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BAASSIKly Speaking...

 

BAASSIK, an only child, born and raised in New York City. 

 

Raised and encouraged by her maternal great-grandmother, BAASSIK played guitar, violin, viola and trumpet. As a teen, she taught herself bass guitar by-ear by listening to the radio, her music collection, copying what she heard and adding her own styling to the music. 

 

Fast forward a few years; she picked up bass guitar again and started teaching herself to play in earnest, again, by-ear with some online help. She performed in several bands until she joined a hip hop band called Chen Lo and the Liberation Family. (Later renamed The Lo Frequency (TLF). (Trivia: BAASSIK actually created the band new name.) 

 

They were chosen to participate as U. S. Music Ambassadors in the 2010 Jazz At Lincoln Center (JALC) Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad Program, (in conjunction with the U.S. State Department of Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs). The Rhythm Road musical exchange was "a direct continuation of the Artistic Ambassador programs of the 1950's and 1960's". BAASSIK, along with her bandmates, followed in the footsteps of Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, and other legendary jazz artists." [As written by Robert Keith and Thomas Donahue for U.S. State Department of State Official Blog,  They were featured on the television show "CBS Sunday Morning"  

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Based on that tour, the band had a separate three (3) month teaching/performing residency in Beirut, Lebanon and toured to a total of eight (8) different countries between several tours. They appeared twice on the "Spanking New Music Week" segment on mtv2, created several videos and recorded one CD titled The Export, before disbanding in 2011. During that time, she began producing music using with electronic gear, using Garage Band, Logic, Ableton Live 9 and Native Instruments Maschine Mikro MK2. 

 

As one half of Brooklyn, NY based electro-funk duo, discoBAASSIK (dB), she, along with music partner/guitarist/vocalist, Sky Disco,(now known as Sky Deep), created what they call "electro-funk" music. (They BOTH had G.A.S., which is Gear Acquisition Syndrome, really badly!) They created and produced all of their funky, electro, groove-based music AND played all of the instruments! 

 

discoBAASSIK (dB) performed at various venues, such as The Shrine in Harlem, NYC, did a promotional tour under Reveller Records in Germany and the Czech Republic. They recorded and released their first EP, discoBAASSIK Brooklyn Electro Funk Gumbo, under Reveller Records which is available on iTunes. They are currently on indefinite hiatus.

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Currently, BAASSIK sits at the bass chair at Middle Collegiate Church. Located on the Lower East Side in NYC, "rocks" ..."gospel, spirituals, stunning choral singing and classical music, and everything from Bach to Broadway to the Beatles". [Source: Middle Collegiate Church website.]

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