Camae Ayewa, (born November 19, 1981) better known by her stage name Moor Mother, is an American poet, musician, and activist from

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. She is one half of the collective

Black Quantum Futurism Black Quantum Futurism (BQF) is a literary and artistic collective composed of Moor Mother (Camae Ayewa) and Rasheedah Phillips. The pair are both queer Black women based in Philadelphia. It is also a name for the set of Afrofuturist theoretical ...

, along with

Rasheedah Phillips Rasheedah Phillips is an American artist, author, community activist and lawyer based in Philadelphia. She is the creator of The Afrofuturist Affair and, together with Camae Ayewa, the Black Quantum Futurism multidisciplinary artist collective ...

, and co-leads the groups

Irreversible Entanglements Irreversible Entanglements is an American free jazz collective formed in 2015. The improvising quintet consists of vocalist Camae Ayewa (also known as Moor Mother), drummer Tcheser Holmes, trumpeter Aquiles Navarro, saxophonist Keir Neuringer, a ...

and 700 Bliss.

Early life and career

Ayewa was born in

Aberdeen, Maryland Aberdeen is a city located in Harford County, Maryland, United States, northeast of Baltimore. The population was 16,254 at the 2020 United States census. Aberdeen is the largest municipality in Harford County. Aberdeen is part of the Baltimo ...

, where she grew up in a public housing project. She moved to

to study photography at the Art Institute. In 2016, Moor Mother released a studio album, '' Fetish Bones'', on

Don Giovanni Records Don Giovanni Records is an independent record label originally specializing in punk rock from the New Brunswick, New Jersey music scene but eventually working with a variety of artists from different genres. Its also operated out of Lansing, Mic ...

. The album, which was released alongside a 122-page book of poetry, was included on year-end lists by ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'', ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'', and ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created and primarily written by the American author and former police reporter David Simon for the cable network HBO. The series premiered o ...

''. In 2017, she released a studio album, ''The Motionless Present'', on

The Vinyl Factory The Vinyl Factory is a music company based in London. It includes a record label, vinyl pressing plant, and a venue space. It also publishes ''Fact'' magazine and owns Phonica Records store. Overview The Vinyl Factory began as a pressing plan ...

. It featured collaborations with Geng, DJ Haram, Mental Jewelry, and Rasheedah Phillips. The same year, she released a collaborative EP with Mental Jewelry, titled ''Crime Waves'', on Don Giovanni Records. She served as one of the guest curators at the 2018

Le Guess Who? Le Guess Who? is a Dutch music festival featuring different music genres: from avant-garde, jazz, hip hop, electronic, experimental, noise rock, indie rock, world music and others. This festival was founded by Bob van Heur and Johan Gijsen. It ...

music festival. In 2019, she released ''

Analog Fluids of Sonic Black Holes ''Analog Fluids of Sonic Black Holes'' is the third studio album by American musician Moor Mother. It was released on November 8, 2019, under Don Giovanni Records. The first single "After Images", a collaboration with Justin Broadrick from Godfle ...

''. Ayewa co-leads and provides lyrics and vocals for the "liberation-oriented free-jazz collective"

. She met the quintet's members through musical and activist endeavors: bassist

Luke Stewart Luke Stewart is a retired American mixed martial artist. Holding a professional record of 6–3, Stewart competed in the now-defunct promotion Strikeforce for his entire career. Background Luke Stewart has trained and competed in Brazilian jiu ...

shared bills with her band the Mighty Paradocs; saxophonist Keir Neuringer worked with

Books Through Bars Books Through Bars is an American organization that works to provide quality reading material to prisoners in Pennsylvania and surrounding states. Members of New Society Publishers of Philadelphia founded Books Through Bars in 1990.

, whose events Ayewa has emceed; and the trio of Ayewa, Stewart, and Neuringer was followed by the duo of trumpeter Aquiles Navarro and drummer Tcheser Holmes at a 2015 Musicians Against Brutality event following the shooting of Akai Gurley. The group performed in the inaugural season of the Kennedy Center's "Direct Current" contemporary culture showcase, and their releases have been included in best-of lists in ''

Magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...

,''

NPR Music NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music ...

, ''

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quietu ...

'', and ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...

''s "20 Best Jazz Albums Of The 2010s". The band's instrumentalists also performed on Ayewa's debut theatrical work, ''

Circuit City Circuit City Corporation, Inc., formerly Circuit City Stores, Inc., is an American consumer electronics retail company, which was founded in 1949 by Samuel Wurtzel as the Wards Company, operated stores across the United States, and pioneered th ...

''. In the fall of 2021, Ayewa began serving as an assistant professor at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

Thornton School of Music The USC Thornton School of Music is a private music school in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1884 only four years after the University of Southern California, the Thornton School is the oldest continually operating arts institution in Los An ...

. In 2025, Moor Mother released a collaborative album with

Sumac Sumac or sumach ( , )—not to be confused with poison sumac—is any of the roughly 35 species of flowering plants in the genus ''Rhus'' (and related genera) of the cashew and mango tree family, Anacardiaceae. However, it is '' Rhus coriaria ...

, titled '' The Film''.

Discography

Studio albums

* '' Fetish Bones'' (2016) * ''The Motionless Present'' (2017) * ''

'' (2019) * ''True Opera'' (2020) * ''

'' (2020) * ''Brass'' (2020) * ''Black Encyclopedia of the Air'' (2021) * ''Jazz Codes'' (2022) * '' The Great Bailout'' (2024)

With
Sumac Sumac or sumach ( , )—not to be confused with poison sumac—is any of the roughly 35 species of flowering plants in the genus ''Rhus'' (and related genera) of the cashew and mango tree family, Anacardiaceae. However, it is '' Rhus coriaria ...

* '' The Film'' (2025)

With Irreversible Entanglements

* ''Irreversible Entanglements'' (2017, International Anthem) *'' Who Sent You?'' (2020, International Anthem) * ''Live in Italy'' (2020, self-released) * ''Live in Berlin'' (2020, self-released) * ''

Open the Gates ''Open the Gates'' is the fourth album by the American heavy metal band Manilla Road. It was released in 1985 on the Black Dragon record label, rather than the band's own label, Roadster Records, which they had used on their previous releases. ...

'' (2021,

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...

/ International Anthem)

With 700 Bliss

* ''Spa 700'' (2018) * ''Nothing to Declare'' (2022)

Compilation albums

* ''Manufacture of Indigo'' (2015) * ''Clepsydra'' (2020) * ''Anthologia 01'' (2020)

Live albums

* ''Offering: Live at Le Guess Who'' (2020)

EPs

* ''Crime Waves'' (2017)

Guest appearances

* Fhloston Paradigm - "...All" from ''After...'' (2017) *

Show Me the Body Show Me the Body (commonly abbreviated as SMTB) is an American post-hardcore band from New York City, formed in 2009. They have released three full-length albums, each drawing influence from genres such as hip hop, noise music and sludge metal. ...

- "In a Grave" and "Everything Hate Here" from ''Corpus I'' (2017) * Lushlife - "I've Seen It Before I Was There" from ''My Idols Are Dead + My Enemies Are in Power'' (2017) *

Eartheater Geophagini is a tribe of cichlids from the subfamily Cichlinae, the American cichlids. It is the sister taxon to the clade which includes the Cichlasomatini and Heroini. Fishes in the Geophagini are distributed from Panama south to Argentina, it ...

- "MMXXX" from '' IRISIRI'' (2018) * Reef the Lost Cauze - "Splinters" from ''The Majestic'' (2018) *

Screaming Females Screaming Females were an American rock band from New Brunswick, New Jersey comprising Marissa Paternoster on vocals and guitar, Jarrett Dougherty on drums, and Mike Abbate on bass. They released their debut album ''Baby Teeth (Screaming Females a ...

- "End of My Bloodline (Remix)" from ''Singles Too'' (2019) *

Art Ensemble of Chicago The Art Ensemble of Chicago is an avant-garde jazz group that grew out of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, AACM) in the late 1960s. The ensemble integrates many jaz ...

, ''We Are On the Edge'' ( Pi, 2019) * Zonal - "Body of Wire", "In a Cage", "System Error", "Medulla", "Catalyst", and "No Investigation" from ''Wrecked'' (2019) * Harrga - "À Vif" from ''Héroïques Animaux de la Misère'' (2019) *

Armand Hammer Armand Hammer (May 21, 1898 – December 10, 1990) was an American businessman and philanthropist. The son of a Russian Empire-born communist activist, Hammer trained as a physician before beginning his career in trade with the newly estab ...

- "Ramses II" from ''Shrines'' (2020) *

Sons of Kemet Sons of Kemet were a British jazz band formed by Shabaka Hutchings, Oren Marshall, Seb Rochford, and Tom Skinner (drummer), Tom Skinner. Theon Cross replaced Marshall on tuba after the first album, and Eddie Hick replaced Rochford on drums afte ...

- "Pick Up Your Burning Cross (feat. Moor Mother, Angel Bat Dawid)" from ''Black To The Future'' (2021) * The Bug - "Vexed (feat. Moor Mother)" from ''Fire'' (2021) * madam data - "In the emptiness beyond emptinesses..." from ''The Gospel of the Devourer'' ( PTP, 2021) * Art Ensemble of Chicago, ''The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris'' (

RogueArt RogueArt (also written Rogueart and Rogue Art) is a French independent record label based in Paris. It was founded by record producer Michel Dorbon in 2005 and specialises in jazz and improvised music. History RogueArt was founded by record pr ...

, 2023) *

Celestaphone Joseph Murphy (born October 4, 1996), professionally known as Celestaphone, is an American musician and record producer. Early life Joseph Murphy was born in Riverside, California on October 4, 1996. Several members of his family are musicians, ...

- "Tithes" from ''

Paper Cut From the Obit ''Paper Cut From the Obit'' is a studio album by American musician Celestaphone. It was released on February 17, 2023, through Drumhex. The release features sole production by Celestaphone and includes guest appearances from Armand Hammer (music ...

'' (2023) * Shapednoise - "Poetry" from ''Absurd Matter'' (WEIGHT LOOMING, 2023)

Remixes

Gonjasufi Sumach Valentine (born 1978), better known by his stage name Gonjasufi, is an American vocalist, producer, disc jockey, and yogi. Life and career Ecks was born in 1978 to a Mexican mother and an American-Ethiopian father. He spent his formativ ...

- "The Kill (Moor Mother Remix)" from ''

Mandela Effect In psychology, a false memory is a phenomenon where someone recalls something that did not actually happen or recalls it differently from the way it actually happened. Suggestibility, activation of associated information, the incorporation ...

'' (2017) * What Cheer? Brigade - "Iahabibi (Moor Mother Remix)" from ''You Can't See Inside of Me'' (2017) *

The Avalanches The Avalanches are an Australian electronic music group formed in Melbourne in 1997. They have released three studio albums, ''Since I Left You'' (2000), ''Wildflower (The Avalanches album), Wildflower'' (2016), and ''We Will Always Love You'' ...

- "Because I'm Me (Moor Mother Remix)" from ''Because I'm Me (Remixes)'' (2018) *

- "World of Light (Moor Mother Remix)" from ''The Keeper′s Tongue'' (2024)

References

External links

* * * * {{Authority control Living people 1981 births Poets from Pennsylvania Musicians from Philadelphia Activists from Philadelphia Don Giovanni Records artists Afrofuturists African-American poets American experimental musicians 21st-century American women musicians People from Aberdeen, Maryland African-American women musicians 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American musicians Anti- (record label) artists