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Detroit Funk

The Music of Nadir Omowale

Nadir Omowale doesn’t have time to stand still.  There is far too much life to be lived.

The fifteen-time Detroit Music Award winner and former MTV News correspondent is driven by an impassioned activism. All of his hats – performer, producer, creative strategist – are worn by a man who explores as he produces, teaches as he advises, and creates art that honors the fact that life is filled with extremes and in-betweens. The result is infectious, a creative electricity that is essential to who Nadir is.

Nadir will tell you that life is too important, not to be an activist. His impressions about life are the essence of his work. His lyrics can tug at heartstrings, tickle funny bones, or evoke an honest look at the world around us, and (possibly more importantly) the world within us.

His music is influenced by funk, but don’t call Nadir a funk revivalist. His understanding of rock, R&B, hip hop, and jazz takes funk to a most Nadir-centric next step; a Southern born, and Detroit raised sound that doesn’t fit in traditional boxes. His music reaches across genres and political aisles – sometimes with a gentle, outstretched hand, and occasionally with a clenched fist  – always challenging listeners with a funk inspired, Motor City sound that is as relevant today, as Holland-Dozier-Holland were in the sixties.

Jane Asher of Radio Sophie 103.7FM in San Diego writes of Nadir:

“If Motown had never moved to L.A.,
this is what it would sound like today.”

His live show is dynamic. Nadir works a stage comfortably, engaging with audiences, guiding them on an energetic, emotional experience. There will be time for laughter, and love, amid irresistible outbursts of dance, and the occasional plea to understand the challenges that we still face in our attempts to insure freedom for all.

When Nadir Omowale performs, you get more than music. You get all of the man, his humor, his passion, and the depth of a personality that embraces his responsibility to make this a better world, because of his love of life.

“To label Nadir as a neo-soul artist would be neglecting his rock roots; to call him a rock artist would be overlooking his hip-hop and jazz influences. Fully encompassing all the talents that Nadir possesses would be comparable to expanding the mathematical term Pi to its last digit.” 
The Michigan Chronicle, Detroit, Michigan

“It’s STONE COLD FUNK,
It makes you DANCE, it ROCKS your world,
It’s got GREAT LYRICS,
It’s got POWERHOUSE SOUL SINGING,
It’s got GREAT MUSICIANSHIP,
It makes you THINK about the world and it makes you SMILE.”
Bob Davis, Soul-Patrol.com

 “As usual your performances NEVER disappoint.
Sometimes I felt like I was seeing Sly and the Family Stone again.
Great show!”
Terri Koggenhopp – Executive Director, Detroit Music Awards and
Director of Artist Relations, Detroit International Jazz Festival

“The Right Kind of Crazy” SonicSoul Review en Deutsche

Thanks to our good friend, Joerg at SonicSoulReviews in Germany for sharing “The Right Kind of Crazy” with his audience! Have YOU given the gift of FUNK this week?

2016-08-02 04.36.52

Battle Creek Enquirer: Forks Fest Rocks World of Sound

Originally Published at BattleCreekEnquirer.com

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They call it “The Sounds of Albion,” but reading the list of bands set to play this year’s “Festival of the Forks” is like globetrotting.

The annual fest kicks off Friday in downtown Albion and runs through Saturday. Sixteen musical acts are booked to play four stages over the two-day event. Jazz, oldies, reggae, blues, funk, soul, tejano and the sounds of the Middle East will be performed by acts from around the Albion area and around the state.

Wrapping up the Saturday set on Center Stage is Detroit’s Nadir Omowale and his Distorted Soul, a confluence of sound on his own.

Click HERE to Read The Entire Article

Saturday, September 18, 2010
Nadir
44th Annual Festival of the Forks
Center Stage

Corner of Superior and Center St.
207 S Superior St.
Albion, Michigan
Nadir’s Showtime: 7:45pm

FREE ADMISSION
For more info please visit:
FestivalofTheForks.org

MusickHead Interview: Nadir Omowale

Detroit writer Dina Peace’s blog Musickhead is “for those special people who love to blow the dust off of forgotten. obscure or underground hits.” Check out our interview:

With the discerning eye of a journalist and the soul of a rock and roll musician, Detroit-based funk disciple Nadir Omowale has made a career of speaking his mind on what is affecting the world and its inhabitants that range from matters of the heart, economics and yes, politics.   Omowale, whose first name is Jonah, encounters a whale of an issue allegorical to the narrative of his famous Biblical namesake with his new musick video, “Guantanamo”.

Read the interview HERE

© Nadir Omowale