The Singer – Songwriter Series at Patrick’s Cabaret, Minneapolis

The Singer – Songwriter Series at Patrick’s Cabaret
April 15th // 8:00 PM

Featuring:
Siama Matuzungidi
Lady Midnight
Tenzin Ngawang

The Singer/Songwriter Series at Patrick’s Cabaret features a solid mix of talented, emerging, and established artists. All artists present original works in a storyteller style format. This special series will be guest curated by international musician, Siama Matuzungidi, legendary soukous guitarist, vocalist, and composer. http://www.siamamusic.com/

Siama Matuzungidi
Siama Matuzungidi (2014-’15 McKnight Fellow) is a singer, composer and master guitarist from DR Congo (later Kenya, Dubai, Uganda, Japan and now Minneapolis). He was in-demand studio musician during the golden era of soukous music (1970s-’80s) and his distinctive arpeggiated guitar style is featured on over 100 hit songs, several of which he composed. He’s considered a major contributor to the popularization of soukous (a style of music known as, “the sound of happiness”). Since coming to the US in 1995, Siama’s picked up countless influences and as a result, his new music takes listeners on a sonic journey from Congolese rumba (with clave familiar to Latin music lovers) and Pygmy call-and-response traditions, peppered with flavor from Mali, Mombassa, Delta blues and grassroots USA. He launched his solo career in late 2015 with a duet (interactive kids’ programs) and “Afrobilly Trio” (African and American folk traditions). More recently, he launched “Afrobilly Blue”, a quartet with Latin percussion and cello. Siama’s also preparing to launch a new CD featuring collaborations with MN-based musicians of many genres and geographies.

Lady Midnight
Lady Midnight (Adriana Rimpel) is a bi-lingual songwriter, vocalist, performer and youth activist born and raised in St. Paul, MN. She is the former lead vocalist of Afro-Latin ensemble Malamanya, featured on Twin Cities Public Television’s Lowertown Line and MN Original; and vocalist for electronic trio VANDAAM. Recently she was featured on the album “9th House”, a collaborative project from Twin Cities elite MC’s I Self Devine & Muja Messiah released last December. She has released four albums with Malamanya and VANDAAM and contributed to past and upcoming projects from Sonny Knight & The Lakers, Sarah White, Jayanthi Kyle, Maria Isa for The Latina Ritual Project, Sloslylove and Noah’s Heark. Currently she is completing a 7-month artist residency as project manager and executive producer for The Launched Artist Series and Closed Open Mic Workshop Sessions, two programs created by Ms.Rimpel in partnership with Kulture Klub Collaborative, an arts non-profit for young artists experiencing homelessness.

Tenzin Ngawang
Tenzin, a native Tibetan, is a composer, singer, multi-instrumentalist and composer. From 1993-2004 he was a member of the esteemed Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) in Dharamsala, India. TIPA was founded by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to preserve and promote the traditional performing arts of Tibet. Through the vigorous training and practice at TIPA Tenzin achieved mastery in Tibetan Opera, folk dances, songs and a number of musical instruments. While with TIPA, he led the Aa Ka Ma Band which produced many modern and contemporary Tibetan songs and several of their albums have become major hits. While with TIPA, Tenzin performed all around the globe, earning the respect and praise of Tibetan communities everywhere. Well-versed in all forms of traditional Tibetan music, instruments and dance, Tenzin now teaches for the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota which represents the second largest Tibetan community in the US. Tenzin also formed a Tibetan rock band called Melong (melongband.com). He’s the lead singer and has produced 3 albums which are big hits in the Tibetan community. He was the Musical Director and Dance Choreographer for a Tiger Lions Arts production on Buddha prince (a walking play) and “Kipo” in collaboration with UofM Center for Spiritual Healing. (tigerlionsarts.org) Tenzin is a very innovative and nimble artist and he really enjoys collaborating with Western and African musicians.