North African, LA-based singer-songwriter Ami Taf Ra announces her debut
album, The Prophet and The Madman, arriving August 22 via Brainfeeder. A
transcendent, sonic palate cleanser that draws from Moroccan gnawa,
gospel, and spiritual jazz, the album is a personal and poetic
meditation on duality, healing, and ancestral memory. Inspired by Khalil
Gibran’s seminal work, The Prophet, Ami Taf Ra’s album was produced by
legendary saxophonist composer and her frequent collaborator Kamasi
Washington. Arriving alongside the announcement is Ami Taf Ra’s powerful
new single “How I Became A Madman” featuring Kamasi Washington. With
soaring arrangements and entrancing emotional arcs, the track captures
the tension between inner chaos and clarity—a central theme of the
forthcoming album.
“How I Became A Madman” follows the release of “Speak To Us (Outro)”,
Ami Taf Ra’s Brainfeeder debut, praised for its emotional depth and the
accompanying video’s striking visual storytelling. Her upcoming album
expands that sonic vision into a richly textured 11-track journey,
featuring collaborators including Ryan Porter, Miles Mosley, Brandon
Coleman, Tony Austin, Taylor Graves, Cameron Graves, Ronald Bruner Jr.,
Allakoi Peete, Kahlil Cummings, and Kamasi Washington. Ami Taf Ra’s The
Prophet and The Madman is a bold
statement from a vocalist rooted in the traditions of Arabic greats like
Fairuz, Umm Kulthum and Warda, yet reaching fearlessly into new sonic
territory. It’s an album that seeks not answers but presence—a devotion
to the journey, not the destination.
Tracklist:
1. Speak to Us (Intro)
2. How I Became a Madman (feat. Kamasi Washington)
3. The Prophet
4. God
5. Love (feat. Ryan Porter)
6. My Friend (feat. Brandon Coleman)
7. Children
8. Gnawa (feat. Kamasi Washington)
9. Gibran
10. Khalil
11. Speak to Us (Outro)