Ashley Maher

ASHLEY MAHER is a rare artist, a singer-songwriter who melds her Western roots with a deep and loyal passion for the rhythms and traditions of African music, especially Senegalese mbalax. Her highly individual and infectious brand of world/folk/jazz has gained her an international following, seven acclaimed albums, and performances with several major African icons.

Ashley was born in Canada to British parents, and now divides her time between Los Angeles and Dakar, Senegal. After a very musical childhood, she studied in opera in Italy, before realizing that she was hungry to connect with her most natural voice. At this key point, she happened upon an Ewe drumming class by Ghanaian master drummer, C.K. Ladzekpo, at UC Berkeley.

"I felt as though I had been hit by lightening. Every cell in my body lit up like a candle."

Ashley studied with Ladzekpo for two years, absorbing rhythms that already felt uncannily natural to her. Upon graduating, she relocated to London's flourishing global music scene. Her demos, recorded with London's premier dance / drumming group, Adzido, led to bids from five labels and two well-received albums for Virgin Records: Hi (1990) and Pomegranate (1992).

From then until now, Ashley's Life Path has been her passion for building a musical bridge between Western and West African music, performing internationally and recording, with Los Angeles as her home base. In 2007, Senegalese superstar Youssou N'Dour recorded a song that Ashley had co-written with Jason Hann called Boul Bayekou. Soon afterwards, Youssou flew her to Dakar and then Paris to perform for his shows as a sabar dancer in 2008.

Since then, Ashley has traveled to Senegal over twenty times to record, perform, collaborate, and film her music videos. In 2009, she recorded her fifth album, Amina, produced by Cameroonian bassist Andre Manga and recorded both in Los Angeles and at Youssou N'Dour's guitarist, Jimi Mbaye's home in Dakar. Through crowd-funding, she also recorded her sixth album (Yes) and seventh album (Made in Senegal) at Papis Konate's busy studio in Sacre Coeur, Dakar. The result is Ashley's sunny Californian vocals, stories, and harmonies, stirred into a rich, fresh, steaming, intricate brew of vintage and modern mbalax.

Ashley and Dox Daje, (her Dakar-based band) performed at the international Saint Louis Jazz Festival in 2021 and the Dialaw Festival in Senegal in 2022. Booking agencies Odaras Productions (Switzerland) and Makeda Productions (Senegal) are currently representing them for international touring. Wherever Ashley performs, whether onstage with a large band or acoustic, audiences are enchanted by the soaring voice, ardent song-craft, nimble movements, and mesmerizing stage presence of a True Artist. As a British critic once said of her:

"Today, Ashley's a cult figure for a discerning few. Tomorrow, perhaps, she'll be a heroine for millions."