Mwalim *7), a.k.a. 'DaPhunkee Professor' is a multidisciplinary, Mashpee Wampanoag master artist and teacher. His works span the genres of music, literature, spoken-word, theater, and film. He is the 2010, 2012 and 2014 winner of the New England Urban Music Awards ' Best Male Jazz' category as well as a multi-year Osborne Foundation fellowship recipient for music and media.
As a musician, singer, songwriter, arranger and producer, he is the type of soul - funk - jazz artist who embodies the time-honored tradition of the musical storyteller. A vibrant and prolific figure in the underground soul and dance music scene, Mwalim notes, "I never made a killing, but I've always made a living."
Playing Carnegie Hall before he turned 14, Mwalim starting his career in the 1980's, while attending Music & Art High School. Hanging out in the fabled 251 West 30th Street music building led to doing session work at Planet Studios and Rogue studios; later doing session work at Jazzy Jay Recording Studios when it was located in the Bronx. Nicknamed "The String Guy" for adding violin, viola and cello parts to songs, he also played keyboard on a number of early hip-hop, r&B and dance music recordings in New York City and eventually Boston, MA.
Mwalim came into his own as a producer, arranger and remix artist, lending his talents to projects by a myriad of major and independent labels and artists before emerging as a solo soul artist in the late 1990s in the east coast small club circuit. As an underground soul artist, his style and sound was part of the foundation for the 'neo-soul' trend. A mentor to many up and coming artists, he is considered the 'Godfather of the South Coast Soul Movement' (referring to the Southern region of New England).
As a spoken-word artist (poetry, storytelling, and oral history) and playwright, his work has been presented throughout the USA and Canada. Mwalim received his formal training in theater arts and education from New African Company in Boston; New England's oldest, continuous professional Black theater company. He has received such prestigious grants and fellowships as the Aldridge, Osborne Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, Longwood, Bronx Writer's Center, and the Healy. Since 2004, Mwalim has been New African Company's playwright-in-residence and has productions of his work commissioned by Hibernian Hall, Provincetown Theatre Company, National Park's Service, MNCAAA, the New England Foundation for the Arts, and the Prince Hall Grand Lodge, Jurisdiction of Massachusetts. As a filmmaker, Mwalim has produced experimental installations and documentaries for galleries, museums and libraries throughout the USA. He is a former filmmaker-in-residence for WGBH (Boston PBS affiliate).
Mwalim has opened for, accompanied and/or performed with Musiq, The Four Tops, Angie Stone, The P-Funk All-Stars, The Junior Walker All-Stars, The Last Poets, KRS –ONE, and N’Dambi. His CD, “The Liberation Sessions” (Liberation Music – MGM) scored the club hit, DEM BIG GIRLS and earned multiple top nominations from the Urban Music Awards as well as two Top nominations from the 2010 and 2011 Native American Music Awards (NAMMYs). After a stint at a major label as an artist and producer, Mwalim formed Liberation Music - MGM in 2007, launching their first release in 2008; the critically acclaimed "Sketches of a Neighborhood" by The Bass Mint Bros.
Mwalim is the director of Black Studies and a tenured Associate Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
For more information, visit www.mwalim.com
Follow Mwalim DaPhunkeeProfessor on Twitter @mwalim
