The Kristi Martel Duo:
Kristi Martel - vocals, piano, & other keys
Kevin Silvia - guitar & backing vocals
The Kristi Martel Trio:
Kristi Martel - vocals, piano, & other keys
Nisha Purushotham - Afro-Cuban & West African percussion
Kurt Meyer - fretless & upright bass
The Kristi Martel Band:
Kristi Martel - vocals, piano, & other keys
Angela Romans - backing vocals
Kevin Silvia - guitar
Miya Perry - cello
Kurt Meyer - 5-string fretless & upright bass
Nisha Purushotham - Afro-Cuban & West African percussion
Rich Kulsar - drums
Influences
Tori Amos, Laurie Anderson, Bach, the Beatles, Beethoven, Bjork, Brahms, Jeff Buckley, Kate Bush, Chopin, Ani Difranco, Sheila E., Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Peter Gabriel, Diamanda Galas, Kristin Hersh, Billie Holiday, Incubus, Jane's Addiction, Janis Joplin, Carole King, Cyndi Lauper, Bobby McFerrin, Joni Mitchell, Meredith Monk, Meshell Ndegeocello, Peter Paul & Mary, Prince, Sade, Skryabin, Nina Simone, Barbra Streisand, the Sugarcubes, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Throwing Muses, Tuck & Patti, Vinx, Craig Werth, Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder... and writers Denise Duhamel, Louise Erdrich, bell hooks, Keri Hulme, Audre Lorde, Marge Piercy, Alice Walker...
Featured on MTV/LOGO, NPR, WERS, and in Curve Magazine, and voted Rhode Island's Best Female Alt-Rock Vocalist, award-winning songwriter and avant-soul piano diva Kristi Martel grew up in New England and earned an ASCAP grant and two music degrees (Bard and Mills College) before beginning her touring and recording career. Her sweet presence and fearless songwriting endear audiences nationwide. Her piano playing combines her love of blues dissonance and syncopation with her classical training. Her powerful voice is at once sweet and bitter, emotional and visionary, articulating prayers and quirky autobiographical narratives in the same breath. Through Sealed Lip Records she has released six CDs. Ravengirl is Kristi's goofy joke superhero name for herself, her recognition of the crazy blessing it is that she felt joy everyday, amidst the profound grief, after her former life partner's suicide in 2003. This newest album is full up with that joy, with the healing and transformation Kristi has undergone to be singing still so powerfully today. Ravengirl received a "highly recommended" from the Providence Journal and stellar reviews from Motif Magazine, Bay Windows, Curve Magazine, and the Providence Phoenix. Kristi has just recorded demos for her next full-length CD, Sacred Whore. The work is more jazz and soul, and focuses on the universal in our human experience and our need for inner and world peace.
"...a fine musician...Incomparable!" -- Utah Phillips
"Kristi Martel loves life, and the joy she gets out of it exudes from her every pore. She can be singing about the darkest things in the world -- betrayal, self-hate, death -- and yet somehow, coming from her, it feels hopeful and uplifting." -- Marion Davis, Motif Magazine
"She grins when she sings. Watching her perform, it's impossible not to get swept up in the sheer joy of music -- in her deft piano playing and soaring, soul-rhythm-and-blues voice, love emanates from every note." -- Vienna Teng
"Martel proves that she's a powerful storyteller, with meaningful lyrics, passionate performances, and an emotional mission." -- Bob Gulla for The Providence Phoenix
Kristi Martel’s Ravengirl: "In this arresting, intense and surprisingly uplifting album, Martel works out some of her feelings about her lover's suicide...raw awareness, bemused and hurt but grateful and joyous, ...makes Ravengirl so compelling. The album begins with the eerie instrumental "Oya," a sort of rite of passage easing us into Martel's psyche. Martel then wraps us in the gentle "Day of Rain," a song about the day you realize the crying is finally over and are able to look back, calm and clear-eyed. The collage of memories that follows is tinted with the full spectrum of emotion, and Martel's nimble voice constantly shifts with the music... "I am doing fine, I am doing fine," she bubbles; it's not some ironic mantra or attempt at manifesting, just a cheerful chorus of simple truth. She's doing fine indeed, and the album soars way above fine." -- Brian Jewell for Bay Windows
Discography:
Sacred Whore Demos (LP 2009)
Ravengirl (LP 2006)
Quaint & Curious Ravendemos (LP 2005)
The Mule (LP 2004)
bound (single 2003)
brave enough (LP 2001)
give me a little... (EP 2000)
Help Spread the Love...
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Thank you so much for your
friendship. Please stop by my
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They include the new song, “Someday” and the NEW version of “Have Faith.”
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I wanted to let you know that we're running a 15% off promotion this week on ALL services! :) This INCLUDES MySpace design, Twitter design, album design, and promotional services! Message us now!
thanks for the add hope to see you on Elles.us a kind of facebook for Lesbians/Bi's/T's (who wants to replace OurChart) artists invited, contest, all the news around The L Word and the LGBTQ community and so much more so come and joins us
Hi Kristi.. Thanks for taking the time to listen! Your music is absolutely beautiful, so soothing!! My favorite songs are "Photophobia" and "Even free", amazing songs You should release "Even free" as a single on Itunes!!! You have a clear emotive voice, so beautiful!!! I hope you have a wonderful day!! Have fun, Josh
Join Us at the 2009 NAAFA Fashion Show & Auction Dinner
Enjoy plus-size fashions at their best while you help support and celebrate 40 years of size acceptance advocacy efforts at the 2009 NAAFA Fashion Show on July 31, 2009!
This year Washington DC will take its place as the leading plus-size fashion capital of the world as we bring you the NAAFA 2009 Fashion Show & Auction Dinner being held on Friday, July 31, 2009, at the Dulles Airport Marriott. NAAFA is the world's oldest, largest civil rights organization working to improve the lives of people of size. We turn forty years old this year and are going strong with the strength we need to build a new future. This major fund raising event for our organization will feature food, fashion, music and our well known Not-So-Silent Auction.
Plus size fashion designers from around the country will present their latest collections of inspired designs. These talented designers have a sincere desire to see women return to the truth within themselves as expressed through what they wear, giving women of any age and size the opportunity to be truly fabulous. We are happy to announce that we have award winning makeup artist, Maisie Dunbar, to assist our volunteer model participants with their makeup and hair stylists from Paul Mitchell The School Virginia to finish their looks.
Be sure to bring your wallets, checkbooks and credit cards as we will showcase vendors of fashion, accessories and furniture--all catering to the plus size audience.
The event begins with dinner at 7pm on Friday, July 31, 2009. Tickets to this exciting fund raising event are $75 each for the entire fashion-filled evening and may be purchased through July 26, 2009 online by going to http://www.naafaonlin