Devendra Obi Banhart (born May 30, 1981) is a Venezuelan singer-songwriter and visual artist. Banhart was born in Texas, and raised in Venezuela and California. In 2000, he dropped out of the San Francisco Art Institute to pursue a musical career. In 2002, Banhart released his debut album and is best known for his albums in the late 2000s such as Cripple Crow and Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon. He has since expanded his career to incorporate his interest and training in the visual arts.
Banhart was born in Houston, Texas, to a Venezuelan mother, María Eugenia Rísquez, and an American father, Robert Gary Banhart. His given name is a synonym for Indra, suggested by Indian religious leader Prem Rawat (whom Banhart's parents followed),[1] and his middle name Obi takes after Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Star Wars character.[2]
His parents divorced in 1983, after which Rísquez and he moved to Caracas, Venezuela.[3] Rísquez later remarried and when Banhart was age 14, his stepfather moved the family to Los Angeles, California.[3][4]
Banhart dropped out of college in 2000[3] and left San Francisco after the dot-com bubble bust worsened the city's economy.[4] That summer, he moved to Paris and began opening shows for indie rockbands such as Sonic Youth.[3] Banhart returned to the United States that fall and played music in San Francisco and Los Angeles, until he was discovered by Michael Gira, owner of Young God Records,[3] after Siobhan Duffy, Gira's wife, bought a copy of Banhart's demo CD The Charles C. Leary and gave it to Gira.[1]
Banhart's albums offer a variety of musical sounds, and he is often called the leader of the musical movement termed "Freak Folk." His lyrics are fantastical, idealistic, and poetic with the occasional trace of innuendos.[8]
In 2005, Banhart collaborated with Antony and the Johnsons on the album I Am a Bird Now. He sings the introduction to the song "Spiraling" and plays guitar on "You Are My Sister" in which Boy George also appears. In 2005, Banhart was in a relationship with Bianca Casady of the band CocoRosie, with Banhart living with Casady and her mother Christina Chalmers at Chalmer's farm in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, a Romani village in southern France.[9][10] Banhart's relationship with Casady ended in 2006. Banhart's 2007 album Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon detailed his break up with Casady.[11]
Banhart was the first artist to design a T-shirt for the Yellow Bird Project, in 2006. He chose to donate the profits from the sale of his T-shirt to the Teenage Cancer Trust.[12]
From 2007 to 2008, Banhart was romantically linked to actress Natalie Portman, who is featured in the video for Banhart's song "Carmensita".[13][14]
He is a collector of music artifacts.[4] Banhart wrote the foreword for and appears in his friend Lauren Dukoff's book Family: Photographs by Lauren Dukoff.[26][27] He has also written the introduction to a selection of poems by Kenneth Patchen.
On October 27, 2009, Banhart released What Will We Be, his first record on Warner/Reprise. Banhart and Jon Beasley, who were credited as art directors for the album's artwork and packaging, were nominated for a Grammy in 2011 for Best Recording Package.[28]
The film Life During Wartime, directed by Todd Solondz, features a musical collaboration between Banhart and Beck. The song plays over the film's end credits. Banhart sings lead vocals while Beck adds backing vocals and also recorded the track. The lyrics were written by Solondz and the music by composer Marc Shaiman.[29]
Banhart is an avid skateboarder. In March 2010, he broke a bone in his right leg while skating, only hours before a concert in Phoenix. This resulted in the cancellation of future shows in Utah and Colorado.
In 2011, he collaborated with Marisa Monte and Rodrigo Amarante on a version of the song "Nú Com a Minha Música" for the Red Hot Organization's most recent charitable album Red Hot + Rio 2. The album is a follow-up to the 1996 Red Hot + Rio. Proceeds from the sales will be donated to raise awareness and money to fight AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues.
In April 2012, Banhart took part in artist Doug Aitken's audiovisual project "Song 1" at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. Banhart joined Beck and James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem in performing "I Only Have Eyes For You" for the project that uses eleven high-definition video projectors working in tandem to blanket the museum's entire surface with a video of the performance.[30]
On December 3, 2012, Banhart announced his new album, Mala. The album was released on March 12, 2013, and was Banhart's debut album for Nonesuch.
In 2014, Banhart covered Arthur Russell's "Losing My Taste For The Nightlife" for the Red Hot + Arthur Russell compilation that benefitting the Red Hot Organizations fight against AIDS.[32]
On May 14, 2016, Banhart curated a two-day event at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, featuring performances from Harold Budd, Hecuba, Lucky Dragons, Jessica Pratt, Rodrigo Amarante, William Basinksi, and Helado Negro.[33]
In 2015, Banhart scored the film Joshy, directed by Jeff Baena and starring Nick Kroll, Jenny Slate, and Thomas Middleditch.
In June 2016, Banhart released the first track of his ninth studio album, Ape in Pink Marble, titled "Middle Names".[34][35] In August 2016, Banhart released the second track of his ninth studio album, titled "Saturday Night".[36][37] His ninth studio album, Ape in Pink Marble was released on September 23, 2016, on Nonesuch Records.
In 2018, Banhart sang on Ssion's album O, lending vocals to the track "Free Lunch".
In September 2018 Banhart participated in the project 27: The Most Perfect Album, which was born out of the podcast More Perfect, a Radiolab spinoff. The project celebrated the 27 amendments of the US Constitution.
His tenth studio album, Ma, was released on September 13, 2019, on Nonesuch Records.[38] Helado Negro remixed the track "Love Song" which was released on January 16, 2020.
In April 2020, he was featured on a Mykki Blanco track titled "You Will Find It" [39]
In 2020, Banhart, along with Noah Georgeson, scored the film Arkansas, directed by Clark Duke and starring John Malkovich and Liam Hemsworth.
On February 5, 2020, Banhart contributed to a 50th anniversary tribute album honoring Allen Ginsberg's Fall of America. Other artists featured included Mickey Hart, Yo La Tengo, Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo. Banhart provided music and score to the poem "Milarepa Taste".
On September 3, 2020, Banhart released a cover of the Grateful Dead's "Franklin's Tower" as part of Amazon's Amazon Originals series. The song has since been widely released.
In December 2022 he played in Cusica Fest in Caracas, Venezuela; this was his first show in the country.
Banhart's drawings have also been featured in the Art Basel Contemporary Art Fair in Miami, Florida, the Mazzoli Gallery in Modena, Italy, Spain's ARCOmadrid. and the Andrew Roth Gallery in New York.[53]
His drawings were featured in MOCA's exhibit "The Artist's Museum", in which the works of influential Los Angeles based artists from the last 30 years were presented. As part of the exhibition, Banhart collaborated with artist Doug Aitken and musicians Beck and Caetano Veloso for a musical and visual performance piece.
Banhart was a participant in Yoko Ono's second Water Piece project.[54]
He read Joan Miró's poem "A Star Caresses the Breasts of a Negress" for the recorded guided tour of Tate Modern.[55]
In May 2015, Anteism published a collaborative book with Banhart and artist Adam Tullie titled Unburdened By Meaning.
In June 2015, Banhart released a collection of drawings, paintings, and mixed media pieces, titled I Left My Noodle on Ramen Street, published by Prestel Publishing.[56]
On May 8, 2019, Banhart announced a collaborative collection of linen clothing with designer Alex Crane titled "Almas".
In September 2019, Anteism published a book of drawings titled Vanishing Wave. The drawings were originally sold to benefit the victims of the Tohoku earthquake in Fukushima.
On December 14 and 15, 2019, Banhart curated a two-day event at Hauser and Wirth Los Angeles titled Other Flowers. The event featured his photography, paintings, a pop up store with limited edition merchandise, as well as a series of performances featuring musicians Rodrigo Amarante, Tim Presley, and Banhart himself. It also included performance art from Jasmine Albuquerque and Friends, Invisible Women, and Nao Bustamante.
In March 2020, Banhart had his first solo art show in Los Angeles at Nicodim Gallery. The show was titled The Grief I Have Caused You and featured his first series of oil paintings as well as drawings from 2019 to 2020.
Band
Banhart's live band has had multiple names, including Spiritual Bonerz[58] (the 'z' is silent) and The Grogs.
Devendra Banhart – vocals, guitar, organ, synthesizers, samba, and more
Beck David Hansen, known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his experimental and lo-fi style, and became known for creating musical collages of wide-ranging genres. He has musically encompassed folk, funk, soul, hip hop, electronica, alternative rock, country, and psychedelia. He has released 14 studio albums, as well as several non-album singles and a book of sheet music.
Fabrizio Moretti also known as Fab, is a Brazilian-American musician and visual artist best known as the drummer for American rock band The Strokes, with whom he has released six studio albums since 2001. A collaborative artist, he has been part of a series of groups since the mid-2000s, most notably the Brazilian-American band Little Joy, which released one album in 2008, and the experimental pop collective Machinegum, which he has led since 2018. Throughout his career, Moretti has worked on a variety of art projects which span the mediums of drawing, sculpture, and installation and performance art.
Vetiver is an American folk band headed by songwriter Andy Cabic.
Psychedelic folk is a loosely defined form of psychedelia that originated in the 1960s. It retains the largely acoustic instrumentation of folk, but adds musical elements common to psychedelic music.
Jennifer Vashti Bunyan is an English singer-songwriter. She began her career in the mid-1960s and released a debut album, Just Another Diamond Day, in 1970. The album sold very few copies and Bunyan, discouraged, abandoned her musical career. By 2000, her album had acquired a cult following; it was re-released and Bunyan recorded more songs, initiating the second phase of her musical career after a gap of thirty years. She released two more albums, Lookaftering in 2005, and Heartleap in 2014.
CocoRosie is an American musical group formed in 2003 by sisters Sierra Rose "Rosie" and Bianca Leilani "Coco" Casady. The group's music has been described as folktronica, freak folk and "New Weird America", and incorporates elements of pop, blues, opera, electronica, and hip hop. The group has released seven studio albums, La Maison de Mon Rêve (2004), Noah's Ark (2005), The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn (2007), Grey Oceans (2010), Tales of a GrassWidow (2013), Heartache City (2015), and Put the Shine On (2020), and two EPs, Beautiful Boyz (2004) and Coconuts, Plenty of Junk Food (2009). They released their sixth album Heartache City on their own record label, Lost Girl Records.
Cripple Crow is the fifth album by American-Venezuelan psychedelic folk musician Devendra Banhart released on September 13, 2005 on XL Recordings. It was his first release on the label XL Recordings. The cover references the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover.
Oh Me Oh My is the second album by Devendra Banhart. Its name was taken from the lyrics of one of Banhart's earliest songs, "Sunrise ". It was the first release by Devendra on Young God Records and it came out on October 28, 2002.
Rejoicing in the Hands is the third studio album from psychedelic folk musician Devendra Banhart and the second full release for the label Young God. It was recorded during 2003 and was released on April 24, 2004.
Niño Rojo is the fourth studio release by freak folk artist Devendra Banhart and his third release on the label Young God Records. It was released on September 13, 2004.
Josiah Clark Steinbrick is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and record producer, currently based in Los Angeles, California, United States. Aside from his own solo works and performances with his BANANA ensemble, he has produced albums by Cate Le Bon and Devendra Banhart and has recorded with artists such as Danger Mouse, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Gruff Rhys, Rodrigo Amarante, and Sam Gendel. He provided the score to the 2020 film, Horse Girl, starring Alison Brie.
Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon is a Devendra Banhart album released September 25, 2007. This album features more instrumentation than the previous records, as well as more genre experimentation. Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon was recorded in Topanga Canyon in Southern California and is dedicated to Alice Coltrane, Malachi Ritscher and Elliott Smith.
Rodrigo Amarante de Castro Neves is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer and arranger. He is part of the bands Los Hermanos, Orquestra Imperial, and Little Joy, and released his first solo record, Cavalo, in Brazil in late 2013 and worldwide in May 2014. He also wrote and performed the narcocorrido "Tuyo", the theme song for the Netflix Original Series Narcos (2015) and Narcos: Mexico (2018), and wrote the score for the film Entebbe (2018).
Lauren Dukoff is an American photographer noted for her portraiture and documentary work of celebrities and musicians, including the cover of the Adele album, 21.
Little Joy is a rock supergroup formed in 2007 by Los Hermanos singer-songwriter Rodrigo Amarante, The Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti, and Binki Shapiro. They released Little Joy, their only album, in 2008.
What Will We Be is Devendra Banhart's seventh studio album released on October 27, 2009, on Warner Bros. Records. The album was co-produced by Banhart and Paul Butler from A Band of Bees. Rejoining Banhart are old band mates Noah Georgeson, Greg Rogove, Luckey Remington, and Rodrigo Amarante, all of whom worked with him on his previous album, Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon.
Gregory Samuel Rogove is an American indie music drummer and songwriter. He is notable for partnering with indie artist Devendra Banhart to form the group Megapuss. He signed a record contract with Knitting Factory Records in 2011.
Mala is the eighth studio album by American folk rock musician Devendra Banhart, released on March 12, 2013, on Nonesuch Records. The album was produced by Banhart and Noah Georgeson, and mastered by Greg Calbi.
Cavalo is the first solo album of singer Rodrigo Amarante. It was released in Brazil in September 2013 by the record label Som Livre and released globally in May 2014 by Easy Sound.
Ape in Pink Marble is the ninth studio album by folk rock musician Devendra Banhart, released on September 23, 2016 on Nonesuch Records. The album was written, produced, arranged, and recorded in Los Angeles by the singer/songwriter/guitarist with his longtime collaborators Noah Georgeson and Josiah Steinbrick, both of whom also worked on Banhart's previous album, Mala (2013).
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