BIO
Heiraza (air-ah-za) is the transformation of a young woman
who immigrated alone to the US in 2010 from Turkey
and navigated 12 years of twists and turns to finally surface with many songs in her voice.
Heiraza is a shapeshifter.
She soars between languages, sounds, cultures, life experiences and roots herself in this fluidity.
Her drive, force, art and music always rises from curiosity and the intention of healing towards joy.
She cherishes every second of her singing together with people (sometimes with nature) ranging from
Grammy winner accomplished artists to non-musician claimed passionate souls.
Before releasing her first single,
Heiraza studied different genres and world traditions,
toured with many projects singing in 13 different languages.
She performed on stages like Hatch Memorial Shell,
WBUR CitySpace and Shalin Liu Performance Center
as a multi-award winning vocalist.
Some of her musical influences were, Mahalia Jackson, Hamiyet Yüceses,
Whitney Houston, Edgard Varèse, Umm Kulthum,
Goran Bregović, Björk, John Cage and Erik Satie.
Her voice was described as honey and smoke, haunting, and dangerous.
In her music, Heiraza holds onto electronic and experimental sounds
alongside raw and confrontational lyrics about immigration,
mental health, grief, hope, identity, and family dynamics.
She plays with different beats and rhythms
in the light of different world traditions
as well as microtones with fluency.
She started to sing these songs
many years after immigrating,
at a time of isolation and struggles
with mental health while
seeking comfort and healing.
Heiraza rewrote lyrics in English to
most of the selected songs
in the form of letters to her dad,
telling stories of the experience
she gained as an immigrant,
addressing grief, longing,
financial hardship, trauma,
mental illness,
searching for belonging and identity.