Today, Zena Carlota, has debuted her second single “Tis’ A Cold Day To Bear Fruit”. The track is off her debut EP, The Confidence of Birds. The song describes empathetic sentiments about the plant and animal life that surrounds us.

Recorded onto analog tape at Tiny Telephone Studios in San Francisco between 2015-2017, Zena Carlota’s first EP culturally explores the relationship between West African string music, classical chamber music and folk pop while embodying the journey from gravity to levity in song.

Zena Carlota is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, singer, visual and theater artist. Her work is inspired by the Jaliyaa music tradition of West Africa, Zena has spent the past ten years traveling in the US, West Africa and Europe studying the Kora, a 21-string West African bridge harp that originates from the Malian Empire during the 13th century. Learning both ritual and experimental forms of indigenous string music and storytelling with masters from The Gambia, and Guineau, she most recently completing an intensive training in Paris with Grammy award winner, and Kora virtuoso, Toumani Diabate of Mali.

Quote from Zena on “Tis’ A Cold Day To Bear Fruit”

This song is my version of a protest song: that although the circumstances of our environments and culture may be prompting us to constrict, when winter comes and life seems to wither, that is the most important time create, to bring forth life, sing our songs and share our gifts. It’s an ode to the people of this country and the culture we live in.

The Confidence of Birds was inspired by the the Sufi poem “The Conference of the Birds” written by the Persian poet Attar of Nishapur, which details the mythic journey of birds in search of enlightenment. Funded by a grant from The Center for Cultural Innovation in San Francisco, the EP was penned by Zena on Kora and Ùkelele and features original string trio and string quintet arrangements from Bay Area composers Minna Choi (founder, Magik Magik Orchestra), Omid Zoufonoun (Principal Conductor, Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra), Bassist Shuyler Karr (San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra) and Cellist Misha Khalikulov.