Episode #59: Tawanada Suessbrich-Joaquim

Tawanda Suessbrich- Joaquim is a 25-year-old singer-songwriter from New Mexico. As a first-generation American, growing up in a multi-cultural European, African and American household meant becoming familiar with music, culture, and experiences from all over the world. Soon enough, she was gravitating solely towards singing and performing, from her early youth all the way until graduating in 2017 with a Bachelor's Degree in Contemporary Music from Santa Fe University of Art and Design, where she was studying vocal jazz under Mirabai Daniels and chair of her program, saxophonist and flute-player Horace Alexander Young.

During those years she could be found charming audiences at El Meson with John Rangel’s quartet, honoring the cultural diversity of New Mexican artists at Burque Noir events, and doing plays, performances, fashion shows, and model work. After moving to Los Angeles in 2019, and working hard to stay inspired during 2020, Tawanda has most recently won the 2021 Sarah Vaughan Vocal Jazz competition, a title previously assumed by contemporaries such as Cyrille Aimée, Jazzmeia Horn, and Samara Joy McClendon.

Deeply inspired by the great classics, Billie, Ella, Sarah, and Anita O'Day, richly influenced by her background of world music, classical training, folk, pop, and independent styles, Tawanda looks forward to delving ever further into the worldwide Jazz scene and exploring multi-genre fusion in the near future, with the hopes, always, of giving back to her people and the earth, and refining her gift of story-telling. In this episode, Tawada shares her background, education, and musical journey.