Born in Peoria, Illinois, USA, from Taiwanese and East Timorese parents, 2014 Doris Duke Impact Award recipient JEN SHYU is an*experimental jazz vocalist, composer, multi-instrumentalist,*dancer, producer, and*Fulbright scholar. Larry Blumenfeld (Wall Street Journal), writes “…Ms. Shyu is one of New York’s most inspiring vocal presences. Perhaps the most mysterious.” Shyu has recorded five albums as a leader: Jade Tongue for Now, Jade Tongue for Raging Waters, Raging Waters for Red Sands and Inner Chapters for Raging Waters. She is also the first female artist and vocalist to be a bandleader on Pi Recordings with the highly acclaimed album Synastry featuring Mark Dresser, the legendary bassist. After graduating from Stanford University in 2003, she was the vocalist of Steve Coleman’s Five Elements saxophonist. She has also presented her music at Lincoln Center and Brooklyn*Academy*of Music (Netherlands), Salihara Theater, National Gugak Center and National Theater of Korea. She has performed with Chris Potter, Mat Maneri and Dave Burrell among others. Shyu is well-known for her expertise in the disappearing and lesser-known traditional music forms of Taiwan, Korea and East Timor. She studied Javanese Sindhenan, dance, and Fulbright scholarship to Indonesia for two years. She performed with Javanese artists like Djaduk Ferianto and Eko Supriyanto as well as solo performances. The National Gugak Center awarded her a six-month scholarship to study Pansori, Gayageum Byeongchang. Shyu currently leads her band Jade Tongue and is touring her solo opera called SOLO RITES: SEVEN BREATHS, directed by renowned Indonesian*filmmaker-director Garin Nugroho and inspired by her travels and fieldwork over the past*decade. It premiered on*May 28, 2014, at Roulette*Intermedium, Inc. in Brooklyn, NY. From www.jenshyu.com
