[Art Fight Podcast] S2E11
[Art Fight Podcast] S2E11

Nashville music artist, educator, and boundary pusher Ariel Bui talks the struggle of being an authentic artist while time jumping, genre shifting, finding her voice, and using it to having conversations with herself from 10 years ago.

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[Nashville Arts Magazine] ARTS & ACTIVISM CLASS IN HONOR OF JESSI ZAZU
[Nashville Arts Magazine] ARTS & ACTIVISM CLASS IN HONOR OF JESSI ZAZU

By Ariel Bui

Jessi Zazu was planning to host an Arts & Activism class out of her basement and screen-printing studio for youth in her North Nashville neighborhood when she received a cervical cancer diagnosis, forcing her to postpone starting the class. She expressed this to me when we were spending time together, organizing her art studio as she was preparing for her family’s Relativity Art Show at Art & Soul last year. After Jessi passed away September 12, 2017, it became my mission to see a class like this happen. Her mom, Kathy Wariner, loved the idea, especially as she was deciding to form a non-profit in Jessi’s honor.

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[VOA News] Học sinh gốc Việt tuần hành đòi quốc hội Mỹ hành động
[VOA News] Học sinh gốc Việt tuần hành đòi quốc hội Mỹ hành động

Chị Ariel Bùi, một nhạc sĩ gốc Việt tham gia nhiều các hoạt động vì cộng đồng ở Nashville, tiểu bang Tennessee, nói rằng chị “thực sự tự hào và được các bạn trẻ truyền cảm hứng vì các em đã tự mình nắm lấy cơ hội”.

“Khác với các nhóm khác, các bạn trẻ không có cơ hội ngoài việc sử dụng quyền Tu chính án Thứ nhất [về việc tự do biểu đạt và hội họp] vì các em chưa đến tuổi bầu cử”, chị Ariel nói.

“Tôi hy vọng rằng các sự kiện hiện nay sẽ truyền cảm hứng cho các em tiếp tục đòi hỏi thay đổi khi các em trưởng thành, gia nhập chính trường, đấu tranh vì những gì các em tin tưởng và cho chúng ta thấy một tương lai tốt đẹp hơn”.

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[Orlando Weekly] The Heard: Orlando's Ariel Bui returns from Nashville with a slate of shows, including this weekend at Will's Pub
[Orlando Weekly] The Heard: Orlando's Ariel Bui returns from Nashville with a slate of shows, including this weekend at Will's Pub

By Bao Le-Huu

Although she’s breaking out of Nashville, Ariel Bui is through and through a product of the Central Florida music scene, having graduated with a music degree from Rollins College where she was a particularly active mover at WPRK 91.5-FM. Now, she returns as a budding artist of some accomplishment. Produced by Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Hurray for the Riff Raff), Bui’s 2016 eponymous debut album has garnered some legitimate press with its indie-noir take on classic countrypolitan sounds.

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[WFIT 89.5FM] WFIT Session With Ariel Bui Podcast & Video
[WFIT 89.5FM] WFIT Session With Ariel Bui Podcast & Video

Last Friday our musical guest was Nashville-based artist Ariel Bui. Her self tilted album was produced by Grammy nominated Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Hurray For The Riff Raff) and is receiving excellent reviews from American Songwriter and others. NPR’s Ann Powers calls Ariel Bui “a psychedelic cowgirl rockabilly queen.”

On a personal note, Ariel grew up in Brevard County, attending Delaura Middle School and Cocoa Beach H.S. She studied music at Rollins College and became station director at WPRK in Winter Park. Currently Ariel is a DJ at community radio station  WXNA-LP in Nashville.

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[Orlando Weekly] This Little Underground: Orlando scene product Ariel Bui launches homecoming tour with a moving Will's Pub performance
[Orlando Weekly] This Little Underground: Orlando scene product Ariel Bui launches homecoming tour with a moving Will's Pub performance

By Bao Le-Huu

Bui’s cabaret country is a modern, torchlit abstraction of vintage countrypolitan sounds. Led by her long, suspended voice, the music unfolds like Mazzy Star channeling Patsy Cline. Purposefully minimal, sonorous and full of atmosphere, it’s a vision that dovetails with the luminous class of artists like Angel Olsen.

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[The Deli] Ariel Bui plays 3 local Nashville shows on 8.19, 8.23, and 9.8
[The Deli] Ariel Bui plays 3 local Nashville shows on 8.19, 8.23, and 9.8

When it comes to the stripped down style of Nashville’s Ariel Bui, less is definitely more. Her 2016 self-titled LP is a look into who she is as an artist, offering edgy folk-twinged tracks driven by the haunting vocals of the singer-songwriter. Her mesmerizing alto is unique for the Nashville scene; she doesn’t belt out soulful choruses or sing with an exaggerated country twang (despite having track titles like “To All the Cowboys” and “Moon Over Kentucky.”) There is a relaxed quality to this album, but emotionally it still progresses with the honesty of a country album. Ariel Bui isn’t trying to prove she’s the best or brightest star. She’s just bearing her soul and hoping it’s enough. (Spoiler alert: it is.)

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[Nashville Scene] The Undefeatable Jessi Zazu: Artist and musician's body is wracked with cancer, but she ain’t afraid to keep fighting
[Nashville Scene] The Undefeatable Jessi Zazu: Artist and musician's body is wracked with cancer, but she ain’t afraid to keep fighting

By SHELLEY DUBOIS

None of it could keep her down. On Feb. 11, Jessi went to She’s a Rebel, a ’60s girl-group tribute show she co-founded three years ago with Adia Victoria’s drummer, Tiffany Minton, and other women musicians in Nashville. She planned to play it by ear and get up and sing if she felt good enough. After several acts, local singer Ariel Bui introduced Jessi Zazu, and the crowd lost their minds. Backstage, she ripped off her headscarf. She stormed out and hit the spotlight like a fury. She had one bloodshot eye and wore a plunging black velvet dress. She sang “Nobody Knows What’s Goin’ On (In My Mind but Me)” by The Chiffons. She radiated strength and grit and love. She shone otherworldly. The crowd threw arms into the air, leaned back and yelled when she was done.

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