alya isha is a South London-based soulstress, poet, producer, and cultural organizer pioneering her signature sound, “Nu Earth Groove”—a global, urban, bass-heavy fusion of jazz funk, Afrobeats, trip hop, neo-soul, baile, and shatta influences. Her music is expansive, rhythmic, and deeply intentional, blending genre with message to create a sound that is both dance-driven and spiritually grounded.

Born in Japan, raised between Tooting, Santiago de Cuba, and Brixton, the British, Indian-Mauritian, and Swiss artist draws from her rich multicultural roots to shape a sonic identity that is as worldly as it is distinct. Her trademark liberatory lyricism carries themes of collective power, healing, and transformation.

Her single “Si Tu Lo Quieres / Together We Rise” unites musicians from across the globe in a celebration of ecstatic rhythm and collective liberation, delivering a message rooted in unity: we only rise by rising together. Her music has garnered nearly 200,000 views on YouTube and received support from BBC 6 Music’s Jamz Supernova and Mary Anne Hobbs. alya isha continues to captivate international audiences, with performances at major festivals including Wilderness, and a growing reputation as a powerful voice in global soul and future jazz.

Your music blends Afrobeats, Trip Hop, Neo Soul, Jazz, and even Baile influences. How did you find your sound, or did your sound find you?

Interesting question, yeah, I do really feel like my sound found me. Since connecting with myself in my later teens, i’ve always really known what i like and dislike, and i love finding new rhythms, sounds and instruments, and, just like my mum, i love to dance!

But I think my sound mostly came from the places that raised me: culturally (London, Tokyo and Santiago de Cuba) and the places that I’m from, ancestrally (Mauritius, India, the UK and Switzerland – although I’m looking forward to deepening my connection to Switzerland one of these days!).

You’ve lived in Japan, London, Cuba, and Mauritius, all musically rich places. How have these cultures shaped your creative identity?

Living in these places has been fundamental to my musical language and approach.

Cuban musical energy is truly incredible, and living there also really helped me to get out of my shell: I was so shy about my music as a teenager, and the culture there (and in Colombia) and the total welcoming of imperfections and coming to music for a good time, was something I deeply needed. Cuban Jazz, Salsa, Son and Congero practices have also definitely subconsciously embedded into me — as well as making good friends there, like the incredible Ivan Guardiola, who co-composed Si Tu Lo Quieres with me.

London’s impact has been the melting pot of cultures we have here. People from everywhere, bringing their own flavours, all sharing this space, this city, where we need creativity to stay alive! London is the place where I feel like I can most easily be all the parts of me – be all the places I’m from.

My time in Mauritius has also been powerful. It’s been a process of connecting to my ancestry, but as an adult. I’ve been so grateful for all my friends, family, community,  and collaborators out there who’ve wanted to create together. To share what’s common there and explore new approaches to it. It’s been such a deeply rooted process to be able to go home in this way.

Japan’s somewhere i was till the age of ten, and somewhere I’d really like to spend more time as an adult to really incorporate musical practice from. Without a doubt, though, it’s a part of me: i think i see this most in how i dress, my visuals and the food i eat. The koto (harp) and Taiko drumming definitely formed parts of my musical language and composition too, and I’d love to be able to keep exploring this!

The title translates to “If you want us to rise together, we will.” What inspired this message of unity and collective empowerment?

I was into born to a family of activists — a family which has ties to almost every continent. In many ways, it really just feels innate to my upbringing— or at least my understanding of it!

i’ve been deeply aware of and involved in the struggle since i can remember, and so many viable alternatives do already exist out there. i deeply feel that we need the hope, the energy and the belief to move together and build a better situation for us all.

We’ve seen incredible things achieved when we do come together and organise with clarity and focus on building in mind. Remove focus from the rest of it. The empire is already crumbling all around us. Now is the time to build the alternative we want to see, so that when the dust settles, what is left standing is better than what we have now.

And history has taught us again, and again we will need to protect whatever alternative we build, as there will always be those who will want to exploit.

But we are so much more powerful than is commonly accepted in mainstream society. We drastically outnumber those exploiting and yet we uphold this brutal system.

Everything we see was at some point imagined, created, began as an idea in the mind. This is the power we have as humans. To imagine and build more beautiful alternatives.

And i hope this song feeds exactly that.

Your work draws from stories like The Black Star Line and the Indian Farmers Protests, both rooted in solidarity and community power. Why is it important for you to weave activism and history into your music?

I guess I’ve never been able to look away from the brutality in the world, and I’ve also had the privilege of being surrounded by those who dare to imagine and build alternatives, as well as those who fight against the current system.

It’s such an innate part of my life. It’s impacted how i love, how i move, how i live. So writing about history and activism is really just a reflection and an expression of my reality i suppose.

And i think much of the world underplays how much the political really impacts us all. The personal is political. Struggling to feed your family, working so hard we never get a moment to breathe, to rest our nervous systems, to know peace; living so far from nature; loneliness/lack of community; doing (or not) what we love. This is all political. All of our lives are political, so it only makes sense to write about it if I’m writing about my experience.

You come from a family of activists. How has that shaped your perspective on art as a tool for change?

I knew from a young age that I needed to be part of the movement, but also watching my family taught me that I needed to do it in a way that would still bring me joy. I couldn’t be totally unselfish about it— in part because it’s such hard work to do something against the status quo that something needs to keep us going. Passion or deep enjoyment of a practice can be that thing.

Music and vibration are also such powerful tools for change. No wonder the CIA infiltrated North American Hip Hop, including Tupac’s life in the ‘90’s.

I also work in film, in documentary: a powerful tool for showing different realities.

So I guess it’s just the only thing that really made sense to me.

What’s your favourite part of the creative process: writing lyrics, building the production, or performing live?

For a while, my favourite part has been co-composing: fusing sounds that we’ve never heard together before, exchanging and learning new musical languages, finding and recording new instruments, and then making this something that feeds something beautiful and powerful, that feeds my community. I’ve been gradually building more faith in my own solo production & composition – like on Blood Money – which has also been bringing me joy.

Recently, though, as playing with The RA KHOLECTIV has gotten tighter and tighter, rehearsing and — depending on the gig & space — playing live has started to deeply feed my spirit. Our live sound just fills us with so much hope, joy and ecstasy. Our rehearsals ground me in such a powerful way— and most performances these days massively amplify that, as the audience reflects back to us this energy. It’s a wild feeling, honestly.

What do you hope listeners feel or take away when they hear “Si Tu Lo Quieres / Together We Rise” for the first time?

I pray listeners feel joy and hope through TWR. i hope they feel the way we all came together out of love, curiosity and excitement to create this totally unique, distinct sound— and I hope it opens their mind as to what’s possible when we come together, lend our unique expertise, and imagine something new together.

As someone constantly evolving, where do you see your music heading next? Are there new sounds or messages you’re excited to explore?

We’ve got a crazy Bouyon track which has been giving us a lot of joy. The genre has been big in Mauritius for a while now, and i’m excited to integrate and understand these rhythms into my own sound more deeply and get to a point where we can make something really fresh and exciting. Similarly with Shatta music.

I’m also keen to delve more deeply into Carnatic vocals and Indo-rhythms.

It’s been a dream of mine for a while to be able to create a project with an incredible drummer from these four parts of the world: India, Mauritius, Cuba/Brazil/Venezuela, and Senegal/Ivory Coast/ Mali/ Ghana and get in a room together and share: see what magic we can create and how these unique rhythms and flavours cross-over.

Regardless, i’m thrilled about the Si Tu Lo Quieres / Together We Rise Visualiser which has just dropped so go check that out and let us know what you think!

Social Media Handles:

https://www.instagram.com/alya__isha

https://www.youtube.com/@alya.isha.sounds?sub_confirmation=1

Website:

https://readymag.website/u3298182689/5465872