"I do what I Love and I Love what I Do!"
Mellow Baku - born Mellow Harmony Avstreih.
Grew up in London then Northampton, England, now Leicester/London.
EARLY YEARS:
Spent 12 years as a child with mum sister and brother in a christian commune. No TV or radio, but learned guitar, harmony, songwriting skills and performing live. No secular/pop music played, so influenced by folk, baptist hymns and gospel.
Born in London, for first 6 years heard mostly reggae, jazz, and soul.
NEXT:
Performing original soulful folk songs on guitar as a student in pubs and bars in the Midlands, then in an original groove/blues band, Mole, then earning bread & butter as a vocalist with jazz bands around the country.
PERFORMANCES (VENUES):
North Sea Jazz Festival Holland, Otto’s Bar and The Knitting Factory New York, Edinburgh Int Festival of Music, Birmingham Jazz Festival, Southbank London, Jazz Café Camden London, The Barbican London, Vortex London.
PERFORMANCES (COLLABS):
Courtney Pine on a remix of Black Coffee, plus support gig, Soothsayers in London (Afrobeat/Reggae/jazz), Chris Jerome, pianist for Courtney Pine, Mike Mondesir, Alex Wilson. More recently on Reggae artist Michie One's latest album, alongside Jimmy Cliff and Rebel MC (now Congo Natty), Corey Mwamba.
NOW:
New debut album, PATCHWORK PROPHECIES: a culmination of these influences, with elements of roots, soul and jazz. They reflect Mellow Baku’s spiritual roots, with storytelling and poetry.
MELLOW BAKU:
Mellow Baku writes songs which are sometimes stories about other people’s imagined lives. She also writes about what she believes in. She believes in Love (another word for God) and the transformative power of Love to conquer fear. She says: If there was no fear there would be no hate, and if there was no hate then things would be great. (This is not one of her best lyrics). Mellow also enjoys borderline dirty jokes, people watching with other people watchers, writing things down, drawing people when they’re not looking, and engaging strangers in random conversations. She finds this keeps the haters at bay.
But Mellow believes we were all born more than enough, and tries to express this in her songs.
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