Kytami (Kyla Uyede)
Websites:
https://www.facebook.com/Kytami, https://kytami.com/
Origin:
Vancouver, British Columbia, 🇨🇦
Biography:
Kytami started taking violin lessons at 3 years of age. She went through an intense classical training at the Vancouver Academy of Music including orchestra, chamber groups, theory, private lessons, technique and master classes. At 17 years of age, feeling a little rebellious, she decided to take a big step back from studying and the classical scene. Falling in love with snowboarding and later on mountain biking, she put the violin aside to go live and exlplore the mountains around Whistler B.C.
Almost 6 years later at the urging of some friends, she picked up the violin to start jamming with some local guitar players. She amplified her sound for the first time with a 40 dollar oyster pick-up, borrowed a Fender amp and became part of a band. Kytami was able to bring her skills and love for performing back to life when she earned a residency at the local Irish pub in Whistler. With her friend Leanne L’amour on guitar, and two new solid-body electric violins, the duo rocked crowds into drunken frenzies with fast fiddle music four to five nights a week.
It was a pretty good life, riding powder during the day and playing to extremely receptive (drunk) audiences at night. However, Kytami had a yearning to record and produce music more in-line with her interests. She wanted to combine the sound of her violin with punk, reggae, hip hop, jungle and drum n bass. She wanted to change the context of which people expect to find violin music and players.
So in the spring of 2002, Kytami came down from the moutains to the city of Vancouver and released her debut album, “Conflation”. The album being a mish-mash of tracks recorded with different producers in different studios, the one cohesive element being Kytami’s electric violin driven by electronic beats.
Since the release of the album, Kytami has quickly become in demand as a performer and session player. She is a member of hip-hop/dancehall/drum n bass live act Third Eye Tribe, epic punk/metal/rock band Lownote as well as acoustic folk-punk band Blackie LeBlanc and the Kytami Revolution.
Kytami has toured B.C. into Washington and California and has performed at events such as: Shambhala (2004-2006), Scumbala (2006), The Vancouver Folk Fest (2005-2006), The Commercial Drive Car-Free Festival (2005-2006), The Dragonboat Festival (2006), The Vancouver Celtic Festival (2006), Fashion Rocks! (2005), The Seattle and Vancouver Hemp Fests (2003), Edge Of the World Music Festival (2005), In the House Festival (2005-2006), The Komasket Festival (2006), The New Forms Festival (2006) and Slam City Jam (2003). She has also recorded with numerous artists spanning different genres, including: The Swollen Members, Diplo, Platonic, Sweatshop Union, Take 5, Mat the Alien, Jeff Spec, DJ Moves, Chile Chila Chilo, Jacob Cino and Third Eye Tribe, Steven Mek, Pueblo, Goatsblood, The Rasta Boyz, Ani Kyd, Blackie Le Blanc, Delhi to Dublin, Influents, Marlin and The Phonograff.
Kytami is available for corporate events, private shows, milestone celebrations (birthday, anniversary), fundraisers, festivals, and more.
Kyla Tamiko LeBlanc (née Uyede), better known by her stage name Kytami, is a Canadian musician. Born in Vancouver, she started taking violin lessons at the age of three, and trained classically at the Vancouver Academy of Music from ages 3 to 17. At the age of 23 she started playing in a band at the Dubh Linn Gate Pub. In 2002 she moved back to Vancouver and recorded her first album Conflation. In 2006 she co-founded the group Delhi 2 Dublin, but left in late 2010 to continue pursuing her solo career. The "Kytami" stage name blends her first and middle names. She is of mixed Japanese, Filipino, and English descent.
Violinist Kytami has managed to soar above the constraints of musical genre and labeling. Through a mix various violin styles fused with gritty electronic sounds, She has forged a path so bold and unique that it has earned her a reputation to detonate dance floors everywhere.
