For the 15th episode of Sweetman Podcast I got to talk to Leila Adu. Leila’s a friend, I’ve known her for a while, always been proud of her achievements – singing her own commissioned composition for Orchestra Wellington, her solo albums, and knowing she’s out there in the world making music across so many different styles and disciplines, from improvisation to disciplined composition – and almost all points in-between.

She was one of the first people I thought to talk to when I started the podcast – but the last time she was in the country the schedules didn’t align. This time they did.

She was over her recently for Webstock, delivering a talk. So a day or two before that I met up with her in her hotel room. Just me, her, my recording device and some background noise from the air conditioning unit.

As it had turned out, it was earlier that same day that her latest video had premiered on Off The Tracks.

I love so much of what Leila does – and though I’ve reviewed some of her music over the years and we’ve talked online and in person I had never interviewed her. So it was fun to sit down and have a chat. We talked music, we talked mindfulness, we talked politics…

I hope you like episode 15 of Sweetman Podcast, my talk with Leila Adu. And check out all that she’s done and everything she’s up to via her website.