Zia Hassan is an East Coast based singer-songwriter from Washington DC. He first got into music at the age of 2 when checking out his Dad’s extensive vinyl collection, listening and watching the records spin for hours on end is where his passion for music began. The first album he fell in love with was the Michael Jackson epic – ‘Bad’, he would listen to this album constantly, learning all the dance moves that went along with it. At the age of 14 Zia got his first guitar and has been songwriting, recording and performing ever since.
Zia’s musical style is best broken down into two categories; acoustic and experimental. His acoustic guitar tracks have an emphasis on meaningful lyrics, which are inspired by stories people have shared with him about their lives. His acoustic music has been compared to artists like Bon Iver and David Wilcox. Zia released debut album Grow Slow in 2009, showcasing this acoustic talent.
The experimental and ambient side to Zia’s music is heavily influenced by the likes of Brian Eno and Miles Davis. His album The Flop, The Turn, The River uses field recordings from the smokey mountains in Tennessee. He’s also recently completed a project where he and local songwriter Scott Coleman have made field recordings on the metro in Washington DC.
Writing, recording and performing are all passions of Zia’s, but having a live audience connect with his stories and music is what he describes as “the best feeling ever”.
His creativity doesn’t stop there, Zia has also written and produced a stage play with friends and created a short film about a 9 year old philosopher which went viral.
So what’s next for Zia Hassan? He going to be releasing ‘Sports, Weather, Time & Space’, a four-part multimedia project containing music, video, short stories, poetry and more. It’s safe to say Zia’s creativity knows no bounds, and we’re looking forward to this upcoming release.
Zia will be performing live on Mixlr tonight at 21.00 EST – tune in here to listen