Malika Tirolien

Malika was born in Marie-Galante, Guadeloupe, and grew up in an artistic environment. Her grandmother played the piano, her grandfather was the poet Guy Tirolien and her father, a history teacher, was a self-taught multi-instrumentalist.[2][3][4] Malika showed interest for music and singing at a very young age; noticing this, her parents signed her up for piano lessons.[2] She recorded her first studio song when she was 8, accompanying her father's band.[5] As a teenager she was already very involved with singing[6] and cites Michael Jackson as one of her biggest influences at the time.[2]

In 2001, aged 18, Malika moved to Canada to study music at the University of Montreal. In 2005, after graduating with a B.A. in jazz interpretation, Malika spent a few months in France. On her return to Montreal, she watched a presentation of the Kalmunity Vibe Collective and decided to join them.[7] With other members of the collective, Malika formed the band Groundfood.

Between 2012 and 2013, Malika sang the lead role in Cirque du Soleil's show La Nouba in Orlando, Florida.[6] Her performance caught the attention of Michael League, group leader of the American band Snarky Puppy, and her band Groundfood was invited to open for Snarky Puppy in a presentation in New York. After that, she and League started a close collaboration.[7] He invited her to participate in Snarky Puppy's album Family Dinner – Volume 1 with two songs, "Sew" and "I'm Not the One". The album was released in September 2013.

In June 2014 Malika launched her debut solo album, Sur La Voie Ensoleillée ("On the High/Sunny Road"), with guest participations of Erik Hove and Groundfood, among others.[3][4] In July she went on an international tour with Snarky Puppy.[7] They participated in three major European festivals: the Nice Jazz Festival (France) on 9 July, the Lugano Jazz Festival (Switzerland) on 11 July, and the North Sea Jazz Festival of Rotterdam (Low Countries) on 12 July. She then headed to South America, where she performed in Festival Latinidades, in Brasilia (Brazil) on 26 July.[3] In September 2015 Malika returned to Brazil to perform at the Jazz Ahead festival in Rio de Janeiro.[8]

In October 2016 Malika went on an Asian tour that included presentations in China (Beijing)[9] and India (Delhi, Pune, Bangalore and Calcutta).[10] The tour extended to the Americas (Canada, United States, French West Indies, and Brazil).[11]

In 2015, Michael League invited Malika to become the lead singer of a new group, Bokanté ("Exchange", in Guadeloupean Creole). Their debut album Strange Circles was released in June 2017,[12] and the band went on a European tour in the following month.[13] They collaborated with the Metropole Orkest on their second album What Heat, which was released in September 2018[14] and was nominated for Best World Music Album in the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards.[15][16]

• Malika Tirolien at IMDb