MySpace a place for friends

"National Martyr Day" in Monterrey, Mexico










Tora Brava in Seoul





Tora Brava, singer, artist and performer extraordinaire, is creative exuberance bringing the ultimate medicine for a new age. Tora Brava is Tora Kim is also Kim Hae Na, who was born singing in Seoul, South Korea, then on to Panama City, Panama, Queens, New York, until the upbringing in the northern suburbs of New Jersey (of HBO-Sopranos fame). There is the family, her mother a pianist and her father an independent businessman, who moved around quite a bit back when Tora grew up telling stories and acting out to entertain her little brother and herself, between classical piano, viola and ballet lessons. Julie Andrews is her hero to this day.

There was Paris, France, where a 15 year-old Tora studied painting and fashion at Parsons School of Design and fell in love with life. There was the local church Youth Group choir where she sang and directed, and eventually Tora met Pope John Paul in Denver and in Rome, Italy. There was university in New York City, Barnard College where she received a scholarship and studied Sociology and Studio Art. She dropped out to attend the Gallatin School at New York University where she discovered Performance Art as a discipline and a new outlet of expression. This led her to pen and perform her own art performance extravaganzas from Surf Reality to the Public Theater, sharing the stage with performance art legends such as Karen Finley.

Tora Brava had already started her first band when she was 16, and to this day has released several CDs with her band Xtatika, including her debut album Tongue Bath on John Zorn's Tzadik label. The album was critically well-received. So far Tora has performed in Europe, Asia, Mexico as well as the USA, with a primer visit to Africa in 2007 where she wrote 3 songs "from the labyrinth". She has opened for artists such as Sean Lennon and Lesbians on Ecstacy, and her performances usually elicit intense surprise and positive awe-struck reaction from audiences.

Since she went solo in 2007, Tora's self-penned songs are best described as emotive electronic dance rock and show her influenced by Kate Bush, Michael Jackson, Nine Inch Nails and Judy Garland. In music and performance, it's an edgy but very danceable brand of romanticism that keeps her fans coming back for more.

Tora is also a certified scuba diver intent on saving the planet, a lover of food, wine and fashion, and movies with friends. Tora is an award-winning writer of prose and memoir, and keeps a blog.

Tora in Mexico





Tora in New York City