Composed with birdsongs, ethereal voices and no audible instruments, \u201cEquator Song\u201d perfectly sets the tone for Nyokabi Kari\u0169ki<\/a>\u2019s upcoming project peace places: kenyan memories<\/em>. Each track on the EP will be based on a specific place in Kenya that had emotional significance in her upbringing, transporting listeners around the country using field recordings, kalimbas, experimental electronics, and languages including English, Kiswahili, Kikuyu, and Maa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The cover art, painted by Kenyan artist and childhood friend Naila Aroni, also has a particular significance concerning the themes of the project. \u201cI love her art so much, so I asked her to paint 3 pieces based on some places the EP tracks featured for the cover art<\/em>\u201d, she tells us. […] \u201cThen, I wanted to give back to Naila in a similar way : by asking her to send videos of her own \u2018peace place\u2019, and I created the final track around it. Her peace place was in Lamu on the Kenyan coast. It was fun because I had never been there before and it wasn\u2019t my peace place at all. I was using the audio she gave me of her and her best friend walking down the beach.<\/em> […] I think it was a perfect way of acknowledging the symbiosis between visual art and music in this EP<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nyokabi Kari\u0169ki lives between New York, Maryland and Nairobi. A classically trained pianist, she fuses classical and contemporary music, as well as the musical traditions of East Africa. She is also self-taught in traditional African instruments, especially the mbira. In 2020, she distinguished herself in the Recompose contest with the track \u201cFishermen (Sell Your Dreams)<\/a>\u201d, a recomposition of a song from Grammy Award-nominated producer Alev Lenz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n peace places: kenyan memories<\/em> by Nyokabi Kari\u0169ki, out on February 25. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Listen to “Equator Song” in our Songs of the Week playlist on Spotify<\/a> and Deezer<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n