Kashimana

Kashimana is a mother, musician, singer, songwriter, composer, producer, guitarist, and performing teaching artist with a rich soulful blues voice that soars through their original compositions. The name Kashimana means 'that's their heart' and you can hear their heart beating in the compelling sound of Kashimana’s music. Kashimana often draws inspiration from their experience growing up in Nigeria, Kenya, traveling through Africa, Europe and finally settling in the United States. Mixing Pop, Soul, R&B and more, Kashimana’s distinctive voice and stage presence pulls you in and leaves you in a warm and fuzzy thrall that’s hard to shake.


“My voice has been my closest companion, with my voice, I see other universes and possibilities; with my voice, I hear the joy, the pain, where I come from and where I am going; with my voice, I heal, soothe, and create; with my voice, I am able to connect, harmonize, magnify, communicate, and transmogrify.”

Kashimana



Kashimana was the 2018-19 In Common Composer in Residence in Willmar, MN, a community residency geared towards teaching songwriting as a tool to encourage community sharing of stories which resulted in a community songbook. Kashimana was also a 2019 Cedar Commissions Artist, their project, Phantom Cries - a musical exploration of their journey into motherhood while shedding some light on the higher maternal mortality rate of African American women. They also debuted a story scoring project titled A Soundscape of Stories at the 2019 Northern Spark Festival, where they worked with emerging and national story tellers. Kashimana is an accomplished performer who is passionate about getting people to write and share their stories through song. Kashimana is also one of the teaching artists at COMPAS.


Kashimana holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition-Songwriting, a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Sciences and an Associates Degree in Music Production. Among the many projects Kashimana is involved in, they also sing and perform solo, duo, quartet, with their band Kashimana and The Halos and Power of 10 (Top 40 cover band).


Kashimana is also the co-creator of a MN Opera MNiature Opera Don’t Tread on Me with Khary Jackson, a contributing artist and composer to The Art of The Revolution Twin Cities Community Album ‘Mama’ and a composer on a Sprig of That's latest album Eight Threads. Kashimana will be releasing a new album Phantom Cries on July 28, featuring songs from their 2019 Cedar Commissions project about motherhood.