lyric writing to engage crowd participation towards collaborative creation. I’m also exploring ways of visually representing the vibrations that result from voices to create a more immersive experience.
Some works in progress include Phantom Cries (the musical), A Sprig of That, composed for a MNiature with MN Opera and a song on The Art of the Revolution album by Black artists in the wake of George Floyd’s death.