Taverne Tour, Day 1: Hawa B, hatching very soon

Nadia Hawa Baldé aka HAWA B, is on a meteoric rise, accelerating in 2024. Clearly, 5 or 6 years spent in the Montreal underground have benefited her, and we are witnessing her imminent blossoming.

PAN M 360 brought you the story last year in the glowing words of Théo Reinhardt. Let’s add another layer with this easy prediction: this artist is a black diamond who will continue to shine in the months and years to come!

We all know that the Montreal scene is now full of excellent singers of color – Magi Merlin comes to mind first – but Hawa B is already at the top among them. And  among the  rare artists with real international potential, not least because this artist  doesn’t stick to the artistic clichés attributed  to her skin. Her stage presence and presence, her unique sense of humor, her audacity, her free-thinking, her well-judged irreverence, her vocal talent, her artistic openness 

Invited to the Taverne Tour alongside one-man band Félix Petit (Les Louanges, Hubert Lenoir, Laurence Anne, Safia Nolin, FELP, etc.), not to mention a surprise appearance by Greg Beaudin (Dead Obies, Brown Family), she offered an impressive set at Casa del Popolo on Thursday, following a spectacular performance by queer artist Flex – an excellent singer at the crossroads of soul and electro.

Hawa B’s artistic direction is perhaps not yet fully defined, and there are still strings to be tied to ensure that her multiple influences find their way into a fluid and cohesive approach : to the R&B and hip-hop foundations, juxtapose Mandingo music, contemporary jazz, indie rock, noise and also electro, as we could see with the performance of Forget, first extract from the EP Sadder but Better to be released on April 5 on the Duprince label. For the most talented artists, eclecticism and cohesion are by no means contradictory.

And the words? ” Forget is about addiction to strong emotions. When you can’t find peace anywhere else and adrenaline becomes the main source of pleasure, it can be hard to know what’s good for you. It’s more appealing to live the moment to the full, and easier to avoid confrontation with yourself, even at the expense of your mental health”, she says. she claims in a press release.

Strong emotions indeed. Hawa B is an authentic performer, prone to trance on stage. She doesn’t hesitate to climb up onto the Casa bar, drag her stool across the floor and throw it into the crowd, only to come to her senses… and ours. Wow!

Strong emotions indeed. Hawa B is an authentic stage performer, prone to trance on stage. She doesn’t hesitate to climb up onto the Casa bar, drag her stool across the floor and throw it into the crowd, only to come to her senses… and ours. Wow!

Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone in between, we bow to Hawa B!