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Volume XLIV
Number 22
‘City o f Roses’
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Established in 1970
Wednesday • June 4. 2014
Committed to Cultural Diversity
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' communitv service
photo by D onovan M. S mith /T he P ortland O bserver
...
Portland m usical duo Neka and Kahlo - 7hirdwav3 are celebrating the release o f their debut EP. Interracial and lesbian, the couple embraces widely different musical
backgrounds to fuel a unique sound for listeners, including such genres as hip hop, rock, soul and gospel.
Please,
No Labels
Musical couple
explores ‘norms’
with debut EP
D onovan M. S mith
T he P ortland O bserver
by
To hear what the Portland musical duo
Neka and Kahlo - 7hirdwav3 is trying to say
in their debut EP, it’s probably going to take
an abandonment of some of your precon
ceived notions about music, maybe all of
them.
At least that’s the hope of this interracial
couple for their album which dropped last
week after a long-awaited turn.
During an interview with the Portland
Observer, Kahlo (real name is Mila Kokichk
and Neka (real name is Shanekah), said the
Thirdway EP was inspired by their scars,
triumphs, enlightenment, and perhaps most
importantly, their fans.
In 2012, Kahlo, was confined to a bed at
OHSU, sometimes weeks at a time, while
awaiting a desperately needed kidney trans
plant. The days were exhausting on not only
her, but for Neka too, something the couple
says strengthened their five-year relation
ship.
The duo says it’s all made for better music.
“W e’re better together than we are apart,
that’s something we realized through our
trials here at the hospital,” Kahlo says.
A northeast Portland native and the
rhymespitter of the group, Kahlo says the
two never stopped recording for the EP
throughout the months of treatment, even
during the dismal days of dialysis.
“I was recording, I think, some of my better
verses when I had tubes in my chest,” she
recalls.
Neka on the other hand is not only the
vocal songstress for the two, but provides
the airy beats they both muse over. A lesbian
product of the Pentecostal church, this south
ern California native says her eclectic influ
ences lend to genre-bending that won’t be
easily classified.
“A lot of people, like if you’re gonna do
pop music, if you do hip hop, you’re gonna
do hip hop, and we were able to bring some
of our gospel aspects into the music. And
you know, bring a lot of the diverse cultures
continued
on page 5