MUSE • Musicians United for Social Equity

Biography

Amanda Ekery is a Syrian/Mexican American vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and composer that creates music filled with imagery and strong narratives. Her work has earned support from New Music USA, Chamber Music America, and the Jerome Foundation, has been featured at the Portland Jazz Festival, Panama Jazz Festival, and The Kennedy Center, and spans theater, film, and studio recordings. Amanda’s 2018 concept album “Keys With No Purpose,” was written as a reaction to the sexist culture women continue to face in jazz and informed by her research on females in jazz education which is soon to be published in the 2023 Routledge Companion to Women in Music Leadership. Her most recent album, “Some (more) Short Songs,” released in 2021 was praised in Downbeat Magazine saying, “her compositions are great” and “full of moments of amazingness.” Árabe is Amanda’s ongoing genealogy composition/research project that focuses on Syrian immigration to El Paso/Mexico, her family’s history, and the influence these mixed cultures had on film, food, economy, and music

She was awarded the 2022 Jazz Hero Award from the Jazz Journalist Association for her dedication to gender equity work with El Paso Jazz Girls, a nonprofit organization Amanda founded in her hometown.