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Heather Maxwell is an American singer/songwriter, jazz vocalist, and international Music Host/Producer of African music on the (Voice of America ). She sings jazz standards and composes original works using piano, kamalen n’goni, balafon, and percussion. Maxwell performs worldwide, especially in Africa, with musicians such as (Robert Jospe ), (Victor Dvoskin ), (Bassekou Kouyate ), (Manuel Wandji ), and (Mighty Popo ). Heather Maxwell produces and hosts the award-winning radio and TV program “Music Time in Africa” for the Voice of America.〔http://blogs.voanews.com/african-music-treasures/2013/06/03/vodoo-rhythms-and-angelic-harmonies-beninese-brothers-jomion-and-the-uklos/〕 ==History== Originally from Flint, Michigan, Heather began singing at age 7 with her family gospel band who toured and competed in talent shows throughout the state. In high school, she won a scholarship to study voice at Interlochen Arts Academy, where she received formal jazz and classical training. She continued her music studies in classical voice at the University of Michigan’s School of Music. During this time Heather became fascinated with African music and took a semester abroad to study traditional music and dance at the University of Ghana, Legon-Ghana, West Africa. She returned to Michigan, completed her music degree in 1988, and since that date to the present, has followed her own musical path. Heather returned to West Africa with the Peace Corps and absorbed more local vocal practices and styles, this time in Mali and then later in Ivory Coast. Her encounters during these years resulted in the release of two commercial cassette recordings (on the West African labels, Samasaa and EMI) and tours in West Africa. She returned to the US with an Ivorian jazz pianist to build on the AfroJazz fusion concept they’d developed in Ivory Coast but were met with limited success. In the late-1990s Heather changed course from performance to academe. She entered the ethnomusicology program at Indiana University and devoted a decade to the study of African music. By 2003, she'd earned her Master’s Degree, returned to Mali for more music research, and completed her Ph.D. with expertise in Malian music and song. Heather took a teaching position in ethnomusicology at the University of Virginia where she established her own Afropop ensemble « Africa Soul » and joined jazz drummer Robert Jospe and his group « Inner Rhythm ». Heather appeared on two Inner Rhythm jazz releases « Heartbeat » (2006) and « Inner Rhythm Now » (2008) singing original compositions and standards in English and an African language, Bambara. As an integral member of Inner Rhythm, she toured Virginia and neighboring states for three years and teaching took a back seat. In 2010, her self-produced CD of original Afropop fusion ("Afrika Soul" ) was released which took her on bigger tours such as the Chicago World Music Festival and Festival on the Niger in Mali, West Africa. In 2011 Maxwell won a Fulbright Scholar Award to teach voice and American music in Bamako, Mali at the National Conservatory of Music. A coup d'etat broke out in Bamako on March 22, 2012 and forced her to evacuate the country. In May of the same year, she joined The Voice of America in Washington D.C. as Host and Producer of the world-wide radio and TV program "Music Time in Africa." The Mali coup inspired Heather's 2014 single ("Mango Tree" ), an original pop ballad that she composed during curfew lockdown in her Bamako home. In 2014 Heather toured in Africa (Cameroon and Rwanda) and the Dominican Republic performing jazz concerts and workshops with the Department of State’s Arts Envoy program. Her new album, which is scheduled for release in December 2015, features jazz standards and originals. Maxwell's 2015 single and music video ("All of Me" ) is a welcome return to her love for the classics. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Heather Maxwell」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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