Adja is Brussels-based creator, singer and performer Adja Fassa, an artist rapidly making a name for herself in Belgium and a multidisciplinary with big plans. On the 24th February, she is set to release her debut EP ‘IRONEYE’ via the groove-obssessed Sdban Ultra.
In a direct line from her personal growth to her artistic practice, Adja translates through jazz, soul, gospel and her ever-expanding and transforming experience of reality, simultaneously using the creative process as a vehicle to make known to herself the answer to those inner questions. Her goal: making her spiritual path in this life as tangible as possible. A force of nature on stage with warm, sensual vocals, Adja is evocative of artists such as Erykah Badu, Solange and Lianne La Havas.
Besides being a musician, Fassa is also a theatremaker, working towards what she calls "Sophisticated Soul in a hybrid concert format.” Her music takes centre stage, with her live shows gradually taking on an evolving theatrical character: telling stories through song, accompanied by sensory elements such as scent and symbolic images. All this stems from a desire to shed light on the plane of existence between everyday existence and the hidden stories from our collective memory.
On her music, Adja adds, “I am exploring what 'spirituality' means in this society, in the here and now. This, by not only treating it as an elusive abstract thing, but exploring how to make it as tangible as possible, which for myself means sharing sincere self-reflection with the outside world. I hope in that way to support those who are searching for the trigger to their own catharsis, as I wish to be one of many artists at service of those who are actively searching, actively trying to evolve. I hope some of those people resonate with my music and feel it moves them in the way they need to open up and start a new conversation with themselves, at whatever point they are in their life. I believe the first step to a better world is to look inward, but there is no reason we can’t do that together and share some laughs and cries while we do so.”
On stunning lead single ‘Told you so” she states, “‘Told you so’ is a song about integrity. In a way, I feel blessed with a curse. The curse of rapid failure when I deviate from what is true to me: It seems that, whenever I am - purposely or unpurposely - dishonest with myself, I crash and burn really fast. A blessing in that sense that it seems my Soul's purpose does not let me waste time, a curse because it means that the teachings of life rarely feel like a gentle push and often like a slap in the face.”
From a young age, Fassa always tried to understand the deeper layers in herself and others. A traveller in heart and soul, she studied theatre at KASK in Ghent and then in 2015, travelled to India and Nepal to immerse herself in yoga and other practices focused on the (sub)consciousness. Returning to Belgium to study jazz and vocals at the Leuven Conservatory, she began to combine her singing, theatre, and physical performance. She won the prestigious Sound Track competition for young talents in Flanders in 2021.
Sdban Records is an independent record label, obsessed with grooves. Based in Ghent, Belgium, it is home to such artists as ECHT! Glass Museum, De Beren Gieren, John Ghost, Black Flower, TaxiWars and STUFF..
