Tamar-kali

Brooklyn born and bred artist Tamar-kali is a second-generation musician with roots in the coastal Sea Islands of South Carolina. As a composer, Tamar-kali has defied boundaries to craft her own unique alternative sound. Her debut LP "Black Bottom" challenged the alt-rock norm with media calling it "an ambitious new adventure into metal, classical, and progressive styles,"[Sonic Scoop]. The pieces she composes and arranges for her string sextet and voice project, Psychochamber Ensemble, marry the classical music of her Catholic upbringing with post-punk sensibilities. As a performer, Tamar-kali speaks her lyrical truth with a supreme passion and a voice that will shake your foundation and shatter your expectations with its soulful intensity.

2017 marked her debut as a film score composer with Dee Rees' Oscar-nominated Mudbound. Her "expressive and varied score" [Variety] garnered her the World Soundtrack Academy's 2018 Discovery of the Year Award and has been classified by Indiewire as one of the 25 Best Film Scores of the 21st Century. The soundtrack for her score to Josephine Decker's psychological drama Shirley was named The Guardian's Contemporary Album of the Month in June 2020. Her most recent work, the opera short We Hold These Truths directed by Peabody award winner dream hampton, premiered in 2022 as the opener of LA Opera's digital season.