Tag Archives: LGBTQ+

Amythyst Kiah Reshapes Her Protest Song ‘Black Myself’ And It Is A Banging Version

Since the 2019 release of the spectacular album Songs Of Our Native Daughters we have been following the outstanding and powerful voice of Amythyst Kiah as well as the voices of her fellow musicians that made up the band behind the album, namely Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, and Allison Russell.

Now Kiah has reimagined and reshaped one of the standout tracks on the before mentioned album, a song she herself had been carrying around in her mind for some time before releasing it with the band.

Black Myself is a powerful expression of how it can be to live life as a black LGBTQ+ woman in the Southern parts of the US and one of the singles of Kiah’s newly released album Wary + Strange.

“I don’t pass the test of the paper bag
‘Cause I’m black myself
I pick the banjo up and they sneer at me
‘Cause I’m black myself
You better lock your doors when I walk by
‘Cause I’m black myself
You look me in my eyes but you don’t see me
‘Cause I’m black myself”

Kiah’s voice soars and rips through the song in front of hard hitting drums and groovy strings. This woman is a star in the making and fortunately, it seems she will use her talents, in future projects, to make a positive impact and create change in this world. Check out the song below and be sure to check out her new album via her webpage.

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Song Of The Day: Nouvelle Vague By Wake Island

Detroit techno and French pop along with Arabic music influences. Mix that with themes of a Lebanese revolution, COVID-19, BLM, the death of Arab LGBT+ rights activist Sarah Hegazy, and much more and you have Nouvelle Vague by Wake Island.

The electronic duo has now released the song twice, once in French and another time in English. Their full length LP is due to drop on April 30th, 2021, and with that album, the duo explores identity and transformation through their immigrant perspective. The album features songs in English, French and Arabic and is “a tribute to the Arab community who are often faced with no other choice but to leave their homes in search of peace and freedom.”

“…we wanted to show the avalanche of events that happened to us during the year from the Lebanese revolution to the Beirut explosion, the never-ending pandemic, Black lives matter, the death of Sarah Hegazy, the dismantling of the music industry and more. All these events affected deeply us on a personal and professional level. That said, 2020 was also a year where we found love, explored new artistic avenues, opened a new studio, found new sources of inspiration and learned how to improve our lives. We felt a profound shift in our society, a rise of empathy, a curiosity about this “other” that we thought so different, but who turned out to be just like us.”

Wake Island is the duo Philippe Manasseh and Nadim Maghzal

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Call For Submissions: A New Fund And An LGBTQI+ Compilation Album

Putting pineapple on a pizza is to some people very polemic. So much so that the incumbent president of Iceland once had his say in the matter. This South American fruit mixed with the Italian cuisine is also the name of a new project that is building a fund for artists and people in need.

According to the project’s website it focuses on covering music and having half of its fund helping artists with their expenses such as rehearsal and recording spaces, distribution and more. The other half will then be directed to having available online therapy sessions for people in need.

The project works with a professional therapist and counselor and start with online sessions. The people behind the project told Shouts that in the future they want to expand the project and fund other projects related to mental health issues.

After seeing how male dominated the industry is the people behind PineappleOnPizza decided to create a new project that shares music and supports artists that often are at the margins.

Interested parties should email info@pineappleonpizza.net to be part of this compilation album.

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