It's been a long time coming as this singer/poet/songwriter takes the stage. Patiently waiting for the opportunity to engage in what makes Kashan exist, he steps up front and gives of himself freely. Influenced by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Whitney Houston, Donny Hathaway, Billie Holiday, India.Arie, Musiq; Kashan understands that through music there is a living entity expressed in the told and untold of a song.

Kashan has gained invaluable experience as an entertainer living and working in Music City, USA for some years. In 1996 he moved to Nashville to get a degree in Business Administration, but found himself sidetracked by auditions, model calls and talent shows. Having received his share of work as an singer/dancer/actor/model the light bulb went off and Kashan realized his heart was pulling him in the direction of his dreams. In short, his final semester at TSU was fall 1999. The following spring, he auditioned and made the Tennessee Titans Cheer Squad with an aspiration for singing the National Anthem to the cheering fans. Although, never presented the opportunity to sing at the one of the games he did so for our nations troops abroad and still has not ruled out the possibility of singing at one of the games. Throughout his tenure as a yell leader, not only has he performed for a weekly crowd surpassing 68,000 he has also performed as a singer, dancer, choreographer in a show on a USO tour in the United State, Japan & Korea.

In addition, Kashan has found success as a model in the 2003 Titan's swimsuit calendar, and performing in Elspe, Germany summer 2003 as a singer/dancer in an American show. During this time, Kashan had the opportunity to perform in clubs showcasing his original music, but it was not until 2004 that he decided to venture as a solo artist and fulfil the dream his heart desires. In 2005, Kashan performed a bit around Nashville at the African Street Festival, The Lipstick Lounge, The Rhythm Kitchen numerous coffee houses and found a group called Lovenoise. He attended the show regularly and participated in the open mic night and the groups founder gave him a night to perform. It is not an easy task to become alum of the newly prestigious Lovenoise family but realizes that everything, every talent, every gift is not for his own being but so that the glory of God's goodness is revealed and we are able to live life more abundantly. He believes there is a musical renaissance going on in Nashville like the movement when singers like Etta James, Ray Charles and Little Richard were coming thru to gig and make their $100. Little Richard said, *Nashville, is the only place paying that much money*

Needless to say, you will find Kashan working relentlessly on his singing and writing skills and living life experiences through traveling abroad and within. He calls his music simply soul...Please allow him to soothe yours. Come see a show!

CD release date... To come...

Vote for Kashan Fields on Famecast: Famecast/KashanFields

Kashan Fields on myspace

Atlanta, GA (BlackNews.com) - Angela M. Brown, the soprano who took the country by storm when she debuted as Aida at the Metropolitan Opera in 2004, returns to the source of her "overnight" celebrity September 29 through November 8, 2007. Once again, Ms. Brown will awe audiences in New York at the Met with her celebrated portrayal of Aida in Giuseppe Verdi's grandest of operas -- Aida. The opening matinee of Aida is September 29. Tickets for Aida are on sale now and available online at www.metoperafamily.org

Ms. Brown first captured the fine-tuned ears of critics and the opera and classical music world when she took the stage in the title role of Aida at the Met in 2004. Ms. Brown stepped into the spotlight one fateful night in New York and has been touring the world performing her signature opera roles ever since.

by GEORGETTE GOUVEIA

Luciano Pavarotti, who died today at his home in Modena, Italy, of pancreatic cancer at age 71, was the Babe Ruth of opera, a natural whose outsize talent and personality transcended his profession to place him in the pantheon of popular culture.  "I think his legacy is bringing opera to the masses," says Marion J. Caffey, who was inspired by Pavarotti and his "Three Tenors" amigos José Carreras and Placido Domingo to create the "Three Mo' Tenors." "Hundreds of millions of people never heard an opera but for Pavarotti."

It was the Los Angeles performance that moved Marion J. Caffey to found Three Mo' Tenors. "After the Three Tenors segued from the classical to the Broadway repertoire, the idea came to me," says the impressario, who grew up listening to Pavarotti as well as Mahalia Jackson. "They've always impressed me as opera powerhouses. They don't pretend to be Broadway artists. I thought, 'Wow, maybe there's room for three classically trained African-American tenors to segue from opera to jazz." The first cast of Three Mo' Tenors performed music in seven different styles; the second, 10.

Says Caffey of Pavarotti: "He's done on a grand scale what I'm trying to do....He's bridged a gap."

Gateways festival puts spotlight on African-American performers

by Anna Reguero 

When Armenta Adams Hummings graduated from the Juilliard School, she didn't know where to go next. Fellow graduates went on to performing careers with ease, and professors advised her to go to Europe. But as the only African-American woman in her piano class, she knew her career would have to be different.

Instead, she went back to her roots: Africa.

In Nigeria, she sat in with an orchestra — it was strangely ordinary; they played Haydn, no questions asked.

"They are very cultured people who had their education in a part of the world that was steeped in classical music," says Hummings, adding that Africa was heavily influenced from the classical European tradition because of its proximity. "Being African wasn't a problem. Here you have to explain why you're doing it; there, you didn't have to explain. ... They didn't have an identity crisis."

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Drummer Max Roach, who helped revolutionize jazz by creating the fast-paced bebop style along with players like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Clifford Brown, has died at age 83, Blue Note Records said on Thursday,

Blue Note did not give a cause of death for Roach, who died in his sleep in New York on Wednesday.

Roach secured his spot in the jazz pantheon by redefining the role of jazz drums during the rise of bebop in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

by PHOEBE MUTETSI

“I will not conform to the notion that for an artiste to make it in Uganda, they must go for the kidandali music. I shall not opt for that 3-minute catchy nursery rhyme just so my song can be played on radio or just so I become a star”

Recently, a gentleman walked up to me with what seemed like an anxious question, “Have you listened to Tshila’s new music?” he asked. “No, ” I replied. “Man, she is the real thing. She’s set to be the next best musician out of Africa,” this gentleman assured.

The people who have listened to Tshila’s (pronounced "Chilaah") new and first album, Sipping from the Nile and those who have watched her performances speak of her as one would of living African musical legends like Fela Kute, Youssou N’dour, Mory Kanté, Angelic Kidjo and Khadja Nin.