music
In 2014, Angel Bat Dawid retired. She left her job at a lingerie shop, withdrew her pension money and used it to dedicate herself full-time to music for a year. A composer, clarinettist, pianist, bandleader, recording engineer, educator and DJ, her relationship with art began at the age of four with the film Amadeus (1984). Enchanted by the image of the young Mozart, she asked to play violin in the school band. She was given a clarinet, an instrument that seemed very unappealing to her — that is, until she found a cassette recording of the Clarinet Concerto (1791) in the library. From then on, the wind instrument became her best friend.
During the year she took to focus on music, she began attending free jazz sessions and, whenever an opportunity to play came up, even with musicians she did not know, she accepted. Rooted in Chicago’s vibrant scene, she became a prominent figure within that community, touring with fellow artists such as Jaimie Branch and Ben Lamar Gay. She has also added credits to works by Moor Mother, Shabaka Hutchings, Bilal and André 3000.
The Oracle, her debut album, arrived in 2019 on International Anthem. Channelling the cosmic energy of Sun Ra, Angel Bat Dawid sings and plays almost every instrument on this work, which she recorded and produced herself, mostly using her mobile phone. Widely acclaimed by the specialised press, The Oracle established her as a leading name in contemporary music centred on the integration of classical composition, gospel, jazz and improvisation, through an Afrofuturist perspective. A year later, she released LIVE (2020), a confrontational album documenting the American musician’s concert with her band, Tha Brothahood, at JazzFest Berlin in 2019. Inspired by the film The Cry for Jazz (1959), which claimed that jazz was dead, Angel Bat Dawid decided to create a piece in praise of the supposedly deceased genre. This is how Requiem for Jazz (2023) was born: a twelve-movement suite largely recorded live at Chicago’s Hyde Park Jazz Festival, featuring Marshall Allen and Knoel Scott of the Sun Ra Arkestra.
supported by portuguese republic – culture, youth and sports / general direction of the arts / network of portuguese theaters and cinemas (rtcp). portuguese contemporary art network (rpac).
