Shakura S’Aida
For singer and songwriter Shakura S'Aida, her music is all about community.
A recent recipient of the prestigious SOCAN Foundation's "Her Music " Award, the veteran Brooklyn-born, Switzerland-raised, Toronto-based entertainer extraordinaire has won over international crowds in over 30 countries with her uplifting and vibrant umbrella of nouveau American roots soul.
Performing with a signature flair that Summerfolk 49 calls "engaging, vivacious, exciting and has the ability to touch your soul," three-time Juno Award nominee S'Aida says the most important aspect of her concerts is bonding with her audience.
"Music is a great connector," says S'Aida, creator of four albums, including her latest masterpiece Hold On To Love. "For me, music is a way of connecting communities and revealing our commonalities. My performance is about the experience we share together."
After all, it's community that has brought her, in part, to where she is today: mentored by such highly revered Toronto musical legends as singers Salome Bey and Jackie Richardson and instrumentalists Archie Alleyne and Joe Sealy, S'Aida's creative circle has grown to include a creative taste making posse of five-time Grammy winners Keb'Mo and Snarky Puppy drummer Larnell Lewis; Grammy-nominated electrifying guitarist Eric Gales; Lee Oskar, harmonica virtuoso and co-founder of War and Lowrider; accomplished singer, songwriter and guitarists Terra Lightfoot and Lala Noel and producer Roger Costa (Jeff Healey Band) are also among them. And there's also S'Aida's longtime co-producer and co-writer Donna Grantis (Prince, 3rd Eye Girl), who describes her creative partner as "a powerhouse vocalist". "I am continually inspired by Shakura's artistic vision. Her captivating live performances bring people together to celebrate life and love."
S'Aida says it's important to build a binding sense of kinship whenever and wherever she's in front of an audience, reaching out with her music. "Every show, I have my audience look at each other and sing 'I got you - no matter what happens, I got your back,' which is taken from the title track of Hold On To Love," she explains. "For me, that's the whole premise behind my current album: it's about the love that we have for each other. I boil it down to community."
Honesty, authenticity and integrity are also important creative tenets that S'Aida judiciously employs as a lyrical interpreter, so that her musical messages resonate as personally as possible, framed within a melodically digestible context that conveys raw, relatable emotion and soulful food for thought. "I'm always looking for something that touches me and the stories that I can tell through it," she asserts. "I write 95% of my music, and all of it is from my heart, as music is not about anything other than how it makes you feel. It's not about genre: there's something in it that pulls you to in."
Thrilling audiences from Europe to Dubai to Toronto isn't her only calling: you may also recognize S'Aida from her six-episode appearances in her role as Lena on the beloved Emmy-winning CBC series Schitt's Creek, as well as a guest stint on the acclaimed CW series Batwoman as Cora Lewis. But she loves music and especially plying her unique form of outreach - songwriting - to promote unity. "I really do believe that if we write from a place of truth, we'll find our village," S'Aida explains. And that village could even be an interplanetary one, as Shakura S'Aida, an enterprising Star Trek fanatic who is always willing to be the voice where no voice has gone before, is also learning a new language Klingon. "I know five other languages - why not add a sixth?" she laughs.
Whether she'll ever sing in the language of the Federation's chief sci-fi adversary may be a conversation for another time, but for the moment, Shakura S'Aida is intently earthy with her mandate to entertain audiences here and abroad with her soaring, soulful voice and consummate professionalism. "My goal is to make sure that people know that they're not alone out there: that there's a community of people that are there who have their back. Whether I sing one song or 20, I want people to leave my shows feeling part of something bigger than themselves, part of the community."
- Nick Krewen
2024 Her Music Award
2024 Maple Blues Award Nominee: Female Vocalist
2023 Folk Music Ontario Award - Album of the Year
2023 JUNO Award Nominee-Best Roots Album of the Year
2023 JUNO Award Nominee-Best Roots Album of the Year
2021 Maple Blues Awards - Blues With a Feeling (Lifetime Achievement Award) Recipient
2020 Ambassadrice du Sierre Blues Festival
2019 Maple Blues Award Nominee: Female Vocalist
2017 Maple Blues Award Nominee: Female Vocalist
2017 Cahor Blues Festival La Marraine Du Cahors Blues Festival
2017 France Blues La Marraine Du France Blues
2016 Maple Blues Award Nominee: Female Vocalist
2016 Cahor Blues Festival La Marraine Du Festival
2015 Maple Blues Award Nominee: Female Vocalist
2014 Maple Blues Award Nominee: Entertainer, Female Vocalist
2013 JUNO Award Nominee-Best Blues Album of the Year
2013 Blues Music Awards Nominee-Contemporary Female Artist
2013 Indie Music Awards Nominee-Blues Artist of the Year
2013 Maple Blues Award Nominee: Entertainer, Female Vocalist, Recording/Producer (w/Howard Ayee & Scott Cable) and Songwriter of the Year (w/Donna Grantis)
2011 Maple Blues Award Recipient: Female Vocalist of the Year
2011 Independent Music Award Recipient: Blues Artist of the Year
2008 International Blues Challenge 1st Runner Up
1992 JUNO Award Nominee-Best World Music Artist/Band