Akua Naru – München, Technikum

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AKUA NARU
'ALL ABOUT LOVE TOUR'

Presented by Jazz thing, kulturnews, COSMO, ByteFM and egoFM

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Known for her electrifying performances, Akua Naru has graced the stages of more than fifty countries on five continents, making her poetic messages heard in the fight against racism, discrimination and gender-based violence.
Now, the African-American artist, activist, producer and scholar is ready to unveil her highly anticipated LP, 'all about love: new visions', due out in Spring 2024 and accompanied by a release tour. Spanning a spectrum from live hip-hop to soul, trap, jazz and yet-to-be-discovered, 'all about love: new visions' reveals pathways to power and inner strength, and tells of the magnificence of blackness, in the midst of danger. Inspired by Bell Hook's classic "All About Love," the concept album focuses on the unifying power of love in times of social unrest and uncertainty. For the recording, Akua Naru has teamed up with Ensemble Resonanz, in addition to her own live band, who will accompany each song on the album with a string arrangement, much like they did on the great soul classics of the 60s and 70s. Live she will present the songs with her excellently recorded band.
'all about love: new visions' combines classic material like "Poetry: How Does It Feel?" and "Love Right Now" with new songs, including a song about motherhood and the unconditional love for one's own child. The album highlights different forms of love such as physical and romantic love, friendship, motherhood and much more.

With the release of her debut album 'The Journey Aflame', Akua Naru burst onto the scene with her powerful liberation politics in 2011. A true wordsmith, her music, deeply nuanced, poetic and wise, focuses on the experiences of black women through rhyme. Renowned scholar Dr. Cornel West called her the 'Toni Morrison of hip-hop.' To date, she has released four albums: '...the journey aflame (2011) ', 'Live & Aflame Sessions (2012) ', 'The Miner's Canary (2015) ', and 'The Blackest Joy (2018)'. Naru has collaborated with Tony Allen, Eric Benét, Angelique Kidjo, Tuneyards, Questlove, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Christian Scott, Rah Digga, Mulatu Astatke, Bernard Purdie, Cody ChesnuTT, and many others. Her artistry is a testament to the legacy of soul music and the powerful, groundbreaking tradition of black women artists on which she builds.

Born in New Haven, Connecticut (USA), artist Akua Naru grew up in a working-class family. As a child, she processed her experiences and losses in self-penned poems and began reciting them to music.
This led to her first raps, which she performed in local backyards.
In college, she pursued the question of the geographic and economic factors for the disadvantage of People of Color that destroy entire communities, as she saw demonstrated daily in the example of her own home.
After witnessing a series of violent crimes, Akua Naru left the U.S. and found a new home in Cologne, Germany for several years.

As a 'Nasir Jones Hiphop Fellow' at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, Akua Naru devoted more time to research on rap music at Harvard University and is an Archivist /Race & Media Fellow at Brown University's Center for the Study of Race & Ethnicity in America. Akua Naru is also the founder of theKEEPERS Collective, an initiative of women artists, activists, and scholars that makes the voices of women and girls heard in global hip-hop culture. She also invented theKEEPERS Archive with the goal of documenting and highlighting the importance of black women in hiphop, past and future.