Welcome to the latest episode of our podcast series’ The Notes Between’ with Lara Eidi. Conversations exploring everything behind and about the world of songwriting! Our theme music ‘Breathe Love’ is from Lara Eidi herself available here
In this episode, Lara talks to Singer, songwriter and producer China Moses
Available on Spotify Apple and all major podcast platforms
Photo of China Moses by Alexandre Lacombe
Photo of Lara Eidi by Robert Crowley
“She commands the stage from the moment she makes her entrance” — The Times UK
Singer, songwriter and producer China Moses evolves her artistry in truth. Defiantly real, her music resists what so many labels and critics desire: category. She captivates listeners with her deep pocket, sensitivity and wit, drawing inspiration from endless styles in the expansive lineage of Black American music.
Frank and fearless, China’s songs document fleeting emotional states and extended narratives, often leaning into self-reflection both in lyric and phrasing. Her voice is a satin ribbon wrapped around a crackling flame. Listeners fortunate to observe her in live performance know the depth of her song interpretation. In a moment she can revolve a world.
China’s 2021 release & The Vibe Tribe EP, which features one of her recent touring bands — some of the creative music world’s most striking talents: Marijus Aleksa, Ashley Henry, Luigi Grasso and Neil Charles — received international praise. The Los Angeles-born artist turned life-long Parisian has performed all over the world and appeared on international television and film projects, including cult episode of “Moesha”: Songs in the Key of Strife, Julie Delpy’s “Lolo,” “The Princess and the Frog” (VO in French), Aurore Aubin’s “Sammy by Sammy” (VO) and “The Lion King 2019 The Circle of Life” (VO in French). China’s theatre credits include “Sally Bowles” in Cabaret and “Billie Holiday” in Cafe Society Swing. For more than a decade, the magnetic on-camera personality and consummate actor has appeared regularly on TV series, including national spots alongside Iggy Pop, Meryl Streep, Will Smith, Ciara, Nile Rodgers, Mariah Carey and Hugh Jackman.
Since 1997, China has issued seven leader releases on a number of major and independent labels including Virgin, EMI, Blue Note, Decca and MPS Records. In 2008, she founded her own production company MadeInChina, now home to her most recent leader releases This One’s for Dinah (2009), Nightintales (2017) and & the Vibe Tribe EP (2021). Provocative as her musical experiences, China’s broadcasting resumé currently features host-producer positions at celebrated radio shows “Made in China” on TSF Jazz (France) and “Late Night with China Moses” On Jazz FM (UK). She’s one of few women of color to host multiple radio shows across European and UK airwaves.
The self-dubbed high school dropout has been an artist her entire life. Daughter of legendary activist and director Gilbert Moses III and internationally acclaimed musician Dee Dee Bridgewater, China understands the music and its surrounding culture from the inside out. Along her varied musical paths, she has performed with Archie Shepp, Pee Wee Ellis, Theo Croker, John Beasley, Nils Landgren, John Patitucci, Magnus Lindgren, Jamie Cullum, Terence Blanchard, Terri Lyne Carrington, Aloe Blacc, Lakecia Benjamin and Ian Shaw, sharing stages with legends Roy Hargrove, George Benson, Metropole Orkest Big Band, myriad philharmonics including Bogota, Trier, Dresden, Potsdam, Bilbao, Paris and Szczecin, WDR Big Band, HR Big Band, Metropole Orkest Big Band and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. She has recorded with Karriem Riggins, Lakecia Benjamin, DJ Mehdi, Meshell Ndegeocello, Fatoumata Diawara, Chilly Gonzales, GURU, Cerrone, DJ Cam, Daru Jones, Étienne De Crécy and Klaus Doldinger. As a songwriter who composes music and lyrics for the majority of her material, China has collaborated with Anthony Marshall, Oli Rockberger, Troy Miller, Alex Webb, Raphael Lemonnier, Gordon Cyrus & Bob Power.
A global artist and citizen, China has performed in more than 800 shows across six continents in the past 12 years. She has appeared at Ronnie Scott’s, Jazz Café, Barbican Centre and Royal Albert Hall in London, Olympia, UNESCO International Jazz Day and La Cigale in Paris, Vienna Konzerthaus, Berlin Opernhaus, Elbphilharmonie and Dresdner Philharmonie in Germany and Birdland and Nublu in New York City. One of her hidden skills is that of a powerhouse researcher — as a performing and recording artist, a broadcast professional and an international educator. China’s commitment to authentic representation and inclusive perspectives has garnered critical acclaim and peer acknowledgement. She’s a member of the 2013 Young Leader graduating class of the French American Foundation, holds the title Chevalier of St Emilion & Bergerac and has lent her expertise as a panellist at the 2020 Montreux Jazz Academy.
Athens born to Lebanese Canadian parents, Lara Eidi is an artist that thrives on being different. As an independent artist, singer and multi- instrumentalist, she has carved a path for herself that continuously aimed at reshaping and developing her voice as a storyteller. An accomplished and reputable singer-songwriter, pianist, recording artist and jazz- folk vocalist of her own accord based in London and Athens. Her music has gained her critical acclaim as a genre bending artist (BBC Artist, 2020), described as “a singer with true gift of a voice, a kind soul, and a captivating presence.” (Jazz UK). At the heart of her being as a multi-disciplinary artist, she is sought after as a composer for vocal film scores, writes as a freelance music journalist, and is in demand as a creative workshop leader. Her music seeks to elevate and heal, and as a result, she creates genre- defying songs with a great emphasis on story telling. Her latest album ‘Sun’, her long awaited debut album, is all about pulling the threads of her folk, acoustic rock and jazz-classical upbringing to her message of hope, empowerment, and freedom. As a soloist, her recent debut performance at the infamous Royal Albert Hall, singing select pieces from Greece and Lebanon form the Medieval Byzantine Traditions sees Lara engaging on a series of select and innovative performances with the SAUDHA Indian Classical Music Association.
Lara Eidi website
