Multi talented vocalist and harpist, Zena Carlota, just dropped her first single entitled “Say You Know”. The track is a fusion of atmospheric, folkish elements and it’s all acoustic from start to finish, the Oakland based artist uses organic, heart wrenching string parts to create a warm bed on which her tender vocal lies. The track is a discourse on the process of remembering and forgetting, and the ways in which words, sounds, and spaces can hold memories long after an event passes.

Zena Carlota is one of the rare new talents with virtuoso instrumental talent that shines through catchy contemporary composition. ‘Say You Know’ will definitely get you hooked.

The single is taken off  her debut EP, The Confidence of Birds.

BIO:

Zena Carlota is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, singer, visual and theater artist whose work navigates the space between dreams, ancestry and memory in sound and imagery. Inspired by the Jaliyaa music tradition of West Africa, Zena has spent the past ten years traveling in the US, West Africa and Europe studying the Kora, a 21-string West African bridge harp that originates from the Malian Empire during the 13th century. Learning both ritual and experimental forms of indigenous string music and storytelling with masters from The Gambia, and Guineau, she most recently completing an intensive training in Paris with Grammy award winner, and Kora virtuoso, Toumani Diabate of Mali. These teachings are the threads that have allowed Zena to combine the ancient past with the present moment, using language as both a sacred invocation of her ancestry, and musical inspiration, by singing traditional and original songs in English, Bambara, Arabic and Spanish.

“The Confidence of Birds” is Zena’s debut EP inspired by the the Sufi poem “The Conference of the Birds” written by the Persian poet Attar of Nishapur, which details the mythic journey of birds in search of enlightenment. Funded by a grant from The Center for Cultural Innovation in San Francisco, the EP was penned by Zena on Kora and Ùkelele and features original string trio and string quintet arrangements from Bay Area composers Minna Choi (founder, Magik Magik Orchestra), Omid Zoufonoun (Principal Conductor, Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra), Bassist Shuyler Karr (San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra) and Cellist Misha Khalikulov.

Recorded onto analog tape at Tiny Telephone Studios in San Francisco between 2015-2017, Zena Carlota’s first EP culturally explores the relationship between West African string music, classical chamber music and folk pop while embodying the journey from gravity to levity in song.

Instrumentation: Kora (West African Harp), String Quintet (Magik Magik Orchestra), Drum Kit, Vibraphone Written/Produced by : Zena Carlota

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