ABOUT THE MUSICAMBIA SONGBOOK

The Musicambia Songbook features the voices of current and formerly incarcerated songwriters from Musicambia's educational programs across multiple correctional facilities. This debut album showcases original compositions from a wide range of musical styles. Performed by Musicambia's band, the Cambia Collective, The Musicambia Songbook offers authentic stories of struggle, resilience, and transformation.

ABOUT THE CAMBIA COLLECTIVE

The Cambia Collective is Musicambia’s band of Teaching Artists and Alumni, and performs music written by incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people. The Collective has performed in New York City at the Cutting Room, Cell Theater, DiMenna Center, and Abraham House, as well as in Westchester County at Green Ossining’s Earth Day Festival and the Sing Sing Prison Museum’s UNSUNG conversation series.

ABOUT MUSICAMBIA

Musicambia (“music” + “change”) helps people in prison and jail write, play, and perform music, cultivating collaborative communities that benefit the health and well-being of everyone involved.

Our Flagship Program, which began at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in 2014, meets weekly from September to June. Thirty incarcerated participants attend morning and afternoon classes for over 4 hours, fostering teamwork, empathy, and a sense of responsibility to themselves as well as to their fellow students. Musicambia also has programs at Bedford Hills, Fishkill, and Eastern Correctional Facilities in New York, and in Kansas and California. We annually reach 125 incarcerated participants, as well as audiences of over 200 incarcerated people for concerts. Previously, we worked in Indiana and South Carolina: all told, Musicambia has created programs in 12 different facilities.

Musicambia's Teaching Artists hold positions in the Attacca Quartet and Imani Winds, and teach at Juilliard, Curtis, Princeton, and Peabody. They have won GRAMMY awards, and collaborated with Pulitzer-Prize winners and pop-stars like Prince. Over 50% are BIPOC, and their musical backgrounds span Western classical, jazz, hip-hop, and popular genres, as well as Indian classical ragas. One, Kenyatta Emmanuel, is also an Alumnus. He performed a full concert at Carnegie Hall the day he was released.

MEDIA

The Musicambia Songbook in Concert

A concert celebrating Musicambia's debut album