MusicMafia presents singer and songwriter Marla Mase
Marla Mase is a writer/performer/producer/singer/songwriter from New York City. Marla is known for her provocative, raw performance style and intelligent lyrics. Her music ranges from rock n' roll to experimental spoken word, funk and punk rock. She is backed by the Tomás Doncker Band. When touring in China, Marla was invited by Friends of the UN to perform for UN GLOBAL PEACE DAY in Linzhou City, where she was given an honorary "Messenger of Peace" award for her visionary work as a songwriter and performing artist. The Huffington Post featured her in 2013, saying "her feisty message of peace and perhaps wake up the beast in all of us."
Marla released "SPEAK Deluxe" on Feb 28, 2013, a 16 track CD containing human rights and feminist perspectives on tracks like Piece of Peace, Lioness, Scream, and AnnaRexia, a reggae track featuring Garrison Hawk from Bill Laswell’s Method of Defiance. AnnaRexia is spearheading the StayImperfect Project or Love Your Butt Campaign, which Marla created to empower women to love themselves and their bodies. Proceeds from AnnaRexia go towards theprojectheal.org, a non-profit founded by two teenage eating disorder survivors, that raises funds for girls whose families cannot afford to send them to treatment.
"SPEAK Deluxe" was well received worldwide, earning write ups in The Huffington Post, Underthegunreview, Absolute Punk, Obscure Sound, Dingus, Critical Mob, Nothing But Hope And Passion, Antimusic.com, Tone Deaf, The Deli NYC and Rock and Roll Report among others. Marla played locally and also visited Europe for a string of live dates in support of the album.
Mase also developed THE SPEAK SHOW, a multi-media concert/performance piece using music (from SPEAK Deluxe), spoken word, dance and visual imagery to explore the themes of confinement, sexuality, body image, trauma, oppression (internal/external) and freedom as a means of celebrating the raw reality of our human condition as expressed through the eyes, bodies, voices of women. It was booked twice for NYC Summerstage 2013 alongside major acts such as The Zombies, Dead Prez and Django Django.
Her debut album, the rock opera, A Brief Night Out (BNO), tells the story of a woman, having an affair, breaking-down, obsessing on war and re-assessing her life. It is also the soundtrack to a theatrical version of the same story that has been performed in New York City with Broadway Veteran Martin Vidnovic playing all the male roles and also as a one-woman show directed by Sara Berg.
Marla’s play, The Canarsie Line directed by Kathryn Rossetter, ran at The Bank Street Theatre to sold out audiences in 2002. Her play Man/Woman was work-shopped at the Abingdon Theatre in 2004.
Marla has her MA in writing and performance from NYU and is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Most importantly Marla is the mother to two beautiful souls.
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