Naia Izumi is an American virtuoso guitarist and singer songwriter from Columbus, Georgia. [1]
Naia Izumi is an American virtuoso guitarist and singer songwriter from Columbus, Georgia. [1]
Izumi received his first guitar by age 10. He learned how to play the instrument in a closet, hiding from his father, who disapproved of his interest in creating music. [2] His mother is a choir director. [3]
At the age of 16, Izumi was diagnosed with autism. He is open about being autistic, and describes it as "not a problem but instead a unique brain chemistry one can use to accomplish the unexpected". [4] [5]
Izumi began his music career busking on the streets of Los Angeles. [1] Filmmaker Suzuya Bobo met Izumi in LA and offered to create a music video for him. She suggested he submit a song to the NPR Tiny Desk Contest. [2]
In 2018, at age 34, Izumi won the fourth annual NPR Music Tiny Desk Contest with his song "Soft Spoken". [6] [7] [8] According to the series' creator, Bob Boilen, Izumi "impressed the judges with his intricate, complex guitar playing and his sweet, emotive voice." [9] The competition was judged by Boilen, Tarriona "Tank" Ball, Sylvan Esso, and Gaby Moreno. [10] Izumi was surprised to learn he had won, because he forgot he had entered the contest. [11] Following his win, he played a 10-city national tour. [10]
In 2019, Izumi signed to Sony Masterworks. [12] He is sponsored by Fender. [13] [14]
On July 30, 2021, Sony Masterworks released Izumi's debut album, A Residency in the Los Angeles Area. On the album, he played vocals, guitar, bass, drums, Japanese Koto, mandolin, and cittern. Izumi was influenced by King Crimson, Musiq Soulchild, and Shakti. [15] American Songwriter wrote, "it's amazing to see an artist like Izumi make a bold, exciting new sound out of the cherished, ol' six-string. That's raw, unabashed creativity." [16]
In 2022, Izumi played a concert in Bushwick to raise money for abortion access. [2]
Izumi resides in Los Angeles, California. [1] He identified as genderfluid, then as a transgender woman for seven years, but now identifies as a cisgender man. [3] [11] The song that won the Tiny Desk Concert was originally titled "Soft Spoken Woman", and was written about his experiences as a woman. [23]
All Songs Considered is a weekly online multimedia program started in January 2000 by NPR's All Things Considered then-director Bob Boilen. At first, the show featured information and streaming audio about the songs used as bumper music on All Things Considered. The program has turned into a source of discovery for new music of all genres. In August 2005, the program began podcasting for free. In 2005, it began webcasting and podcasting live concerts from Washington, D.C.'s 9:30 Club, including acts such as Animal Collective, The Decemberists, Neko Case, and Tom Waits.
Mucca Pazza is an interdisciplinary instrumental music and performance ensemble based in Chicago, USA.
Bob B Boilen is an American musician and media personality. He was the host and creator of NPR's online music show All Songs Considered and the co-creator of NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts, a series originally conceived of by NPR's Stephen Thompson. He retired from NPR in October 2023 after 35 years.
Laura Anne Gibson is an American singer-songwriter. She currently records for the U.S. independent label Barsuk Records, and the Berlin-based label City Slang. Gibson's most recent album Goners was released October 26, 2018.
NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music discovery. NPR Music offers current and archival podcasts, live concert webcasts, reviews, music lists, news, studio sessions, and interviews to listen to from NPR and partner public radio stations across the country, as well as an index of public radio music stations streaming live on the Internet. There have been two blogs: "Monitor Mix" by Sleater-Kinney musician Carrie Brownstein and the All Songs Considered Blog by Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton.
Adam Arcuragi is an American-born artist and producer from Georgia, who lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for many years. He is credited with being the founder of the musical genre Death Gospel.
Ivan & Alyosha is an American indie rock band from Seattle, formed in 2007 by Tim Wilson and Ryan Carbary. They were later joined by Pete Wilson and Tim Kim and added Cole Mauro to complete the group. In 2009 the band was recognized nationally by NPR during coverage of SXSW. Ivan & Alyosha's songs are represented by Downtown Music Publishing.
Kat Edmonson is an American singer and songwriter who calls her music vintage pop.
Mahamadou Souleymane, known professionally as Mdou Moctar, is a Tuareg songwriter and musician based in Agadez, Niger, who performs modern rock music inspired by Tuareg guitar music. His music first gained attention through a trading network of mobile phones and memory cards in West Africa. He sings in the Tamasheq language. Moctar's fourth album, Ilana: The Creator, released in 2019, was the first to feature a full band. He plays guitar in the takamba and assouf styles. He also appeared in the 2015 film Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai.
DakhaBrakha are a Ukrainian folk music quartet which combines the musical styles of several ethnic groups. They were a winner of the Sergey Kuryokhin Contemporary Art Award in 2009 and the Shevchenko National Prize in 2020.
Tank and the Bangas is an American musical group based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The band won the 2017 NPR Tiny Desk Contest and in November 2019, they were nominated in the Best New Artist category for the 2020 Grammy Awards. They have released three studio albums, Thinktank (2013), Green Balloon (2019), and Red Balloon (2022).
Grass Punks is an album by Tom Brosseau. It was released in 2014 on Crossbill Records. It is the first album in his North Dakota Trilogy. It was produced and recorded by Sean Watkins in Hollywood, California.
Gracie and Rachel is a chamber pop piano-violin duo composed of singer-keyboardist Gracie Coates and violinist Rachel Ruggles, high school friends from Berkeley, California based out of Brooklyn, New York.
Frank Lopes Jr., known professionally as Hobo Johnson, is an American vocalist and frontman of the band Hobo Johnson & the LoveMakers. Hobo Johnson also delivers lyrics in the form of rap and spoken word to create his raw, often self-released music.
Quinn Christopherson is an American singer-songwriter of Alaskan Native heritage. He is best known for his song, "Erase Me," which describes his experience with male privilege as a transgender man. The song won NPR's 2019 Tiny Desk Contest, out of over 6,000 entries.
Alisa Amador is a jazz, funk, and alternative folk musician.
Mecca Russell, known professionally as Neffy, is a singer-songwriter from Arlington, Virginia.
Little Moon is an American indie folk rock band from Springville, Utah, and formerly a project of lead vocalist, singer-songwriter Emma Hardyman. Their first album, Unphased, was released in 2020. The band won the Tiny Desk Contest in 2023.
Lau Noah is a Spanish self taught multi-instrumentalist and composer. Noah has received international recognition for her way of playing guitar and singing in virtuosic counterpoint, with the Recording Academy describing her as "a musical polymath" She became the first Catalan artist to ever perform on NPR Tiny Desk Concert. Her first LP contains collaborations with artists such as Jacob Collier, Jorge Drexler, Chris Thile, Cécile McLorin Salvant, and many others.