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I graduated from The Indiana University School of Music in 1988, and then moved back to New York City, where I began performing in local ensembles, expanding my horizons from a strict repertoire of jazz and classical to include rock, off-Broadway, reggae, funk, punk, latin, klezmer, pop, and other styles of music. While playing gigs in the early '90s, including rock bands Person to Person, The Leisure Class, Altimeter, and others, I encountered a West African band playing soukous at The Garage on Avenue B (NYC's East Village). I had never experienced music that created such incredibly high energy, and could be so deeply rhythmic and melodic at the same time; my ears and heart were forever changed. Following my new passion, I began performing with an Afro-Caribbean band called Global Warming, which featured guitarist Nathan Njiharine from Namibia, guitarist Adoni from Trinidad, and a keyboardist from Dominica, in addition to 3 American members. I interned for The Knitting Factory in 1988-89, which was the home to a growing musical movement of progressive and experimental music, and later for The World Music Institute, which continues to present the best of World Music artists in the New York area. It was though WMI that I became entranced with Moroccan Gnawa music, and where I met Moroccan Gnawa musician Hassan Hakmoun, with whom I worked for several years as trumpet player and audio engineer. I have continued to work with traditional and fusion Gnawa ensembles as performer, producer, and manager, and advocate for this beautiful, but underappreciated form of music. I began my corporate career in 1987 at Goldman, Sachs & Co., doing word processing, graphics and database work. My work at GS&Co. jumpstarted my graphic design career, and I soon fused with my graphic and music careers to form Worldly Vibe Multimedia in 1995.
Le Collage continued through 1998, and after the band broke up I created a stage personae, Electric Meg, which debuted at The Burning Man Festival in 1998 and performed extensively in the New York area as a solo act, and with the trio "Bicycle", featuring M and James Nichols. In the late '90s, I performed with a wide range of ensembles, including The Mammals of Zod, Jamaican dub-poet Everton Sylvester, freejazz trio Bicycle, Haitian Vodou master drummer Frisner Augustin and La Troupe Makandal, and with Metropolitan Klezmer. From 2000-2002, I toured with Soca master Arrow and the Multi National Force (writer of the famous party song, "Hot, Hot, Hot"), across the US and Caribbean. I also performed with and co-produced a Moroccan Gnawa-fusion ensemble, Mahjoun, through 2003. During 2002-2004, I was a part of the Louie Fleck's fabulous enterprise, The New York Reggae Collective. The last group I performed with before becoming a mother in 2004 was Klezska, a mix of traditional Klezmer music and reggae. I have worked as a studio engineer with Sussan Deyhim, Graham Haynes, Daniel Moreno, On Davis, Kid Lucky and others, and live audio engineer at several festivals, including The Vision Festival. Most of what I learned about mixing music I learned from James P. Nichols, a Grammy-Award winning master engineer, and Dan Gaydos with other members of the Museum of Sound Recording. From 2000 - summer 2008, I developed an artists' loft in Newark, NJ with my family and a crew of other creative professionals. I designed and built (with a LOT of help from my friends!) the loft from an empty warehouse into an artists' live/work space. The loft included a practice room, gym, and a Live Recording/Performance Room, which allowed musicians and other artists to record and perform in a wide open space, reminiscent of the amazing Soho loft scene of the '60s and '70s. Currently I am living between the Catskill region of NY state and Ourika, Morocco. I design websites, manage a travel company, play acoustic and electrified trumpet, and help educate people about living a more sustainable life. |
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