8 Amazing Performance Artists Who Rocked TED Global 2010

on Sunday, 25 July 2010.

TED Global 2010 exceeded my highest expectations, every day in every way. (TED for Dummies here, in case you haven't yet been introduced, and 170+ TED talks by amazing TED Women here.)

Amongst the many pleasures I experienced at the TED Global 2010 conference (held in Oxford July 12 – 16, 2010), some of the most delectable occurred during the performances of these eight incredibly talented women - singers, songwriters, poets, dancers, musicians, and captivating artists all.

Videos of their stage time at TED Global 2010 have yet to be posted online. In the meantime, here’s a recap and samples of their work…

Annie Lennox

Singer, songwriter and HIV/Aids activist Annie Lennox thrilled the TED Global 2010 audience with a spine-tingling solo set on the piano on Day 1 of the conference. (Photo Credit: James Duncan Davidson / TED )

Her singing moved me to tears...

Later in the week, Lennox touched our hearts with the story of seven-year-old AIDS victim Avileli’s transformation, and her own work with HIV/AIDS and The Sing Campaign.

Here’s Lennox performing A Thousand Beautiful Things and Pavement Cracks for a small TV studio audience in Paris in 2009:

Iyeoka

Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo is a Poet/Recording Artist. She won second place at the 2009 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion; she is a 2010 TED Global Fellow. A first-generation Nigerian-American, Iyeoka was a practicing pharmacist before launching her career as a poet, presenter, activist and educator.

She has performed at the Kennedy Center for an award event honoring activist and actress Mia Farrow, was commissioned by Discovery Channel for their 2008 brand campaign, was commissioned by a top-twenty ad agency to write a piece for a diversity training tool, and received a Massachusetts Industry Committee Hip-Hop Award for Spoken Word Artist of the year, as well as a New England Urban Music Award for the Best Female Spoken Word Poet.

This performance won her one of five slots on the 2007 Boston Poetry Slam @ Lizard Lounge Cambridge team that went on to the 2007 National Poetry Slam in Austin, Texas.

Related links:
www.iyeoka.com
@iyeoka

Karsu Donmez

Young pianist Karsu Dönmez (born 1990) is a Dutch performer of Turkish descent. She was raised on jazz, Chopin and Turkish music; her sound blends the three into a modern take on the blues. She is a major jazz talent who has performed in Carnegie Hall in New York twice, and played her repertoire of original music, easy listening, classical and ethnic music in the world renowned Concertgebouw. She is also a regular performer on Dutch TV, and has recently signed up with AT Productions/Sony Music.

In this set, performed at TEDxAmsterdam 2009, she sings I’ll leave alone, followed by the Turkish song Cok Uzaklarda

Related links:

Karsu Donmez on MySpace

@KarsuDonmez

Mallika Sarabhai

Mallika Sarabhai is an acclaimed and much awarded dancer in the Indian classical styles of Bharata Natyam and Kuchipudi and has been the lead soloist with Darpana for 30 years. (Photo Credit: James Duncan Davidson / TED )

She has performed solo or with Darpana throughout India and around the world, and has become an activist for women’s rights as well as a pioneer in the use of dance and the arts to iniatiate social change. She married dance, storytelling and a powerful message when she spoke in November 2009 at TEDIndia.

Here she is performing a classical Indian dance in 2008:

Related links:
Mallika Sarabhai on Wikipedia
www.mallikasarabhai.com

Miwa Matreyek

Miwa Matreyek is a multimedia Artist is an awar-winning animator, designer and artist working in Los Angeles. She’s a graduate of CalArts, and a Princess Grace Award recipient for film. At TED Global 2010 she created a performance where real shapes and virtual images traded places amid layers of animation, video and live bodies.

Here’s a short sample of her multi-media performance art:

Miwa Matreyek REEL 2007 from citrusink on Vimeo.

Related links:
www.semihemisphere.com

Mor Karbasi

Mor Karbasi is a singer-songwriter born in Jerusalem, and now based in London.

One of her main projects is Ladino music, also known as Judezmo, Spanyolit, or Sephardic - the ancient language and music of the exiled Jews of Spain.

She writes original material, and sings traditional songs. She has been compared to Mariza and Yasmin Levy, but has a strongly individual sound, whichever type of music she sings. (Photo Credit: James Duncan Davidson / TED )

Karbasi's heritage is mixed Moroccan and Persian, and according to her Moroccan grandfather, "the blood remembers," meaning that before this her ancestors came from Spain. Her connection to this culture is expressed passionately through her music.

This piece, called El Pastor was filmed in Corsica and broadcast in French and Italian TV as part of the Mezzo Voce programme in 2009.

Related links:
Mor Karbasi on MySpace
Mor Karbasi on Wikipedia
@MorKarbasi

Rachelle Garniez

Born in New York City, Rachelle Garniez is a performer, singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. Hailed by the New York Press as "one of the greatest songwriters of our time", described by the New Yorker as "a certified free spirit with a rich voice and a wild imagination", and featured in Paper magazine's annual "Beautiful People 2008" issue.

Garniez’s adventures began as a street musician in Europe and a fixture in the art scene of 1980’s New York City; she performed with the TED House Band -- led by Thomas Dolby on keyboard, at TED Global 2010

Here are Garniez and Dolby performing "La Vie en Rose" at a TED 2004: