Sparlha Swa is a velvetine clash of impeccable vocals and haunting modal chords. She sings from the place where sounds meets spirit, a soundtrack for the seeker. Performing mostly solo on guitar, she also appears as a duo accompanied by Shree Shyam, master of bass and percussion, and in a quartet with bass, percussion/kit and cello.
Born in in the Caribbean, she has lived in 8 states and 3 countries and pulls her music and lyrics from a far wider net of influence. Her music will call to mind Sade, Billie Holiday, Joni Mitchell, Astrud Gilberto, Ravi Shankar, and Miriam Makeba.
Cutting her teeth at songwriting on the Bay Area indie music scene led to her collaboration with internationally known Hip-Hop artist and producer Carlos Mena on her first record In The Distance. Late 2004 marked her exodus back to NYC, the release of In The Distance, and the launching of a musical partnership with Shree Shyam. Soon after she joined the management of Shawn Peters of Rebel Soul Records (Martin Luther and Cody Chestnutt).
In the 3 years since, Sparlha has toured solo in Canada, the UK, Paris, the Netherlands, Japan, Brazil, and all across the US. In NY, she has headlined with a full band at the Blue Note, Joe's Pub, BAM Cafe & the Kitchen to audiences of standing room only. She has featured on several compilations including the Woodstock Film Festival featured soundtracks for Me Leve on the Freed Pictures release of Flavio, on ONE with Pete Rock, on the "High Spirits Collection" put out by Crocs - as well as interviewed on Japan FM Network, a Japanese radio show with 10 million listeners.
Notable musical exploits include being signed to Japanese label Village Again for In The Distance, 2 songs licensed (Love Addiction, Too Late) to the TV show Girlfriends, and having her music video aired on BETJ globally for 6 months in 2006. She has written score music for 2 independent films, including the award winning short "Pariah". Sparlha has opened for or/shared the stage with Climbing Poetree, Bilal, Fertile Ground (Jazz Cafe), DJ Giles Petersen, Burnt Sugar, Wumni, Bryonn Bain, Malcolm Jamal Warner, Zion I, Tamar Kali, N'Dea Davenport, Iyeoka Okoawo, Anthony David, Jeremy James, Imani Uzuri, Angela Johnson, Maya Azucena, Martin Luther, Junior Kelly, Slim Kid (Pharcyde).
Due for release in '08 are a live album recorded at Piano's in December and her 2nd studio album tentatively entitled "Moongazing".