The award was announced and presented at the Linda Joy Media Arts Society FIN Awards Luncheon on September 19th, 2019. This award comes on the heels of Zamani’s recent success in capturing the 2019 TD International Jazz Festival Stingray Rising Star Award receiving a $3000 cash prize from Stingray Music.
This 18 year old award winning quadruple threat (writer, producer, arranger, vocalist) from Halifax, Nova Scotia is impacting the East Coast music scene while still in high school! Zamani made her first foray into performing in 2014, at a benefit concert organized by the son of local jazz legend Bucky Adams.Following that, in 2015, she received praise from the late Sharon Jones after the veteran vocalist caught her set at the TD Halifax Jazz Festival. Described as refreshing and satiny-soulful, Zamani skillfully delivers up a unique brand of R&B, Soul, Urban Jazz and Pop.
As a collaborator Zamani has successfully worked with many esteemed local musicians including: Owen Lee, Shawn Downey, Harvi Millar, Cindi Cain, Silvio Pupo, and JR Smith. She is a frequent collaborator with the Preston Primos jazz ensemble lead by local jazz icon Jeff Goodspeed and Cuban vocal master Augusto Enriquez. Most recently, she collaborated with Jayden Austin and Shay Pitts at the 2017 NSMW all ages showcase. In addition the three collaborated on writing and producing a dynamic hip hop track and follow-up video “Switchin Lanes” which features Zamani on lead vocals. The video was released on YouTube in June 2018. Zamani’s duet vocal collaborations with singer Amariah Bernard Washington landed the pair the prestigious ANSMA Portia White Youth Award and a Jongleur Youth Arts Performance Award in 2018.