Bio

[color="darkblue"][/color] Bradford based singer-songwriter Imani Hekima draws from a deep well of musical experience. With his engaging vocals and impressive musicianship, Imani’s strength is his ability to write distinctive, memorable songs that combine hard hitting messages with a very accessible sound. His diverse soul-rooted style is also soaked in reggae/dub elements and even some middle eastern/Indian influences in places. Comparisons have been drawn to Massive Attack (especially their work with Horace Andy), UB40’s early output, Curtis Mayfield and Seal. Leaning towards socially aware songs, the overall warmth and catchiness of his sound provides the perfect foil to the depth of his lyrics. Imani began his musical experience in the Bradford ska/reggae band Spectre, featuring his brothers and school mates. As keyboardist/main composer the band, they supported Aswad, Lee Scratch Perry, Augustus Pablo, Junior Delgado and The Redskins. Spectre split in the early 1990s, leaving Imani to nurture and extend his musical interests. He did a music degree, focusing upon composition and piano and studying a variety of genres, mainly Western classical music, jazz, pop music of all stripes and many global/world styles. During the 1990s, Imani concentrated on private music tuition with some live/studio session work. However, at the turn of the millennium, he decided to pursue a solo career and began gigging locally and recording tracks. He reunited with his brothers in the band Real Eyez (2005-2006) who supported jazz trombonist Dennis Rollins during their brief tenure. Since 2004, he’s also worked on and off with Bradford poet/author Nick Toczek in the duo Two Shaven Heads, providing piano for Nick’s poetry. Imani’s track ‘The Robots’ Rebellion’ featured on the BRADFORD SXSW 2007 compilation cd. Currently, he’s recording his debut album, on which he provides all vocals, instruments and arrangements, co-produced by Chris Thomas of Soulfunktion Productions. He manages to carve out an intriguing second career on the south Asian/Bollywood scene, performing classic songs from Indian cinema as a solo pianist- see www.myspace.com/bollywoodpiano to find out more. Having gigged mainly as a soloist, Imani has assembled a backing band for live work, comprising of his brother Stuart Mitchell on drums, Philippe Clegg on bass and Tobie Carpenter on guitar. It’s a soulful sound for anyone who clicks with it - if you click with the lyrics, it’s an added bonus. For more info and to hear Imani’s tracks, visit www.myspace.com/imanihekima