WHO IS SAFIYA?
Pronounced Sah-fee-yah
I'm a musician, singer-songwriter, live sound engineer, playlist curator, budding ethnomusicologist, and traveler.

THE WHY
I created these subscription boxes to continue to bring music and culture to people who love culture, music, and travel. I wanted to inspire an even more authentic musical and travel experience to listeners of my playlist. I wanted to create an experience one can have at home where they can support musicians, and small businesses, and travel simultaneously. As someone who was always performing live any opportunity I got, the drastic change of lifestyle due to the Carona Virus taking over my life affected me and everyone in the musical and the creative community in ways we could never imagine. Many of us in this community found it hard to adjust to not being able to perform live in front of fans and feed off that energy. Releasing music without a live show was not what we imagined. Performing without a band and just to a track made me feel unnatural. Lastly, imagine a world where our primary income source: touring and live shows has now hit a standstill... It's been hard.
And let's not even begin to dive into why travel. I used to travel internationally at least once every year. It's therapy, but it's also a way of life. I love going to the local parts of a country and experiencing the culture: the sounds, the smells, the moves. I love going to the local artisans and asking questions about how things are crafted and the art forms' importance. Last year, I was supposed to be on a plane the day before the shutdown to go to a music festival in Puerto Rico and film my first music video for my first single. I was going to travel to do music festivals, and I was going to travel to network and collaborate with beautiful international artists. I was going to dance in the street like no one was watching. But that won't happen for a while, and after six months+ of waiting for normalcy... life has to continue.
So every month, I aim to bring you all the things I love in your box. What I love about music is that it can transform and bring you to another place. If you listen carefully, you can learn history through the instrumentation and the rhythms of a song. When you hear a new artist and you at their show, they tell you about the story behind a song. When you travel and you taste new food, it becomes a staple in your recipe book. Or your new favorite piece of jewelry that comes from a small village in Belize. And even though I can replicate this but imagine that humbling feeling when the flight takes off, then there's a little relieving moment that the journey is about to start. I hope you come on this journey with me on a world music tour from home. Traveling through music, here we go!

The most asked question.....How did I come up with this idea?
