Ekayani & The Healing Band Downloads

Ekayani- full length
Ekayani's Full Legnth is best appreciated by those who have heard lot's of music and have broad taste. Building on blocks of influence fom many directions and periods Ekayani comes up with her own enjoyable sound. "Like Fire", has hit potential. Augustus Goertz

"The WOMEN WHO ROCK Playlist"
by Mark Fogarty Imagine if you will that we are listening to one of my favorite radio stations. It is called WWR, and it plays only songs by Women Who Rock. (I can’t call it WWWR or KWWR as there are actual stations with those call letters.) I will be your humble programmer for this evening, and what follows will be a partial playlist of artists that have been in heavy rotation on my own version of WWR over the years. To be modern, I’ll load them up at random, iPod style. WWR is a station I have been fascinated by for many years. The first song I ever heard by a woman was “Downtown” by Petula Clark in 1964 or 1965, and the most recent (2005), is by downtown NYC artist Ekayani, whose pulsating version of Joan Armatrading’s “Like Fire” has been bouncing around in my head for the past several weeks. WWR is a great station to listen to while doing your taxes or planning the rest of your life. In fact, the world seems a grander and more hopeful kind of place altogether when WWR is on. Here is who you will be listening to tonight: EKAYANI. Listening recently to Ekayani and the Healing Band’s CD Full Length, I was taking notes while thinking about how to describe her voice. Direct, no diva affect. Full without being husky. Reserved, perhaps in the interest of a serene urban cool. Sensual, definitely, sexy, probably. Looking down, I noticed I had written down what I think is a brand new word combining the last two attributes, “sensy.” Ekayani combines a Sade-like jazzy delivery with a Downtown New York City attitude. So an Ekayani performance can modulate from singing to spoken word to chanting, from English to French, from a riff on a jazz song to an a cappella read on Shakespeare’s Ophelia. She gets on the WWR playlist for her elegant, stylish musical imagination, aided and abetted by musical partner Paul Mahoux’ splendid presentation of her. Through his urgent and passionate arrangements, he lovingly sets her in a very hip cameo. His music is also very sensy!

"... Ekayani’s debut album, Full Length, a melding of slinky jazz, minimalism and R&B, with pan-African undercurrents that reflect Paris’s vibrant world music scene. Some tunes showcase Ekayani’s dusky singing voice, at times reminiscent of Shirley Horn, while others are spoken word pieces that slowly percolate over Mahoux’s subtle Steve Reich-inspired loops..." Biscayne Boulevard Times

Global Rhythm Magazine
"Tall New York beauty Ekayani croons in a jazzy style over dubby rhythms, creating a shimmering and hard to classify sound that's uniquely her own and well worth hearing." - Phil Freeman,Global Rhythm Magazine

World Pulse Magazine/Spring Voyages May 07
In the overproduced world of pop music, Ekayani stands out as a fascinating, eclectic figure. Independent and outspoken, this dedicated performer used to be a fixture on the runways of Paris. Now she's poised to establish her position in American R & B charts with two standout songs from her first full length album. Two tracks in particular are being celebrated by international audiences: "La Raihna," a jazzy, dreamy single written during a series of thunderstorms in Paris in Lisbon, and the spoken-word influenced "La Porte." Between April 20 and May 12 you can catch Ekayani in a series of promotional appearances throughout Scandinavia and the Low Countries. Sample all tracks here, and visit her MySpace page to check on tour dates. — Maria Jett

The Fevered Brain of Radio Mike
"EKAYANI AND THE HEALING BAND is a soothing group led by a French super heroine. She shoots down helicopters and eases your mind with her powerful lyrics and mind controlling grooves that although originates from an urban setting, places you into a serene mindset. We hope that Ekayani and her new record "Full Length" make it to Austin sometime soon." -Gemryld Jameson

Biscayne Boulevard Times-Miami
"... Ekayani’s debut album, Full Length, a melding of slinky jazz, minimalism and R&B, with pan-African undercurrents that reflect Paris’s vibrant world music scene. Some tunes showcase Ekayani’s dusky singing voice, at times reminiscent of Shirley Horn, while others are spoken word pieces that slowly percolate over Mahoux’s subtle Steve Reich-inspired loops..." -Matt Gajewski