Gatunki Muzyczne:
Contemporary Jazz, Folk, Avant Pop
Japanese (by way of India) singer/songwriter Senti Toy writes bewitching
songs that combine jazz fluidity with folk stylings, with some exotic
instrumentation thrown in for color. (The artist has studied ethnomusicology
at NYU). The production on this 2007 release is quiet, but rather busy and baroque,
in service of Toy's complex and quirky vision. Personnel: Senti Toy (vocals);
Emma Kato, Nhumi Threadgill, Xiomara Laugart (vocals); Brandon Ross
(guitars); Tony Cedras (acoustic guitar); Adam Kolker (reeds); Jonathan Finlayson,
Ted Daniel (brass); Fernando Saunders, Calvin "Fuzz" Jones (bass guitar);
Damon Duewhite (drums); A. Sivamani (percussion); Jose Davila (unknown instrument).
How Many Stories Do You Read On My Face is the debut album by New York
based artist Senti Toy. Senti (also known as Sentienla Toy Threadgill) was
born in Nagaland – the smallest, most isolated tribal state in the northeastern
tip of India. The great-grand-daughter of a Naga headhunter, she has had a most
unusual and colorful life. As a songwriter and vocalist, Senti developed her
unclassifiable blend of jazz, traditional folk and bluestinged pop perhaps owing
partly to her unique childhood. Encouraged by her parents, yearly-singing
contests at school provided Senti an opportunity to hone her musicianship.
"The music I heard then was almost all religious. It was only later, when I moved
to college in Bombay, that a whole new world opened up for me. I learned
jazz standards by Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holliday, Nina Simone, Shirley Horn. I
heard Joni Mitchell and Stevie Wonder for the first time. It was an exciting time.
The doors to a whole new dimension of music opened up for me”. She was
featured on MTV Asia sponsored by Pepsi as one of the 20 top singers of
India in 1993, even with no album or releases to her name.
