Sparlha Swa is a velvetine clash of impeccable vocals and haunting modal chords. She sings from the place where sounds meets spirit, a soundtrack for the seeker. Performing mostly solo on guitar, she also appears as a duo accompanied by Shree Shyam, master of bass and percussion, and in a quartet with bass, percussion/kit and cello.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Sparlha’s pulls her music from a wide net of influence. Her sound will call to mind Sade, Tracey Chapman, Billie Holiday, Joni Mitchell, & Astrud Gilberto.
Early performances at Bay Area open mics led to collaboration with internationally known Hip-Hop artist and producer Carlos Mena on her first studio album In The Distance. 2004 marked a move to NYC, the release of In The Distance, and the launch of a musical partnership with bassist/drummer Shree Shyam, and with the management of Shawn Peters of Rebel Soul Records (Martin Luther and Cody Chestnutt).
In the years following, Sparlha has toured solo in Canada, the UK, Paris, the Netherlands, Japan, Brazil, and all across the US. In NY, she has headlined with a full band at the Blue Note Jazz Cafe, Joe's Pub, and BAM Cafe all to audiences of standing room only.
Notable musical exploits include being signed to Japanese label Village Again for In The Distance, 2 songs licensed (Love Addiction, Too Late) to the TV show Girlfriends, and having her music video aired on BETJ globally for 6 months. She has written score music for 2 independent films, including the award winning short "Pariah". Sparlha has opened for or/shared the stage with Bilal, Fertile Ground, DJ Giles Petersen, Wumni, Malcolm Jamal Warner, Zion I, Tamar Kali, N'Dea Davenport, Anthony David, Imani Uzuri, Angela Johnson, Maya Azucena, Martin Luther, Cody Chestnutt, Burnt Sugar, Junior Kelly, & Slim Kid (Pharcyde).
Sparlha has also featured on several compilations including LOVE (‘08), the Souls of Poor Folk (’07), ONE with Pete Rock (’05), and the Woodstock Film Festival Soundtrack CD (’04)- as well as interviewed on Japan FM Network, a Japanese radio show with 10 million listeners.
Her discography includes her debut studio album entitled “In the Distance” released in ’04, a live project released in March of ’08 called “LIVE from NYC” and an ’03 recorded demo of home-recording called “Uprising”. She is currently at work on her second studio album tentatively titled "Moongazing".
Support the New Album!
Now that the live album is out, I'm back to work on my 2nd studio album, tentatively titled "Moongazing". Its going to be a special one. We are super grateful to be in production with it. If you like what you hear and want to support me/my music, please make a donation to my album fund.
All payments are made securely through Paypal.
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