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Nadir News

Cashing In On Detroit’s Entertainment Industry

Detroit-based musician/writer Nadir Omowale was recently appointed to Detroit’s newly established Entertainment Commission. The twelve member commission will serve as an advisory body, to attract and encourage cooperation and collaboration within local communities to ensure that City residents are aware of business opportunities created by entertainment, cultural, athletic, and special events that occur within and/or are hosted by the City of Detroit.


I am very honored to have an opportunity to serve the wonderful city of Detroit in this capacity.  I take this very seriously because as an artist and resident here, I understand the challenges that face our entertainment community, and the community as a whole.  The commission will be looking for ways that the city and region can improve opportunities in the entertainment industry in Detroit, and we hope to improve the business climate for entertainment in the city.

Commission chairman Gregory Reed talked about the commission recently in an interview with NPR.  I’d like to rephrase the title of Don Gonyea’s piece, however.  Instead of “Why Can’t Detroit Cash In On It’s Music Scene?“, I’m asking you:  HOW CAN DETROIT CASH IN ON ITS MUSIC SCENE?

And more broadly, with the state’s new tax incentives for filmmakers, Michigan has become a destination for the motion picture industry.  The city’s visual artists, poets, writers and sports teams receive great recognition outside the city.

HOW CAN DETROIT TURN ITS INNOVATIVE ARTISTIC TALENT BASE INTO A THRIVING INDUSTRY?

  • What are some of the things that can be done to improve the entertainment industry in Detroit?
  • What are some things the city can do to help advance the entertainment industry in the city?
  • We have a lot of Detroit artists who do very well in other regions, and are well known especially overseas.  What can we do to improve economic conditions for entertainers in the city of Detroit?
  • How can we use Detroit’s amazing music scene to turn the city into a destination for tourism?
  • Let me know your thoughts to these and any other questions you would like to address.  I’ll take the best ideas to the Entertainment Commission on our next meeting.

Thanks for your input, and your work in helping make Detroit better and more prosperous!

2 Detroit Music Awards for Nadir & Distorted Soul

Nadir & Distorted Soul earned two trophies at the 2009 Detroit Music Awards on Friday, April 17.

Workin’ For The Man was named Outstanding Urban/Funk/Hip Hop Recording, and Nadir was honored as Outstanding Urban/Funk Vocalist.

Thanks to Akanke Rashad-Omowale, Nancy Schoenheide-Phares, all the members of the Distorted Soul band, all the musicians and producers who contributed their talents to the Workin’ For The Man project, all the djs and press who have given us so much love, and all the family and friends who helped make this project possible.

Oh… and a special shout out to George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and the entire Dubya administration for screwing up the world and inspiring much of the political material that appears on this record.  Thanks A LOT!

Is Gandhi in Heaven? Spirituality & Health with Nadir in Brown Eyez Magazine

Is Gandhi in Heaven?  What can we do to take care of the earth?  What exactly is “healthy living”?

These are some of the topics Nadir discussed in this 2008 interview with BrownEyezMag.com which has been published in their February 2009 issue.

Brown Eyez is an online magazine that promotes healthy living.  “To truly be healthy, one must nourish all aspects of life. Health, in this sense, includes one’s mind, body, soul, and environment.”  Brown Eyez encourages us to think about our holistic health through informative columns and essays.

Click HERE to check out the February 2009 issue featuring Nadir.

Wake Up America: Nadir Interview Performance on BreakTheMatrix.com

Wake Up America host Kurt Wallace and I had so much fun on his Dec. 8 show that we did it again on Monday, December 15 – this time with video!  I hung out for Kurt’s entire two-hour show.  We discussed politics, the economy, bailouts and music, and I performed live.  The party began at 9am, on BreakTheMatrix.com TV Channel 1.

View the show On Demand at BlogTalkRadio:

You can listen to our previous 30 minute phone interview HERE.

Nadir in Detroit Free Press Spotlight

From The Detroit Free Press:

Local Artist Spotlight: Nadir

WHO HE IS: Jonah Nadir Omowale records as Nadir Distorted Soul and makes waves with poignant, politically minded funk music. He’s celebrating his new album, “Workin’ for the Man,” which is ripe with political commentary, with a CD-release party Saturday at the Jazz Café at Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts. Continue reading

“Molotov Soul”: The Sonic Soul Review of Workin’ For The Man

Nadir’s Workin’ For The Man cd received another great review, this one from Germany’s SoulSite.de.  On the site’s Sonic Soul section, Joerg Michael Schmitt offers his perspective on the latest new music from around the world.

If you Sprekense de deutsch you can read the original review HERE.  For you English speakers, here is the translation, courtesy of my big brother, James Kevin McFarland (aka The Big Black Guy).  And don’t worry.  Joerg confirms that my brother, the poet, didn’t take poetic license with the text.

Distorted, meaning: bent, twisted, deformed, or unusual. Aha! Now it has been made clear that Nadir’s “Working for the Man”, is not simply classified as Nu soul, or R&B, but that he has forged his own way into the Universe of Soul.

The man takes strong elements from the styles of the past, including the energy of James Brown which lends a rhythmic basis to Nadir’s distinct guitar sound. And of that sound, the artist sees himself as a commentator of political events and holds strong opinions he openly shares on a diverse profusion of issues not only in the U.S. today, but the world.

Funk & Rock and political awareness make an explosive mixture because Nadir and his smooth energetic music are on point with his driving beats, hard hitting guitar and radical opinions. Nadir, in the tradition of Gil Scott Heron with the power of James Brown and the explosive force of Public Enemy equals Molotov Soul. Not easy, but easy to move to as Nadir himself explains it “I’m about telling stories, singing songs, and making music that moves people spiritually, emotionally, physically, politically, what ever. Don’t just sit there, do not sit there, do something! Do Something!”

What does “Molotov Soul” sound like?  Click HERE to grab your copy of Workin’ For The Man TODAY!

SoulTracks.com: Workin’ For The Man CD Review

From SoulTracks.com

Anybody searching for some political anthems to fire them up during the last week of “decision 08” will find it hard to do better than the work presented by Nadir and his band Distorted Soul on the soul/funk/rock band’s latest effort, Workin’ For the Man. Quite simply, this album is stocked with powerful songs that are at once angry, eloquent, passionate, insightful and very, very good.

Continue reading

Nadir Radio Interviews, Chicago & Online

In between mixing Maceo Tha Grammar God’s new record and producing a new video for MTV’s Street Team ’08, I’ll be busy promoting the Workin’ For The Man album this week.  Check out my upcoming radio interviews:

Wednesday, October 15, 8:00pm – 9:00pm EST
The People Speak Radio
www.thepeoplespeakradio.net
Host: David Swanson
Click HERE to LISTEN LIVE
JOIN THE CONVERSATION in the Virtual Auditorium chat room

The People Speak Radio is concerned with a passion for guests from the realms of entertainment, the arts, literature, philosophy, politics, activism, healing, and environmentalism. All of the guests are united by a desire to share their experiences, work, organizations and talents with others. Through a live, hour-long format featuring host/guest interviews and a segment of audience questions for the guest, the goal is to entertain, involve, inform, perhaps, even inspire.

Thursday, October 16, 2:30pm CST
News From The Service Entrance
WHPK 88.5FM – Chicago
www.whpk.org
Host: Mario
Click HERE to LISTEN LIVE

The word on the street hits the airwaves: News from the frontline, music from the WHPK library, and interviews with the famous and infamous, nationally known celebrities and local legends. It’s radio that you will not hear anywhere else.

Nadir Covers RNC for MTV

Nadir's MTV Street Team '08 Profile

While the media’s attention is focused on Denver this week and the Democratic National Convention, I’m packing my bags and gearing up for next week.  I will be covering the Republican National Convention for MTV/Knight’s Street Team ’08.

That’s right.  MTV is sending me to St. Paul to hang out with my good friends John McCain, Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and of course, GDub.  I will blog and Twitter all day every day, and I’ll submit video at the end of each night.  You will be able to catch my Twitter updates here at DistortedSoul.com and on MTV’s www.chooseorlose.com.  Look for video on my profile at Think.MTV.com/Nadir.

I’ll also keep a close eye on the protests that will occur throughout the Twin Cities, and I’ve got plans to slip over to Ron Paul’s Rally for the Republic on Tuesday.

It should be an exciting week!  I’m looking forward to it!

Concert Review: Nadir @ BAM Cafe, Brooklyn Academy of Music – Brooklyn, NY, Feb. 9, 2008

Review by Bob Davis, www.soul-patrol.com

“If the bump ain’t crunk,
if the funk ain’t pumpin’
with the thump in the trunk,
then the bump ain’t bumpin’
You just gotta Leave It Alone, Leave It Alone!”

Leave It Alone Live at WDET
Click HERE to get your FUNK on!

As a few of you know, I have been really, really busy of late. In fact I have been so busy that I haven’t been able to get out and see many shows in 2008. This may well be the only show that I see in 2008. (sike….I’ll be seeing Ryan Shaw this week in NYC).

I haven’t been able to even find the time till now, to write this review of Nadir’s show.

But here it is and let me start out by saying that if this were going to be the only live show that I saw in 2008, I would be alright with that. Nadir put on an outstanding show, but more importantly he proved to me that he has a rare quality in a modern artist, in that he is able to also overcome “adversity.”

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© Nadir Omowale