Alicia Saldenha was born on the Caribbean island of Trinidad, of the Republic
of Trinidad and Tobago, the land of carnival, calypso and the steel drum.
She started singing and dancing from early childhood, then toured the Caribbean
and the US after graduating from high school in several musical productions.
She has worked in the US under the direction of Nobel Laureate for Literature,
Derek Walcott, as well as with the renowned Greg Doran of the Royal Shakespeare
Company, England. She also appeared on television and film in the Caribbean
before attending university in the UK. There she studied languages (French,
Spanish, Japanese), and performed with the BBC National Chorus of Wales.
She was introduced to jazz while working on a recording in Paris in 1993.
Since then, she has performed throughout Europe and Japan including Osaka
Blue Note, Nice Jazz Festival in France with George Clinton and the P-Funks,
and at the Umbria Jazz Festival, Italy. In 2005 and in 2007 she also performed
with legendary jazz steel drummer, Othello Molineaux, during his Japan
tour.
Alicia Saldenha is also a scholar, a doctor and an
educator, having obtained a Doctorate (PhD) in Ethnomusicology/Anthropology from
Kobe University in 2006, and a Master’s Degree in Singing
and Music Education from Mie University, Japan, in March 2002. Dr. Alicia
Saldenha is also a composer, and is currently working on her debut album, of
soul-jazz originals.
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