I'm so grateful you elevated my home and my heart at Harbin ❤️🥰🎶💫✌️🦋😌🙏 love unconditionally,  Ash the Phoenix

legendary song and such beautiful words. Epic brother. Rainbow medicine all the way

I will never understand what it means to be a person of color, but I can do my best to empathize with the people who have lived under much marginalization and oppression due to their race. I want to recognize that I use samples and take inspiration from cultures all around the world to create my music. My genre is a blend of my own creativity and that of other musicians, particularly people of color, that have had a profound influence on music since the dawn of time. In particular, African people have shaped almost every genre of music known to man. I also take inspiration from Chinese, Japanese, Indian, and many other cultures to create the music that I make.

Umoja is the swahili word for Unity—meaning to strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race. This song incorporates Mongolian throat sining and Senegalese vocals with trap 808s to create a really fun and high energy song. French is the Senegal national language, and there are over 30 languages spoken in Senegal. So, I chose the Swahili word Umoja for this song to declare that the music that I create is a symbol for unity across borders and across race. I never knew that throat singing and African singing could be so incredible together—and what an amazing world we live in where this is even a possibility.

All of my music, and this song in particular, is a tribute to people of color across the world who have given me the ability to use the incredible musical vocabulary and instruments from their cultures. I want to explicitly express my immense gratitude and appreciation for these people who have shared and given the rights to their music to use in my own creative process. 

I choose to use my undeniable privilege to do my best to make the world a better place for everyone around me regardless of their race or nationality. Everyday I look to see how I can be better for everyone around me and how I can serve the planet more. 

If you are a white musician I would encourage you to also recognize where your music comes from and the people that made it possible for you to create what you create. May we all continue to unify and to not let the powers that be tear us apart and make us villainize one another. With love, respect, and gratitude.

Umoja

Buy Umoja

Akriza [uh-krih-zuh]

Booking: akrizamusic@gmail.com

Akriza  is a musician and electronic music producer hailing from the city of Portland, Oregon, currently based out of Nevada City, California. He explores a range of genres in his productions, most often characterized by epic cinematic movements and soaring vocal melodies. His work ranges from heavy bangers to deeper emotional tracks, inspired by his travels around the world--capturing and reflecting the feelings of awe that arise from witnessing some of the earth’s most epic natural beauty. Some of Akriza’s sonic influences include Clozee, CharlestheFirst, and TroyBoi.

Some of Akriza’s notable performances include playing internationally in Mexico and Guatemala, One Love Festival, Unison Festival, High Vibe Festival and many Living Prism events.

His second album Templo Sagrado was released on High Vibe Records at the end of 2021 and he has many releases and collaborations planned for 2022.

Comments

Audionai

☯ YOHM ☯

Ellie Bell

Ezekeal Zion

Frequency Bender