Words & Sounds Series: Third Thursdays with M³ | Maia and Naomi Nakanishi

Asian Arts Initiative and Mutual Mentorship for Musicians (M³) present Words & Sounds Series: Third Thursdays with M³. These interdisciplinary showcases explore creative connections between music and spoken word, featuring live music performances and readings by M³ artists, followed by a guided writing activity and Q&A discussion on the third Thursdays through this Fall.

The November act features Maia, an internationally renowned vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, author, SAG-AFTRA Actor, and Naomi Nakanishi, a dynamic pianist, improviser, and composer. The writing activities will be moderated by Connie Li, SOUND TYPE 2024 Writers Cohort member.

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Sonjia Hubert Harper, known professionally by mononym, Maia, is an internationally renowned vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, author, wordsmith, composer, bandleader, SAG-AFTRA Actor, vocal coach, music lecturer/teacher & visionary who has gained notoriety as a longtime member of the AACM Chicago & Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra (LA), birth worker, mother, grandmother and tennis player. Maia recently joined the celebrated NEW BLUE SUN Ensemble with Andrè 3000 during their tour at Hollywood Forever in LA. The Maia Quintet headlined the Gorée Island Jazz Festival 2019, Dakar, Senegal, Africa as the first all-women band in the festival’s history. She is a 2023 Cohort (6) of the Mutual Mentorship for Musicians, M3 recipient and currently finalizing production of her long-awaited composition, “WATERS DEEP” to be released 2024 on Village Records. Other record releases include “(I’M JUST) CHILLIN’ ON FIRE” & “Placenta” by Carlos Niños & Friends, “HARP PEACE” and “KUJICHAGULIA” by Maia.

A dynamic pianist, improviser, and composer, Naomi Nakanishi is paving a way in through the contemporary music scene. Their background in classical and folk repertoire deeply influence their sound today through ethereal and groove oriented compositions. They have performed at major festivals such as the Rochester International Jazz Festival and the Panama Jazz Festival. As a bandleader Naomi recently released their debut E.P,. Hear Me Speak, and is a Berklee Global Jazz Institute alum where they studied with Kris Davis, Terri Lyne Carrington, and Linda May Han Oh. Naomi continually strives to curate more diverse and culturally rich spaces of music.

Connie Li is an artist and writer currently living in Baltimore, MD, whose work concerns our dynamic relationships to place, memory & embodied knowledge, and formation of kin. Alongside their sound and writing practices, they engage Chinese medicine and other traditions of plant medicine, believing their frameworks of health and healing deepen solidarity.