Wednesday, December 10 2008

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Annya Li...

TRINIDAD-BORN singer, songwriter and dancer Annya Li will be showcasing her newly recorded music live at the Zen Nightclub on December 16.

Best known for her genre bending tracks “One Night” and “Crazy Lady”, the Brooklyn-based artiste will be featured in a concert performance titled “The Beginning” in the club’s regular live artiste’s showcase. She will be backed by her live band with Jonathan Levant on keyboards, Mingus Murray on electric guitar, Bart Evins on the bass, David Aaron on drums and acoustic guitar and back-up singers and dancers Tanya Allen and Daisha Graf.

B Wils will be the opening act along with Daisha Graf. B Wils is also a born and bred Trinidad artiste whose forte is rap.

Speaking about her music in a recent interview, Annya Li said: “As a singer/songwriter, my destiny is to make timeless music that moves the soul. I remember songs that marked different points in my life growing up, songs that are still around today and I have always said I want to be the kind of artiste that is current 20 years from now as I am today.

“Just think about Bob Marley’s ‘No Woman No Cry or Michael Jackson’s ‘Man in the Mirror’, or even at home with Ras Shorty I’s ‘Watch Out My Children’.

“I want to write music that is empowering and real or even if the stories are fictitious, the meanings can be a catalyst for someone going through a particular situation. I want to be a part of the fraternity of musicians that finds and helps create new music.”

Annya Li, who started singing at the age of five, has been featured in music videos for major recording artistes including Eric Benet, LL Cool J and Jennifer Lopez and Robin Thicke.

She counts among the major musical influences in her life Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Patti Labelle, Luther Vandross, Selena, Enya, Stevie Wonder, Jon Bon Jovi, Bob Marley, and more recently Pink, Eve, Alicia Keys, Aaliyah and Evanescence.

Annya Li said she is looking forward to her performance in TT: “My heart belongs to Trinidad and Tobago and this is without a doubt with whom I wanted to share my music first.

“The music genre as I have come to call it is world music; every song and piece of material tells a story of who we are as a people and who I am.”