Meet Ashley Maher

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Maher.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
My childhood pre-wired me to be both creative and curious about other cultures. Born in Montreal to British/Irish parents, I grew up in California with three siblings, a LOT of traveling-on-a-budget, no TV, plenty of music, conversation, humor, storytelling and books. I sang and danced constantly from age five, studied opera in Italy for a year, and graduated from UC Berkeley, where I had fallen madly in love with Ghanaian drumming. A month later, I moved to London to begin my life’s passion: building musical bridges with West African music.

At that time, African music was enjoying a golden period in Paris and London. During my 12 years there, I saw countless concerts, studied dance with master teachers from all over the continent, sang, performed, wrote, collaborated and landed a record deal with Virgin UK. I recorded two albums for them with top world jazz musicians and, through sharing a manager with Peter Gabriel, met my musical hero: Senegalese superstar Youssou N’Dour.

Eventually, I returned to America to care for my mother when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. For the next ten years in Los Angeles, I performed extensively, while studying Senegalese sabar and djembe dance and raising my son and daughter.

In 2007, Youssou N’Dour recorded a song I co-wrote and later flew me to Senegal to perform for him as a sabar dancer in Dakar and at Paris’ Bercy arena for two enormous shows. In 2009, I returned to Dakar to record my fifth record with his musicians and have been traveling back and forth ever since, recording, performing, and filming videos, while collaborating internationally with various African artists. I recently recorded my seventh album, “Made in Senegal,” in Dakar.

Now that my children are grown, I am looking forward to traveling more and continuing to perform, teach, and record. I also love vocal improvisation and perform in Los Angeles with an a cappella group called Fish to Birds.

Please tell us about your music.
When I lived in London, I regularly visited a quirky music library called The National Sound Archives, which housed an extensive collection of audio recordings from all over the world. I would research and submit a list of my requests before returning a week later to hear them. It was like having a personal DJ. Sitting in a cubicle with headphones, I’d pick up the phone and say, “Please play this record or that track” and an enthusiastic British voice would reply, “Right! Coming right up!” and play it.

I listened to huge mountains of eclectic recordings… by African artists who loved Western music, by Western artists who loved African music, and by intrepid music ethnomusicologists who had recorded African ceremonies, concerts, events, solo musicians, children’s games, forest sounds. And I asked myself, “What makes one fusion “work” and another not?”

Of course, the answer was complicated. Firstly, my own taste was subjective. And while sometimes, a cross-cultural musical fusion seemed to find that “sweet spot” by chance or magic, most often, it seemed that they worked best when both sides already “spoke one another’s language.” I loved recording in Paris and London with musicians from Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and Mali because while they were masters of their own culture, they also understood Western song structures

So … while the chords, melodies, and lyrics of my song-writing was inspired by 70’s singer-songwriters like Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, and Paul Simon, the grooves were born out of saturating myself in African rhythms, music, and dance. My songs’ storytelling quality comes from my yarn-spinning Irish family. And their spiritual themes spring from my own seeking and learning. Overall it is “follow-your-heart, live joyfully, have courage, grow, and connect to the world,” music.

My seven albums span the narrative of my adult life, tracking “The Artist’s Journey,” falling in love, raising children, juggling music, motherhood, and marriage, Life’s general ups and downs. They are universally uplifting, beautiful, harmony-rich, rhythmic, and feature phenomenal musicians based in Paris, London, Los Angeles, and Dakar.

My last three albums have been specifically rooted in Senegalese mbalax music. It has been a dream to record in Dakar. I did my best to document the process on social media, as I wanted to share these musicians’ lightening-fast brilliance in the studio and onstage.

Although immigration controls have made it increasingly difficult for musicians to tour and collaborate internationally as before, social media has collapsed the time/space barriers between cultures. Cross-cultural bridge building continues at hyper speed and is responsible for much wonderful new music. I am honored to be part of this process and grateful to be able to share my joy and passion for this music with others.

What do you think is the biggest challenge facing artists today?
On one hand, this is a very fluid time for the arts. While the internet has given us all a platform to share our content for free on an unprecedented scale, it is tricky to generate income. The biggest challenge currently facing musicians is the lack of accountability from the streaming platforms. In the past, artists were properly compensated from radio play, album sales, and live performance. But it really is mind-blowing how little we are earning from this new streaming model. A few years ago, I worked in a restaurant and played Ella Fitzgerald radio via Pandora every single morning shift for three years. I often wondered if her family saw a penny of those daily plays.

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
I am on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Spotify, CDBaby, and Soundcloud. Sharing content/buying the music/donations/sending in feedback/booking me for gigs or to teach workshops/collaborative opportunities are aaaaall welcome. My last two albums and videos were crowd-funded internationally, and I am scrupulous in making sure that all donations directly fund the musicians, dancers, film-makers, choreographers who I hire to make these projects a reality.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ashleymaher.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashleymahermusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AshleyMaherGlobalDiva
• Twitter: https://soundcloud.com/ashley-maher-1
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/user/hummingbird5

Image Credit:
Lee Tonks, Kara Mack

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