Re-Print from Sunday, September 17, 2000
Soulful Sounds of Aisha Taylor
by: Ryan James
Toronto Sun
Small Business
Aisha Angela Taylor chose a perfect name for her business. "Soulful Expression" says it all since Taylor expresses herself through authentic, Afro-American soul music. "A lot of my songs are about our people's political situation", she says. "Others are about love, and all of the everyday things that people deal with." Among her political songs is Omowale's Return-dedicated to Malcolm X.
Taylor self-published her first CD, The Soulful Expression Of An African From America in May. It's kept her busy. She holds a day-job teaching computer skills to adults, and spends most of her free time promoting her CD and booking gigs with help from her husband Bankole.
Taylor's involvement in music goes back far earlier. Born in Chicago in 1961, she grew up in Indiana, singing soul and gospel music from an early age. Music is in her roots - her uncle was a choreographer who toured with Duke Ellington in the 1940s.
Taylor has been a teacher most of her adult life - a career which has often involved her music. She's taught music to deaf children.
"Music is basically vibrations", Taylor says. "If a deaf child sat in the right part of the room, they could feel the vibrations and play a drum in time with the music."
Taylor still works with children, telling African folk tales and some original stories at public libraries. And for adults, she's hosting a discussion on the politics of Afro-American music at the Parkdale library on Oct. 6.
Taylor's CD is available at Sam the Record Man, 347 Yonge St., and on her Web site for $12.00.
Small Facts
Company: The Soulful Expression
E-Mail:
soulful_expression@yahoo.com
Web Site:
http://www.oocities.org/realsoul_music/index.html
Employees: 1
Start-up Capital: $600.00