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Lis Addison

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Lis Addison
Birth nameLis Addison
Born????
Where born ???
GenresAmbient, Classical Crossover, World, New Age and Electronic Music
Occupation(s)Composer, vocalist, keyboardist, producer, environmentalist, and philanthropist
Instrument(s)Vocalist, Keyboards
Years active1985-present
LabelsAll Aglow Music
Websitewww.lisaddison.com

Lis Addison is a composer, vocalist, keyboardist, producer, environmentalist, and philanthropist. She composes in the ambient, classical crossover, world, new age and electronic music genres. Addison has composed and produced sixteen solo albums, soundtracks for film and dance and has over 10 Million streams on Spotify, Apple and Pandora. Her last four albums have charted in the top 10 of the New Age Charts.

Addison writes meditative music, African influenced dance music, and Indian influenced music. (Echoes Podcast).

Addison has been a Professor at SAE Digital Arts College where she taught Music Theory, Copyright Law, Portfolio and Environmental Science. She has also taught at the Globe Sound Healing Institute (Echoes Podcast) where she taught her Kinetic Voice Program, Music Theory and North Indian Classical Raga Singing.

Early Life and Education

The youngest of four children, Addison's father was a doctor, her mother was a Ballet dancer and her grandmother a pianist. She began studying dance at age 8, (Morning Breeze 2022 Interview) piano at age 10, and writing songs at age 11. She made her first multi-media project on a reel-to-reel tape recorder when she was 12. Addison went to West Hillsborough Elementary, Athenian School and Mills College where she earned a BA in “Historical and Contemporary Perspectives of Music and the Environment” (an individualized major combining studies in music, history and biology), and an MFA in “Electronic Music and the Recording Media.”

As an undergrad Addison studied piano, voice, and composition with Terry Riley and Lou Harrison, and music theory with Allaudin Matthieu. Collectively they introduced her to world music (Echoes Podcast).

Addison was particularly drawn to Riley whose minimalism approach to music which could induce the trance state. This led to her studying north Indian classical Raga singing with Riley's teacher Pandit Pran Nath from India. She studied with Amiya Dasgupta and Ali Akbar Khan in later years.

Addison was also a longtime friend and student of the British composer Anthony Payne and his wife opera singer Jane Manning.

She returned to Mills as a grad student in electronic music and recording. (Echoes Podcast) Addison studied voice, electronics, and rhythm to create electronic atmospheres. (Echoes Podcast)

She has been composing and producing music on a computer since 1988 and learned electronic music on the first Buchla synthesizer.

Composition/Electronic Music

After grad school Addison moved to Los Angeles and was part of the Hollywood music scene but her attention was increasingly drawn to music as a sacred and not a commercial art form. Following a vision quest in 1991, she began incorporating sound healing concepts into her music.

Addison returned to the San Francisco Bay Area and established a recording studio and record label All Aglow Music where she has composed 16 albums, music for film, dance, the concert stage, sound healing, her Kinetic Voice program and soundtracks for companies like the IAB Awards, Maxxon and Corning Glass.

Kinetic Voice (KiVo)

After working with hundreds of women, Addison observed a pattern of collective oppression in the female voice. In response to this observation, she developed her Kinetic Voice (KiVo) program to empower the voice of women throughout the world.

Based on her belief that singing and dancing are our birthright, Addison creates opportunities for non-musicians to sing and dance together for fun and community building.

The program introduces students to vocals and movement so they feel music on a somatic level. (Morning Breeze 2022 Interview).

The Trilogy of the program consists of:

  • Chakra Chants and Signature Steps (from "Song of the Tree")
  • Body Chants and Signature Steps (from "Grace of the Green Leaf")
  • Elements and Signature Steps (from "Elements")

Addison's "Song of the Tree" album (2008) both laid the foundation for her distinct musical style and for KiVo. Chakra Chants, found on the album, consist of non-language specific vocalizations (vocables) that explore the use of vocal vibration to help clear the Chakras and release tension. Following its release, she choreographed specific movements to accompany the vocalizations.

Addison continued this work on four subsequent albums: "Medicine Drum Kirtan", "The Grace of the Green Leaf," and "Body Chants." She also developed a three-part training program consisting of 180 KiVo training videos of choreography and vocal instruction. Her album "Elements" and its derivative works is the final in the series.

During the COVID pandemic, Addison observed that life was pared down to their simplest elements: less driving, less entertainment, less work and travel, staying closer to home and family. This led her to releasing "Elements" which features music pared down to its elements (with tracks beginning in five-tone pentatonic scales not seven-tone scales). Addison centered the album on the elements needed for survival - earth, air, fire, and water. (Morning Breeze 2022 Interview)

Her album "Zadaka" was commissioned by a dance technique called the Nia Technique. "Zadaka" became Nia's "Source." This collaboration led to a tour of more than 50 cities in Australia, Canada, Europe, Israel, Mexico and the US. Performances featured Addison singing her music backed by an Afrobeats while the audience participated in Nia Technique inspired dance movement. This would be followed by a workshop (Morning Breeze 2022 Interview).

Kinetic Voice is a vocal and dance practice for health and wellness. She has helped thousands of students throughout the world tune their bodies like instruments and get in touch with the wisdom of their voices. One student said: “I could not have asked for a better guide to help me break through stuck emotions and open blocked Pathways in the body, mind, and spirit. Addison takes you on a journey through dance and voice with pleasure, grace, and love.”

Collaborations

Addison has played keyboards and sang in a Reggae band called The Magnets and in rock and cover bands. (Echoes Podcast) She has performed as a soprano with the acapella swing trio the Dangerous Divas. She has also been an avid student of West African Dance. (Echoes Podcast).

Philanthropy

Ms. Addison studied environmental science at Mills College (Echoes Podcast) and in 2013 created the non-profit Singing Tree Institute, an environmental non-profit (Echoes Podcast) that has planted more than 7,000 trees in Kitui, Kenya. She loves knowing she is part of nature. Singing Tree plants trees and documents songs and dances of the Kamba community in Kenya. (Morning Breeze 2023 Interview). Her Singing Tree Mission Statement is “To help mitigate the effects of global warming, reforest and reduce erosion, provide food and fiber for African Villagers.

The plantings are mainly in the rural community of Kangweni, Kenya. Planting days with students from Maviani Primary School, Yanzuu Daystar Academy, St. John’s Church and Syombuku Vocational College end with a celebration of singing and dancing.

In 2023, Addison was contracted to record a Nature Sounds Installation at Mara Napa Camps, in Kenya, the first Luxury Camp owned and operated by the Maasai.

Discography

  • All God’s Creatures (1985)
  • The Daughters of Urth (1986)
  • Seven Gifts (2004)
  • The Song of the Tree (2008)
  • Medicine Drum Kirtan (2012)
  • The Grace of the Green Leaf (2010)
  • Crown in the Sky (2013)
  • Music for Rainbow Meditation (2014)
  • The Mighty Mountains (2014)
  • On the Earth I Go (2014)
  • Body Chants (2015)
  • Shikamu (2015)
  • Habitats (2018)
  • Zadaka (2019)
  • Elements (2022)
  • Songs from the Mara (2023)
  • Compilations
  • Alive (2009)
  • Spirit Calls (2010)
  • Invitation from Within (2013)
  • Cecil’s Pride (1015)
  • Source (2017)
  • Go (2019)

Sheet Music

  • Scenic Route 58 (1985)
  • The Room (1996)
  • The Phoenix (2009)

Awards

  • NEA Grant from Meet the Composer, 1987
  • 1st Place for The Room, Woodwind Quintet, Pacific Composers Forum, 1991
  • 1st Place Best Vocal Album 2010, Zone Music Reporter Awards
  • 2nd Place Global Music Awards, Crown in the Sky 2013
  • Nominated for Best Electronic Dance Song, Round Glass Music Awards, 2018
  • 2nd Place Global Music Awards, Elements 2022
  • 3rd Place NACC Awards, for Elements, 2022
  • Elements, Nominated for Best Album 2022, One World Music
  • 1st Place, One World Music Awards, Best Single, 2023, Sunset on the Mara
  • 3rd Place Album, Echoes Radio, 2023, Songs from the Mara,
  • 3rd Place Album, One World Music Awards, 2023, Songs from the Mara
  • Silver Medal, Global Music Awards, Songs from the Mara, 2023

Associated Acts

  • The Magnets
  • Dangerous Divas

Personal Life

Addison lives with her husband in Marin County in Northern California. They have two grown children who live in Europe.

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