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Asheba is an
engaging musical storyteller who
has specialized in family
entertainment since 1998. Born
on the Caribbean island of
Trinidad, he was influenced by
its spectacular festival,
Carnival and the folkloric oral
tradition, calypso. Today, he is
a renowned world musician who
playfully blends reggae,
calypso, neo-folk and more.
Asheba developed his love of
music at an early age, singing
in his primary school choir and
helping to form the band, The
Creative Ones. He sang calypsos
with fellow Calypsonians and
reached the semi-finals in the
Independence Calypso
Competition. He learned the
steel drum, Trinidad’s national
instrument, and played with
Phase 2 Pan Groove, one of the
world’s top steel bands.
In 1989, He moved to New York
City and joined MUNY’s subway
program, Music Under New York in
1991. As a result, two of his
live performances were included
on Clay Dog Records’ compilation
CD, Street Dreams, and he was
selected to perform in MADhattan,
a musical variety extravaganza
about New York City street
performers, produced by Feld
Entertainment for the New York
New York Hotel and Casino in Las
Vegas (1997). While in Vegas, he
also hosted a children’s show
about the history of blues at
the House of Blues.
When Asheba moved to Oakland,
California in 1999, he began
performing family concerts at
open air markets, street fairs
and birthday parties; focusing
on young audiences, particularly
preschoolers. He fine-tuned his
show with regular performances
at Ashkenaz Music & Dance
Community Center in Berkeley,
and produced the score for a
children’s theatre production,
The Caribbean Adventure of
Anancy the Spider and Friends,
at Children’s Fairyland
(Oakland).
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Asheba’s first children’s CD, Go
Itsy: Music for Kids Caribbean
Style, was produced in 2002 and
won the 2005 NAPPA Gold Award.
Next he produced No More
Monkeys: Children’s Songs by
Asheba (2004). Both recordings
have sold over 2000 copies
through CDBaby.com and other
outlets, and had songs selected
from them for Putumayo Kids’
compilation CDs (Little Anancy
on Caribbean Playground, 2004;
Reggae Lullaby on Reggae
Playground, 2005).
In
2006, Asheba released his third
CD, Children Are The Sunshine,
which quickly became a Parents’
Choice Award winner. The song,
Who Stole The Cookie, was
selected by Continental Airlines
for their in-flight kids
channel, and is being aired on
XM Radio, among nine other
Asheba hits, including You Are
My Sunshine and No More Monkeys
(both of which XM Radio included
on its in-flight programming for
United Airlines). This year,
Asheba also headlined the
national Putumayo Kids’ Reggae
Playground tour (16 states, 13
cities and two Canadian
provinces), with concerts at
Austin City Limits and
Kidspalooza, where he sang Happy
Birthday to and performed with
one of his inspirations, the
legendary children’s
entertainer, Ella Jenkins.
In 2007, Asheba’s first music
video, No More Monkeys, was
released in collaboration with
Putumayo Kids’ Records. No More
Monkeys is featured on their
Animal Playground CD. Asheba
headlined the Animal Playground
US tour (20 cities, eleven
states).
In June of 2008, Asheba
headlined with his three-piece
band for the ‘Kid’s Show’ at the
Sierra Nevada World Music. In
addition to his ongoing studio
work, Asheba has written several
new songs to add to his
collection of raw material. We
can expect much, much more from
this prolific songwriter.
His fourth CD In the Kid Zone,
was released in 2009. When he’s
not performing at family
concerts in the San Francisco
Bay Area, or across the United
States, we can find him in the
studio producing his next
project.
Asheba Links:
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