BIORanging from hyphy-inspired beats to chill acoustic guitar while drawing from jazz, blues, and traditional world music sounds on everything from harmonicas to didgeridoos, Pharaoh's music matches his native East Oakland in eccentricity and soulfulness. The multi-instrumentalist and digital music engineer began playing drums for his church at age 7, entered the military at age 17, and started picking up guitar while stationed at Guantanamo Bay. Upon exit from the army, Pharaoh earned a BAS in Sound Arts at Ex'pression College For Digital Arts, and co-founded the soul-blues-jazz-street band Mad Noise. In 2011, the first year of Mad Noise's debut, the band was awarded The Guardian's "Best of the Bay" and invited to play at Yoshi's Jazz Club. Mad Noise continued to win "Best of the Bay" another two years, and played for a variety of theater productions and Bay Area events including Oakland's Eat Real Festival, Colorado University's Black Theater Production "At Buffalo", and "Freedom Beat" at Berkeley's Freight and Salvage. In 2015, Pharaoh released his first solo album "30 Bird" featuring a range of self-composed acoustic tracks. Supporting Oakland's underground community of independent artists, Pharaoh has produced and mixed tracks and albums for new artists including Jabari Ali, This Body Wants to Live, Lyric Performing Arts Academy, and more. Pharaoh gives thanks to the universe for his creative talents, and the ability to use music as a vessel for spiritual connection with others.
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