AMYTHYST KIAH | INTERVIEW

 

Rhonda Lee Reali spoke to this Tennessee musician and member of the Our Native Daughters collective ahead of her August appearance in Cardiff.

 

I understand your parents raised you in a very musical household.

My parents purchased my first guitar when I was 13 and I taught myself alternative music and took classical guitar for a year in high school, then years later in my early 20s I would study traditional music, music performance, and studio recording at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN. I spent most of my formative years in my room after school playing guitar, reading novels, watching films and attempting to write songs. It was the oneness with solitude that I was able to explore music in an unfiltered way, with little interruption. This focus would lead me to exert that same amount of energy into studying and performing traditional music.

 

What did you all listen to? Who influenced you?

Because my background was largely alternative and world music up to that point, I was able to approach traditional music in a way that was authentic to me. As a fan of early Tori Amos, Radiohead, and classical guitar techniques, I was able to approach the material of the Carter Family, Reverend Gary Davis, Vera Hall, and the techniques of country guitar picking to express a different take on songs, and would inspire me to write songs of my own with more confidence.  

 

How did you get interested in playing guitar and banjo – are you self-taught?

The banjo became of interest to me about 10 years after I started playing guitar, I learned clawhammer style, which allowed me to be rhythmic and play melody at the same time. Through that I learned that it’s origins are from the West African lute family, so to also see how early American folk and country music was indeed a blend of African and European influences, and still is today, it gave me an even greater sense of the scope and depth of American music.  

 

Do you feel like a role model for African-American and other girls? 

I hope that by achieving some form of self-actualization, that young black girls and girls from other walks of life can draw inspiration from that in some way, whatever that might mean for them. 

 

Any other comments you’d like to add?

I’ve been touring the UK regularly for the past three years, and this will be my first time to Cardiff, and I can’t wait.

 

The Moon, Cardiff, Mon 12 Aug. Tickets: £12/£10 adv. Info: 029 2037 3022 / themooncardiff.com