Join host Nancy Kahn and her dynamic guest, Amikaeyla Gaston, who has been proclaimed as one of the "purest contemporary voices" by NPR and recognized as a powerful force for change. Amikaeyla shares her personal story of surviving a horrific, near fatal hate attack more than two decades ago, and discusses how that tragedy shaped her future as a thought-leader, author, performer, and peace activist impacting countless lives around the world. As an award winning singer, healer and Executive Director/Founder of International Cultural Arts & Healing Sciences Institute (ICAHSI), Amikaeyla, uses her voice and shares her music around the world as a catalyst for individuals and communities that are not often heard.
Amikaeyla Gaston
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Winner of twelve WAMMY Awards for Best Jazz, World, and Urban Contemporary Vocalist [1], MTV says “her sultry sound is like listening to velvet waterfalls, and her soulful flavor captures the listener with dynamic passion and sincerity”. As the Founder and Executive Director of the International Cultural Arts & Healing Sciences Institute (ICAHSI) [2], she serves as a Cultural Ambassador for the US State Department and has done expansive work in the health arena for over the past 20 years promoting healing and wellness through the arts & activism using her voice and her organization as a catalyst for the voices of those that are not often heard. Lying in excruciating pain after being told her legs would have to be amputated and she would never walk again, Amikaeyla unlocked her self-expression in a burn unit after a near fatal hate crime and discovered the healing power of music. She now travels the world serving as a Cultural Ambassador for the State Department doing expansive work with political refugees, war survivors, and at-risk populations worldwide. Speaking on topics ranging from conflict resolution to cultural competency, her International program of public dialogue is designed to allow different traditions and nationalities to gather together and address issues concerning our communities at large. Her “Music As Medicine - Healing with an Artful Purpose” programming - a multi-faceted therapeutic approach through music, movement, and theater modalities has taken her around the world doing peace work in Israel, Beirut, Amman, Damascus, Palestine, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Sierra Leone just to name a few. She sings worldwide with many accomplished speakers and musicians including Angela Davis and members of the Black Panther Party, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Pete Seeger, Wyclef, Amiri Baraka, and Gil Scot Heron. Her extensive studies with traditional healers and cultural artists around the biological and psychological healing effects of music led to the performance in India at the Inaugural Festival of Sacred Chanting and Singing for the commemoration of the Golden Buddha at a personal invitation by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Appearing internationally on Television, Radio, and Film with appearances on PBS, HBO and in the Sundance Film Festival, Amikaeyla is a nuanced thought-leader, author, public speaker, and performer, and is the proud recipient of the United Nations Global Woman Award, the Voss Foundation Emerging Women Leaders Award, the Pioneer Award for Exemplary Leadership and Outstanding Service in Social Justice and Advocacy, and the International Hero for Peace and Forgiveness award.
Talk It Out Radio - Sunday, May 12, 7:00 pm, on KPFA Radio (94.1 FM Berkeley and beyond, or livestream at kpfa.org [3]):
Listeners are invited to call in to the show at 7:35 pm (dial 1-800-958-9008) to participate in this conversation.
[1] http://www.amikaeyla.org
[2] http://www.ICAHSI.org
[3] http://kpfa.org/