Yaw

Yaw Agyeman is an interdisciplinary performing artist born in Chicago.  He works primarily as a musician and vocalist as well as a sound designer but also has an extensive theatre background (as an actor) and as a photographer. His work addresses language and sound as cultural currency.

Yaw’s musical world is rooted in the gospel, soul and jazz traditions of US African-American music. With a voice and timbre that recalls the late, great Nina Simone, his deeply contemplative compositions draw on the rich legacy of great US artists evoking comparisons to not just Ms Simone but also the likes of Terry Callier, Donny Hathaway, Al Green & Bill Withers.

He is currently a member of Theaster Gates’ artistic collaborative project The Black Monks of MIssissippi and has recorded as a featured vocalist with multiple artists in his native Chicago and beyond. As a solo artist he garnered critical acclaim and commercial success with his song “Where Would You Be”, signed to Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings in the UK. The song has been synced multiple times, notably for a high profile White Company Christmas campaign.

Yaw has a new (double sided) single slated for release on September 7 (his birthday) and is working on his first ever solo debut album.