October 2024: Recipient 049, Nouria Bah
The 49th recipient of the Creatives Grant is Nouria Bah! Nouria is a musician based in London, she sent over a link to her EP: Don B4. We really enjoyed the laidback smoothness of the work, so effortless and light. Nouria’s email made mention of the close harmonies she enjoys using in her work and it became all I could hear – the way voice and music moved together ever so tightly. Some parts tinkling like glass (instrument and voice) or doubling over like a drop shadow, cigarette paper between them. It felt like listening to two hands holding each other, tender, loving, careful, overlapped. I love finding bits of culture like that, bodily and felt and ethereal. I’ve been listening to Nouria’s work on repeat in the background while the seasons change (heavy into autumn) and it has been such sweet smoky company. We hope you enjoy it as much as we have!
Don B4 is out on 11th October, Nouria will be performing at SJQ in Dalston on 21st October (TICKETS HERE).
BIO:
Nouria Bah is a musician and audio producer who combines her love of close harmonies, silly puns and catchy basslines to create bricolage-like grooves.
With roots in Senegal/Guinea, she grew up in the US before moving to London in 2011. Since then, she has contributed to various experimental/indie projects and performed at award-winning festivals including We Out Here 2023. Her songs have also been featured on BBC Radio 6/Introducing, Jazz FM, Soho Radio, NTS, and Resonance FM.
As the title track and lyrics suggest, the songs on her debut EP, “Don B4” out October 11th, 2024 have “all been done before” in different setups and ensembles throughout the years.
It is now officially recorded and mastered with the help of amazing musicians Kyle ACAB (All Cats Are Beautiful, Widget), David Sappa, Anna De Mutiis, Deborah Borg Brincat (BERNE), Loretta Tosson and the mentorship of her piano teacher Harry Oakes.
“The title track is loosely based on meeting someone at a party who got annoyed when I explained I made music. She explained how she lives in Berlin where everyone is a musician and how boring that is. I made Don B4 partly to address this idea and my feelings of inadequacy when trying to make and perform songs. It is also a slight homage to the film Don starring Amitabh Bacchan which I was watching at the time and the lyrics include a cheesy Eminem pun.”
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