St. Paul, MN. , — September 7, 2010 — It’s Dessa’s Year! McNally Smith College of Music has named Dessa, the celebrated musician, writer and Hip-Hop educator, as its Artist in Residency for the 2010-2011 academic year. The honor comes at a time when Dessa is reaping praise for her internationally acclaimed 2010 album A Badly Broken Code (Doomtree Records), her 2009 work of nonfiction entitled Spiral Bound, and her groundbreaking role as a key instructor in the first year of the nation’s first Hip-Hop diploma program at McNally Smith School of Music.
“Dessa is an inspiration to anyone who wants to work in the music industry. With her hard work ethic, fierce stage presence and an abundance of creative energy channeled into powerful recordings, nonfiction pieces, her live performance and her natural teaching gift, Dessa is an ideal choice for this year’s McNally Smith’s Artist in Residency,” says Harry Chalmiers, President of the growing music college. “We look forward to her presentations and wish her the best on her upcoming national tour with Doomtree and her many exciting projects in the works.”
According to Dessa, she will be presenting “a series of lectures focused on and relevant to entrepreneurial musicians, including ways to get media coverage for their work and how to leverage their online presence with social network tools, video blogging and other information.”
“What most music students don’t realize is that even though they’re in an educational environment, they are already doing the work and making connections with key people who will most likely play a role in their careers at some level,” she notes. “Their teachers may run a cool recording studio, or a fellow classmate will one day soon be hiring them for sessions or touring. It’s important for them to understand their reputations are being formed even in college. The impressions they are making now are important now and down the road.”
Raves for A Badly Broken Code and A Doomtree Tour this Fall
From London to Montana, National Public Radio to the Hip-Hop trade press, Dessa’s most recent album is pulling the kind of five-star media praise to set her up as an Artist of the Year in many quarters and A Badly Broken Code as one of 2010′s Best Records. With an extensive upcoming national tour with Doomtree this fall, thousands of YouTube hits for the tantalizing, Fellini-like video for “Dixon’s Girl” — plus a commissioned work for the “416 Club Commissions program at the Cedar Cultural Centre in Minneapolis in early 2011, Dessa seemingly will be everywhere.
Raves include:
* “Absolutely brilliant.” -Crossfire.com ( London )
* “Dessa is a fluent lyricist…She recalls an old-fashioned high-quality singer-songwriter like Joni Mitchell or Rosanne Cash…but because she’s a hip-hopper she’s also not above bragging a little. She’s got a right.” -NPR, Robert Christgau
* “Poetic intelligence and hip-hop wit.” – Missoula Independent
* “Smart, finely honed, and fearless approach to music” —-Austin, TX The Onion
HOT LINKS:
* Dessa MySpace Site
http://www.myspace.com/dessadarling
* Doomtree Website
www.doomtree.net/dessa
About McNally Smith College of Music
Founded in 1985, McNally Smith College of Music is one of the top music and music business colleges in the country devoted to excellence in music industry higher education and in developing music industry professionals. An accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Music, McNally Smith College of Music offers music degrees and programs in Music Performance, Recording Technology and Music Business. As of 2009, it is the only accredited music college to offer a diploma in Hip-Hop. With more than 700 students and an 80-member faculty, McNally Smith College of Music students get a personalized music education that combines the art of physics with musical artistry and includes wide access to current music technology, research tools and performance facilities. McNally Smith alumni are working all over the world. McNally Smith is located in St. Paul , Minnesota . For more insights about the music college, visit www.mcnallysmith.edu.
For more information — or to interview Dessa about her Artist in Residency and work — please contact Todd Walker, Director of Media Relations, McNally Smith 651-325-2390, twalker@mcnallysmith.edu, or Martin Keller at Media Savant Communications Co., 612-729-8585, kelmart@aol.com
(Via Hip Hop Press)
