Bio
ZackieL is a multidisciplinary artist of an era of regenerative futures and global visions.
Innovatory as a singer and songwriter, he is also a player of guitar, percussions and handpan, event organiser & MC, spoken word poet & storywriter, music mentor and teacher, an ethnographic field recordist studied in ethnomusicology, and a spirited world traveller.
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His debut Single - Wild|Wise - is now available on all major platforms. It features electronic production from world-renowned DJ Mixwell, double bass, strings and soprano sax from acclaimed musicians, alongside ZackieL’s soaring vocals, lyrics to empower, guitar and percussion.
As a guitarist, handpan player and percussionist, electrifying rhythm forms the foundations of his instrumental styles, upon which he builds with eloquent melody.
The lyrics are the real keys, though, the meanings and stories are the sum of many travels earthly and reflective. Performances are characterised by storytelling, calls to deeper insight, and collective invocations. The feeling of gathering together sincerely is the focus, and it’s warm, fun, and feels like home.
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The music can be described as GlobalSoul, or folkloric, informed and inspired by musical heritages as eclectic as soul and neo-soul, world electronic, folk, visionary jazz, funk, roots, hip-hop, desert blues, classical music from the Middle East and South Asia, rumba/flamenco, Latin and medicine music.
Of English and French origins, now living between Southern France where he was born and London when he lived from the age of six, ZackieL is constantly organising events and performing between France, London and many places across the world on regular travels.
He has eight years of experience regularly headlining as well as hosting myriad forms of events. Be them open-mics and jam sessions, immersive performances and innovative, collaborative concerts, from uncountable firesides to festival stages with audiences of many hundreds, as far and wide as Australia, India, Nepal, Thailand, Columbia, Peru, Guatemala, Portugal as well as at home. It's been his principle craft and work for stretches of many months at a time, organising, often hosting and performing at several events a week.
As a Musical Facilitator in retreats and workshops, ZackieL’s nature is to bring one and all together, never leaving folks behind, creating and guiding spaces that kindly, honouringly and warmly include, empower and harmonise others. Keeping a fire is a skill and intuition and is ever his favoured space to perform as well as facilitate artistic and transformational exchanges. Testimonials from fellow facilitators can be found at the bottom of the home page.
ZackieL studied Ethnomusicology and Global Popular Music at The School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Core focuses of study included global use of music in ceremonial and religious contexts for healing, communal and ancestral connection, and rites of passage. He wrote 1st class papers and created podcasts on music as a core source of individual and collective empowerment and transformation, with contexts including West, East and South Africa, India and Cuba. Others were on the nature of music used for healing trance rituals in places such as Morocco, Cuba, Turkey, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Indonesia.
Recently he travelled the Peruvian Amazon for three months, working as a field recordist for Universal Pictures. He spent many weeks living with a family of internationally-heralded Shipibo-Conibo First Nation's healers, recording and learning the practices of Icaros, medicine songs that have a key role in traditional ayahuasca ceremony. One of these recordings has been licensed for use at the opening of the recent award-winning film Tàr featuring Cate Blanchett and directed by Todd Fields.
He is a long-time core member of the Village101 Community Interest Company and Ubuntu Village Decolonial Humanity Space: arts collective, innovatory arts production house and community hub for regenerative culture and decolonial education and healing, alongside visionary artist Muti Musafiri.
The next release date is set for May 2025. The launch will include his first art film | music video - SOLACE, The Film - which he co-directed, wrote and produced, alongside his second official single and an extensive body of work: The SOLACE Project.
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This creative vision will culminate in an EP, performances, an exhibition, workshops, panel discussions and writings - immersed in the themes of decolonial healing and social justice, rites of passage, and regenerative artistry.
