Awwa
Awwa - founding member of The Mental Hygiene League. Come get your mind stretched.
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top 50
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songs
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Black Space Woman Black Space Woman
Unearthly Garden Of Delights Unearthly Garden Of Delights
Awwa: is my spirit name. As a young man just entering art school, the name was chosen to be my artist name. But over the years it has sort of grown to be that part which represents the essence of spiritual awareness, unique creativity, and the seeker of truth and beauty. As Awwa I attempt to explore new areas of the visual, audible and performing arts. Using new technologies and old technologies in new ways, I make music or sound art, which may challenge conventional ideas of those art forms.Band/artist history
Awwa from an early age wanted to be an artist. Seems he has always loved to draw and to create visual art objects. In high school he discovered music as well, as another outlet for creating artistic expressions. Alone and with others (including the Mental Hygiene League), he wrote and played songs and musical pieces. Then, at the beginning of the 80s Awwa went off, onto the road, to travel across the USA, not as a music act, but as an individual, a journey of self-discovery. But still creating, there are several a cappella pieces surviving from this period.
Returning to family and home in the mid-eighties (having discovered himself), he returned to making instrumental music and uncontrolled sounds and expressions. Some of these expressions were recorded and compiled as two sides of a rare, unreleased cassette tape, produced just for friends, titled House by the Railroad Tracks (side A), and The Roadhouse Sessions (side B). Some copies of this tape may still exist.
At the end of the 80s he participated in the 1989 MHL Space Music Summit in Charlottesville, Virginia. Parts of this event were recorded and survive to this day. Also during this period he created several solo albums of musings and experimental musical wanderings. Some of these are being prepared for release now and include, Let There Be Space and Steady Gig. In 1991 Awwa along with several Mental Hygiene League friends, co-wrote the piece, A Singular Existence. This piece survives in fair condition and will be offered, hopefully in the near future.
In the early 90s he wrote and starred in several public access TV shows at the local cable television station. Some of these performances survive also. Throughout the 80s and 90s there were performances, which were recorded on cassette tape. Some of these will be presented, as they can be converted into a digital format.
In 2002 Awwa began experimenting with manipulating WAV files on the personal computer. This is when he created, Awwas PoP Hits! In 2004 Awwa participated as part of the MHL, at the Shenandoah Space Music Symposium. Early in 2005 Awwa participated as part of the MHL in a recording known as the Duck Tapes. and a second album of manipulated WAV files called "New Word"
In October of 2005 Awwa participated as part of the MHL at the 804noise Festival in Richmond, Virginia. Other than a short video clip, most of this performance may not have been
recorded."Have you performed in front of an audience?Awwa has not played live as a solo act, although he has played live with other performers. This is usually as the group, the Mental Hygiene League. Much of Awwas solo work was performed alone to no audience and, or as a postproduction activity. Some of that work was generated on the computer, not performed at all.
He states, Performing live is a rush! You work hard at creating a special moment of sound. It doesnt always happen, but when it does theres nothing like getting the audience jazzed-up with your sounds!
Your musical influences
Awwa is influenced by many different musicians and performers. Some of the big names are: Dick Dale, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Doors, Donovan, the Monkees, the Moody Blues, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zepplin, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, Tangerine Dream, Yes, Emerson Lake and Palmer, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Genesis, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Brian Eno, Weather Report, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Nick Cave and the Badseeds, P J Harvey, Patti Smith, Leonard Cohen, the Cure, Steeleye Span, Cat Power, the Polyphonic Spree, Air, Stereo Lab, the Boards of Canada, Beethoven, Chopin, Bach, Hank Williams Sr, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presly, James Brown, Diana Ross, and lots of other stuff. Funny how my music doesnt often sound much like any of these, HA!What equipment do you use?
Awwa uses a classical acoustic guitar, a Squier Bullet electric guitar, a Roland amp, a Peavey amp, a Crate amp, a Marshal amp, a MG-1 Concertmate Realistic Moog synthesizer, a Moog Prodigy synthesizer, various effects pedals including an analog tape loop machine, digital delay, distortion, echo, flange, wah, phase shifting, super octave, and compression pedals, various harmonicas, flutes, whistles, kazoos, toy drums and incidental instruments, and vocals, some of which are processed in various ways. Some of the software programs or packages used are; Cool Edit Pro v.2.1, Ableton Live v5, Cakewalk, Cubase, and a rudimentary WAV editor which came with an old Compaq I had, named simply WAV Player.Contact
Sorry, this artist currently doesn't accept email messages.
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