Sparlha Swa offers us a Folk/Jazz/Alternative music that is honest and evocative. Mixing impeccable vocals and haunted modal chords, her songs speak to and about the human spirit; often sad and often wise, she shares beauty and battle scars from her own inner journey.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, the artist pulls her inspiration from around the globe with mentors like Sade, Billie Holiday, Astrud Gilberto, Miriam Makeba and Ravi Shankar.
An independent artist, music has carried this songstress far and wide, with solo tours to Hawaii, Canada, the UK, Paris, the Netherlands, Japan, Brazil, and all across the US. In NYC, she has headlined with a full band at the Blue Note Jazz Cafe, Joe's Pub, and BAM Cafe all to audiences of standing room only.
Notable musical landmarks include being signed to Japanese label Village Again for her debut album In The Distance, 2 songs licensed (Love Addiction, Too Late) to the TV show Girlfriends, and having her music video aired on BETJ globally for 6 months. She has written score music for several independent films, including the award winning short "Pariah" which went to Sundance in January 08, and which will be developed into a feature film in the summer of ’09. In the summer of 2008 Sparlha played a lead role in the critically-acclaimed Off-Broadway piece Fela! Directed by Bill T. Jones. The show won 5 Audelco awards.
Sparlha has opened for or/shared the stage with Bilal, Fertile Ground, DJ Giles Petersen, Wumni, Malcolm Jamal Warner, Somi, Zion I, Tamar Kali, N'Dea Davenport, Anthony David, Imani Uzuri, Angela Johnson, Maya Azucena, Martin Luther, Cody Chestnutt, Burnt Sugar, Junior Kelly, & Slim Kid (Pharcyde).
She has also featured on several compilations including LOVE (‘08), the Souls of Poor Folk (’07), ONE with Pete Rock (’05), and the Woodstock Film Festival Soundtrack CD (’04).
Her discography includes a debut studio album entitled “In the Distance” released in ’04, a live record released in March of ’08 called “LIVE from NYC” and an ’03 recorded demo of home-recordings entitled “Uprising”. She is currently at work on her second studio album titled "Moongazing".
Support the New Album!
Now that the live album is out, I'm back to work on my 2nd studio album, tentatively titled "Moongazing". Its going to be a special one. We are super grateful to be in production with it. If you like what you hear and want to support me/my music, please make a donation to my album fund.
All payments are made securely through Paypal.
Click here to make a donation.
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