Ahya Simone (born 1994)[1] is an American multidisciplinary artist. Based in Detroit, she is best known for her work as a harpist and for creating and starring in the web series Femme Queen Chronicles.[2]

Early life and education

Simone was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan.[3] She grew up singing in the church choir and started to play harp as a student at Cass Technical High School when she was 16.[3]

While attending college at Wayne State University she came out as transgender.[3] She was the principal harpist for the university's symphony.[4]

Career

Music

After college Simone sought out ways to perform outside her previous experience "playing 300-year-old dead people music, and being around all these white suburban kids who had access I never did, who’d been playing classical music since they were two years old."[1] She began to cover r&b and soul music, and named Dorothy Ashby as one of her biggest influences.[4] This led her to collaborate with fellow Detroiter dream hampton, to score hampton's short film Treasure (2018).[1] Simone received a Kresge Artist Fellowship in 2018 and was the first Black trans woman recipient.[5] That year she also teamed up with Kelela on Take Me a_Part, the Remixes.[1]

In addition to her work as a harpist, Simone is a singer-songwriter whose music fuses r&b, jazz, experimental, and electronic.[6] Simone released the single "Frostbite" in 2020.[7] She later released a music video for the song featuring local artists Kesswa and Supercoolwicked.[8] In 2021, she collaborated with cktrl on his single "mazes".[9]

Other work

In 2015 she founded the Trans Sistas of Color Project Detroit to provide support to trans women of color after the murder of Amber Monroe.[10] Through the organization she launched the comedy web series Femme Queen Chronicles that follows four trans women in Detroit, which she likened to Living Single and Chewing Gum.[2] Simone developed the series in part to "disrupt the narrative of black tragedy without sanitizing the very real tragedies that happen to us."[10] She is the director, writer, and stars in the series.[2] Femme Queen Chronicles debuted in 2018 and received positive critical reception.[10] She received financial support from the Knight Foundation to develop the series.[2] As of 2021, she is working with Janet Mock to adapt the show for television.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Jossell, Shar (2021-04-22). "Ahya Simone Is the Harpist and Filmmaker Telling Stories of Black Trans Womanhood". them. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Detroit's black trans women are launching a new comedic webseries". www.theneighborhoods.org. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  3. 1 2 3 Mejia, Mercedes (2015-06-18). "Message of hope and healing for young transgender woman". Michigan Radio. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  4. 1 2 "Harpist Ahya Simone Highlights Humor and Joy in Her Black Trans-Centered Webseries Femme Queen Chronicles". Audiofemme. 2021-04-07. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  5. ↑ Michael, Jason A. (2018-09-05). "Ahya Simone wins Kresge Artist Fellowship". Pride Source. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  6. ↑ Drew, Kimberly (2020). Black Futures (1 ed.). New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-399-18113-9. OCLC 1090279852.
  7. ↑ Bruce-Jones, Henry (2020-10-12). "Ahya Simone reminds us that we need each other with 'Frostbite'". Fact Magazine. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  8. ↑ Kim, Michelle (12 October 2020). "This Stunning Video from Harpist Ahya Simone Is an Ode to Community". them. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  9. ↑ "cktrl joins forces with harpist Ahya Simone for new track 'Mazes'". Crack Magazine. 2021-04-22. Retrieved 2022-04-03.
  10. 1 2 3 Winn, Ashley (2020-02-20). "Trans Sistas of Color Project Detroit's Co-founder on Art and Identity". Hour Detroit Magazine. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
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