Some musicians are known for their flaring guitar solos or their vocal theatrics or maybe their new sneakers, but Taiyo Na is an artist who is known for the passion of his words. On his critically acclaimed debut album Love Is Growth (Issilah Productions, 2008), he showcases exactly that: the heart of a poet behind the agile incarnation of an MC, singer, songwriter and producer. The influential music website Okayplayer.com writes that the album “establishes himself as a multidimensional talent with a unique creative voice that fuses the rhythms of the city that raised him with the soul of the Asian immigrant culture that birthed him.” “Lovely To Me (Immigrant Mother),” perhaps the album’s most beloved composition, would become ImaginAsian Entertainment’s Original Song Contest Winner for Asian Heritage Month. The album itself was first received to a sold-out and beyond capacity CD release party at the Bowery Poetry Club in March. This was followed by a continuous national tour that has included a guest performance for Councilman John Liu and Governor David Paterson and a featured concert at Lincoln Center Out of Doors for La Casita Festival ‘08.
Born and raised throughout New York City, Taiyo first started writing rhymes at age 13 with the encouragement of high school and neighborhood friends. This passion for language, heart and rhythm led to an early journey into spoken word poetry, performing nationally with the New York-based feedback poets’ collective (2000-2003) which featured Def Poetry Jam staple Beau Sia and Former Queens Poet Laureate Ishle Yi Park. By the time he was 18 years old, he had shared stages with Maya Angelou and Janice Mirikitani, and at age 19 was selected as one of the “25 Best Emerging Artists Under the Age of 25” by New World Theater’s Intersection Conference in 2002.
Increasingly driven by melody and groove, in the years following Taiyo found himself building a name within New York City’s independent music scene. Love Is Growth thus became a culmination of some 5 years connecting and bonding with numerous New York-based musicians and ultimately finding a musical identity all his own. Performing for festival crowds of over 10, 000 to steady rounds through the college circuit to intimate venues throughout the country, notable accomplishments from the recent past include a guest performance for Helen Zia’s Asian American Renaissance Conference, a featured night at Lincoln Center, two appearances on Kevin So’s celebrated album A Brighter Day, and an opening performance for 9-time Grammy Award-winning Eddie Palmieri.
Like the Latin American soul music of Palmieri and La Lupe generations before, Taiyo Na’s Love Is Growth marks the emergence of an Asian American soul music. It is a distinct American music—African and European in its roots—and now Asian in its perspective. In an American pop culture that often doesn’t see Asian people as performing artists, time will only tell if the mainstream is ready for more diversity. Two things, however, are for certain: Taiyo represents an entire movement of young Asian American musicians creating an original music, and Love Is Growth is the latest charge forward.
www.TaiyoNa.com
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