BREAKING NEWS!


Abiyah Nominated for Cincinnati Entertainment Award in Hip Hop

Vote here.
Online voting ends at 4:00 p.m., Wednesday, 10/31.
(Category #13).

From CityBeat's 2007 MidPoint Music Festival Guide:

From her beginnings as local Floetry missionary, Abiyah has morphed into a focal point for all sorts of cross-genre alchemy. The menu for her MPMF showcase is diverse as always, supported by rhythmic foundations built from beat-box, computer and live instruments and adorned with turntable and some of the biggest and most beautiful voices around.
Dig It: Half beat poet, half seductive siren, all magnet for cool musical ideas. (EW)

"What's Buzzin', Cuzzin'?"-Mixin' It Up in September: Abiyah's showing strong this month with a staged reading of a play, an opening spot for poet/vocalist Ursula Rucker at Tha Blast, an appearance on canvas via a portrait of her painted by Cincinnati artist Brian Joiner, and her fifth appearance at the MidPoint Music Festival! Go to the Shows page for more information, download a PDF press release here, and download a flyer here!

Back in Action! - New shows just added! First up, a performance to benefit Amnesty International with renowned NYC beatboxer Kid Lucky! Click on 'Shows' for details.

Bring That Beat(box) Back! - With a history of collaborating with some of the illest beatboxers around, Abiyah lends her vocal talents to Florida's own Roman Beats on his debut CD, "I'm the Beatboxer, They're the Rappers." Click here to listen to a streaming version of Abiyah's song "Hand Me the Microphone."

Jungle Jams! - Abiyah joins her fellow Cincinnati musicians in celebrating the roar of the Cincinnati Bengals this season on the Manimal Records-produced "Jungle Jams" CD. Check out a streaming version of her contribution here. To purchase the CD, and for track listing, go to whodeytracks.com.

New Songs on MySpace - Check out demo versions of new Abiyah songs on Abiyah's MySpace page! Select from the London dancehall dub sounds of "Strugglers", the funky, introspective electronica of "Rise", the motion-moving drum-n-bass of "Reverse Transmission", and the mystical, emotional homage to mothers who have lost their children to war, "Fighter Jet-Setter."

MTV Video Music Awards Commercial - Did you see Abiyah in a recent commercial for the Viewers' Choice Award of the MTV Video Music Awards? If not, just click here and click on the MTV VMA People's Choice button. (Abiyah's on the left in the flowery orange dress!)

MidPoint Music Festival - Cool Press Stuff - Another successful MidPoint appearance for Abiyah! One of her songs was selected as a standout song by the Cincinnati Enquirer:

....."Heavy Notebook," a new cut by Cincinnati cross-genre artist Abiyah,
.....sent undulating waves of eerie vocals, electronic beats and wrenching
..... emotion through the crowd on Jekyll & Hyde's second floor.

MidPoint Music Festival - It Starts Here - Abiyah has been selected for a fourth appearance at the MidPoint Music Festival! This year's set will be at:

Jekyll & Hyde's (2nd Floor)
11:00 p.m. on the dot.

Abiyah will be joined by collaborators Amy Constantine, Tom Willis (formerly of Paperback), Michael Bond (Coltrane Motion), and Dana Hamblen (Fairmount Girls/Culture Queer).

Also check out Abiyah an hour earlier, where she will be performing a song with Venus Mission during their set at Neon's @ 10:00 p.m..

Music Fusion '05 - A weeklong event celebrating the CincinnatiUSA region's rich musical legacy of Jazz, Rhythm and Blues, Latin, Gospel, and more. Abiyah will be representing the local music scene as a "music influencer" during the week's festivities, including a performance on Fountain Square, August 19, noon - 1:00 p.m.

Lite Brite Indie Pop & Film Test - Cincinnati's organized collision of two frontiers featuring experimental independent film and adventurous independent music. Abiyah will be performing kiddie commercials (en espanol!) with Cuddly D in the third floor gallery within a lavish Romper Room set. 11:30 p.m., both nights.

Moms Rock! - Click here for a great Mother's Day article about some Cincinnati musician moms (and their kids) who rock!.

Blood - Abiyah appears on the extremely talented Mark Brasington's new project, White Is Gray. Mark wrote a poem entitled "Blood", asked Abiyah to read it and then added wonderfully eerie ambient sounds behind it. Listen to Blood now!

Fringe Festival Kick-Off Party - Join Abiyah, Medic, Clabbergirl, Antaesop and other artists livin' on the fringe on Friday, April 29, as we help launch the 2005 Cincinnati Fringe Festival. Abiyah's set begins promptly at 9:30 on the first floor stage.

Counter-Inauguration Event @ UC - Abiyah will be performing at the Tangeman Center on the campus of the University of Cincinnati on January 20 @ 11:50 a.m. at the request of the UC Anti-War Committee. As one committee member put it, Abiyah "will deliver the crowd to a new level of higher consciousness."

BREAKING NEWS!
Abiyah Nominated for Cincinnati Entertainment Award in Hip Hop

Vote here.
Online voting ends at 4:00 p.m., Friday, 10/29.
(Category #24).

From CityBeat's nominating guide:

Poetess Abiyah has been called the "Queen of the Cincinnati Music Scene" with good reason: her genre-bending collaborations, which blend Hip Hop, Dub, Rock, Electronica and Industrial music into a widely appealing melange.

4th Annual Holiday Hootenanny - Brought to you by Greg Mahan, the Holiday Hootenanny brings local singer/songwriters together to put new spins on old holiday classics. Happening Sunday, December 5, at Newport's York Street Cafe at 7:30 p.m., admission is only $5, or free with the donation of a non-perishable food item for St. Vincent de Paul's local food pantries. Performers include Abiyah, the Stapletons, Wojo, Brian Ewing, Ashley Peacock, Tristen Shields, Jake Speed, Ryan Adcock, Swarthy, Benj Clarke, Eric Diedrichs, and Chris Collier.

3 Girls and a Boy! - The 2nd Annual Lovely Crash Holiday Show, featuring the lovely ladies of Abiyah, Lovely Crash, and Fairmount Girls, as well as the lovely gentlemen of the Minni-Thins, will be bringing the holiday cheer to you this year on Friday, December 10 at the Northside Tavern! The sultry-voiced Andrea Rosenthal (of Venus Mission) will be (wo)manning the backing vocals for Abiyah! Cookies, gift bags, and more!

Sound Off for Kerry - A benefit for Republicans for Kerry featuring the creme de la creme of Cincinnati music, including Ass Ponys, Over the Rhine, psychodots, Pike 27, Abiyah, Len's Lounge, Venus Mission, wussy, Ruby Vileos, The Kim Taylor Band, and more (as if that isn't enough!)! In this season of change, the leaves are falling rapidly from the Bush. It's time to Sound Off for (John) Kerry to restore the roots of our country and build stronger branches.

MidPoint Music Festival - The Reviews Are In! - After writing six new songs in the week prior to her MidPoint appearance, Abiyah received critical acclaim for her third appearance at the MidWest's premier independent music festival.

Cynthia Hanifin, of the Cincinnati Enquirer, states:
Funky goddess Abiyah floors me with her incredible stage presence. Her forceful rhymes flow with wit and soul, and she's the only female performer I can think of who can still get away with using the word "bootylicious."...Abiyah's set reaches a crescendo with a fierce admonition to "Wake Up," enhanced by DJ DQ's emphatic beats.

Mike Breen, of CityBeat, declares:
Abiyah's dynamic showcase at RBC Friday drew a large crowd of both fellow musicians and fans. The singer/spoken word artist played an expressive, funky and sensual set, with her words and vocals greatly abetted by the full-band backing of rockers Paperback (who were downright intuitive in their groovy approach), co-singer Amy Constantine, Animal Crackers/Glue turntable whiz djdq...and electronics twiddler Michael Bond.

Abiyah on iTunes - "Rise" is now available for purchase (only $0.99!) on iTunes. Search for "abiyah", download it, and get your groove on to a "beautiful cross-genre song, with a touch of hip-hop, funk and rock, [that] plays as a sensual, elegant ode to unrequited love and missed romance" (Rick Bird, Cincinnati Post).

Video! - Click here to check out Abiyah's performance of "Rootstraps" at last year's MidPoint Music Festival. Performing with her were vocal enhancestress Amy Constantine, turntablist DJ DQ, laptop master Michael Bond and human beatboxer Chestah T. (Note: You will need Windows Media Player to view this video.)