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Shareef Ali performs deeply lyrical songs against a rich tapestry of American traditional music from folk to jazz to country to rock & roll. Poignant and revealing verse reminiscent of Leonard Cohen or Conor Oberst is laden with sweet vocal harmonies, warm Telecaster twang and cascading piano textures. A delicate trust is forged between artist and audience, "a feeling that he's building fragile, intricate worlds inside a wind tunnel, fully aware that they may be caught in a gust at any moment." (Britnelle Bell) Each vignette is guided along by elegant chord progressions, classical in craft and variation: though familiar forms recur in the terrain, the journey ends in quite a different place than the one in which it began.
Hailing from St. Louis, Missouri, Shareef Ali studied music at Oberlin College and moved to San Francisco in 2007. The next year he recorded the solo acoustic "Music From And Inspired By Our Doomed Love Affair", and in 2009 assembled his outstanding backing ensemble, the Radical Folksonomy, whose members now include fellow Oberlin alumni singer Jay Thompson, guitarist Guy Brown and jazz pianist Erika Oba, as well as bassist Alex Stein and drummer Kenny Leftin.
Shareef Ali & The Radical Folksonomy have performed at such venues as the Hotel Utah Saloon, El Rio, Kimo's Bar & Penthouse Lounge, House Of Shields, Grant & Green, Beale Street Bar and the Rockit Room in San Francisco and Mama Buzz Café in Oakland. Shareef has also been showcased as the Featured Act at the Hotel Utah open mic in San Francisco and Starry Plough open mic in Berkeley. In June 2010, the band went into the studio to record "The Once And Future Boyfriend". This six-song debut was made available for pre-release sale on the Folksonomy's July tour of the Pacific Northwest, with appearances in Seattle, Portland, Eugene, Tacoma and McKinleyville, and was officially released on September 1st at the Hotel Utah Saloon.
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CDs availible:
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Shareef Ali - Holy Rock & Roll
Shareef Ali & The Radical Folksonomy's first full-length album, featuring "If My Love", "Wikipedia Brown", "Red Balloon" and more.
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Shareef Ali - The Once & Future Boyfriend
The debut EP of Shareef Ali & The Radical Folksonomy, featuring "Broken Record", "The State Of The Garden", "Come Closer" and more.
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