Bio:
Music has become more inclusive than ever thanks to the rise of international artists, and singer/songwriter Shirazee is ready to give Afropop music an even brighter spotlight. He was born in Cotonou, Benin, but his life has transported him to places like Ghana, Paris, South Africa, Atlanta and New York City. Shirazee’s unique nomadic lifestyle (where he learned six languages along the way) is captured in Lost -- his forthcoming EP that channels an explorer’s curious spirit.
Lost gives the listener a sonic world tour, with its six tracks embracing Shirazee’s passion for fusing unexpected beats from various genres, while also telling a personal story through artful lyricism. Growing up in Benin, the artist first discovered his love for music through his mother. She played a colorful mix that ranged from the country’s local artists to Motown-era stars like Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, James Brown, and European artists that she picked up while studying hairdressing in Belgium. Like many kids, Shirazee was a major fan of Michael Jackson. But he also admired Benin-born artists who skewed more traditional: Sagbohan Danialou, Gnonnas Pedro from the group Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou, and Angélique Kidjo. “The influence that Angélique Kidjo had was letting me know it was possible to crossover overseas,” Shirazee explains. “She was the voice of hope that we had at the time when it came to world and traditional music. I want to be that for the kids coming up now.”
Shirazee was mainly exposed to American artists’ most popular songs as a kid, as many countries in Africa were only provided with singles CDs and music videos rather than a complete album. Seeing the same videos from rappers like Busta Rhymes, Outkast and 50 cent were quickly drilled into his head, which ultimately played a role in Shirazee’s songwriting ability. He has written for the likes of Sting, Ty Dolla $ign, K-pop group Girls’ Generation, Kieza, Twista and more before fully committing to solo stardom.
“My strongest suit is my melody,” he says. “I just go into different spaces in my brain since I’ve worked with and listened to so many genres for so long. That's what happens when you grow up overseas.”
Shirazee’s worldly skills are unmistakable throughout Lost, which can be heard in earworm hooks like EP opener “Zaddy.” The seductive track fuses throwback Eurodance melodies with modern Afrobeats-inspired drums, which is wrapped around a sample of Dutch singer Amber’s 1999 single "Sexual (Li Da Li)” that Shirazee recalled from hearing it in a London supermarket.
The EP is brimming with feel-good tunes, including the party-ready “Baka Breaker” that finds Shirazee showing off his flirtatious side. Calling it “one of my best works to date melodically,” the track draws from the catchy sounds from South Africa’s Kwaito genre. The country is also highlighted in “Right Thang,” which features Busiswa. The South African singer-songwriter and poet (who was previously on Beyoncé’s The Lion King: The Gift album) reached out to Shirazee through Instagram, which led to the collaboration that blends West African and South African melodies. “We kept it authentic,” Shirazee says. “We wanted to bridge both worlds without it sounding too contrived.”
But the song that best encapsulates Shirazee’s story is “African In New York.” He worked with Nigerian producer Sarz for the track, which is inspired by his mother’s love for Sting and his journey living in various countries. Shirazee got Sting’s blessing to sample his classic 1987 single "Englishman in New York.” The song holds sentimental value, as Shirazee sheds light on chasing a dream in the city’s streets while homeless. “I was living with the people that liked my music and who discovered me online,” he recalls. “I'd live in their basement and on couches for a while. It got tiring and I was about to quit until I met a lady named Samira who literally saw her son in my eyes and took me in. Bottom line: the struggle was not sexy, but we made it.”
Shirazee hopes his Lost EP will not only unlock the door for the world to fully engage with Afropop, but to also make sure that the roots of his home country aren’t forgotten. “I want Benin to be heard all through my music, where you feel like you're hearing the voice of ancestors,” he explains.
“Benin is the main source of a lot of things that it doesn't get credit for, which even goes back to the slavery days. You can hear a lot of Benin’s influence on Haitian and Brazilian culture because of the enslaved people who went there. It's all tied to my country. I don't think people understand that, so I want to make sure that I reconnect those dots.”
The Recôncavo is an almost invisible center-of-gravity. Circumscribing the Bay of All Saints, this region was landing for more enslaved human beings than any other such throughout all of human history. Not unrelated, it is also birthplace of some of the most physically & spiritually uplifting music ever made. —Sparrow
"Dear Sparrow: I am thrilled to receive your email! Thank you for including me in this wonderful matrix."
—Susan Rogers: Personal recording engineer for Prince, inc. "Purple Rain", "Sign o' the Times", "Around the World in a Day"... Director of the Berklee Music Perception and Cognition Laboratory
I'm Pardal here in Brazil (that's "Sparrow" in English). The deep roots of this project are in Manhattan, where Allen Klein (managed the Beatles and The Rolling Stones) called me about royalties for the estate of Sam Cooke... where Jerry Ragovoy (co-wrote Time is On My Side, sung by the Stones; Piece of My Heart, Janis Joplin of course; and Pata Pata, sung by the great Miriam Makeba) called me looking for unpaid royalties... where I did contract and licensing for Carlinhos Brown's participation on Bahia Black with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock...
...where I rescued unpaid royalties for Aretha Franklin (from Atlantic Records), Barbra Streisand (from CBS Records), Led Zeppelin, Mongo Santamaria, Gilberto Gil, Astrud Gilberto, Airto Moreira, Jim Hall, Wah Wah Watson (Melvin Ragin), Ray Barretto, Philip Glass, Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd for his interest in Bob Marley compositions, Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam and others...
...where I worked with Earl "Speedo" Carroll of the Cadillacs (who went from doo-wopping as a kid on Harlem streetcorners to top of the charts to working as a janitor at P.S. 87 in Manhattan without ever losing what it was that made him special in the first place), and with Jake and Zeke Carey of The Flamingos (I Only Have Eyes for You)... stuff like that.
Yeah this is Bob's first record contract, made with Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd of Studio One and co-signed by his aunt because he was under 21. I took it to Black Rock to argue with CBS' lawyers about the royalties they didn't want to pay. They paid.
MATRIX MUSICAL
The Matrix was built below among some of the world's most powerfully moving music, some of it made by people barely known beyond village borders. Or in the case of Sodré, his anthem A MASSA — a paean to Brazil's poor ("our pain is the pain of a timid boy, a calf stepped on...") — having blasted from every radio between the Amazon and Brazil's industrial south, before he was silenced. (that's me left, with David Dye & Kim Junod for U.S. National Public Radio) ... The Matrix started with Sodré, with João do Boi, with Roberto Mendes, with Bule Bule, with Roque Ferreira... music rooted in the sugarcane plantations of Bahia. Hence our logo (a cane cutter).