Aziza A was born in 1971, in Berlin, the daughter of a Turkish family living in Germany. She first lived in Kreuzberg, then in Stegliz, finally moving to Berlin after school. She started her career in 1996, presenting the children's program, Dr. Mag, which went on air every Saturday on ZDF, Germany's second-biggest TV channel. Meanwhile, with a growing interest in music and the hip-hop culture, she started taking music courses. Her parents returned to their homeland in 1999, but Aziza A remained in Berlin with her brother, who worked as a graphic designer. First taking stage in Berlin (Franzclub, Quasimodo, A-Trane, Tranenpalast and Féte de la Musique), Aziza gradually got more and more involved in music and took a major step to make it the crucial part of her life.

Her first album, Es ist Zeit (It's Time), was released in 1997. That same year she launched a tour of Germany, Hungary, France, Switzerland, Holland, Austria, China and Portugal to support her album. Following the great success she gained by her debut album, Aziza A became known as the first Turkish hip-hopper girl in Germany, and her name was listed among that year's 100 most important people by Zitty magazine, published in Berlin. BBC World TV referred to her as the "New European."

Brought up among Turks, the largest minority group in Germany, Aziza A breathes a new life and voice into hip-hop and cunningly reflects the simplicity, attraction and truth of street life through her music, which is a blend of funk, soul, jazz and R&B, all deeply rooted in the street. As an artist, she created a new musical language in the Oriental hip-hop style and built a bridge between the East and the West.

Courtesy Calabash Music

MUSIC:

Es ist Zeit 1996 Germany / Orient Express Records

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