DEBBIE ELLIOTT, HOST:
Over the last few weeks, we've been profiling a few of this year's finalists in the Tiny Desk Contest from NPR Music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AMARRA")
AMA: (Rapping in Spanish).
ELLIOTT: The song is called "Amarra," which means, pull yourself together, by Puerto Rican artist Ama.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AMARRA")
AMA: (Rapping in Spanish).
ELLIOTT: She wrote and produced the song while undergoing chemotherapy for leukemia. Though she is in remission now, she says her illness forced her to take a new approach to music. NPR's Hiba Ahmad has this profile.
HIBA AHMAD, BYLINE: In the music video, you see Ama standing over a colorful launch pad, laptop, with a drumstick in her hand. The setup and the song itself feels a little out of place. That's because it's in her oncologist's office.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AMARRA")
AMA: (Rapping in Spanish).
AHMAD: Ama, whose full name is Amarilis Rios Rosa, says she knew the music video had to be shot in that room at her doctor's desk because that's where so much of her life had changed.
AMA: I told him, I want to make a video in this desk that every hard decision has been made in this desk. Every worst and good news has been on this office. So he's like, yeah, please do it.
AHMAD: Ama was diagnosed with leukemia in 2021 and spent a full year in the hospital doing chemotherapy. It's during this time where she developed her identity as a solo electronic artist.
AMA: It was a healing experience doing music during chemotherapies.
AHMAD: She trained as a vocalist and multi-instrument percussionist, playing different types of drums and chimes at the same time - so a lot of movement. But the chemotherapy took a toll. She says she can't perform the way she used to.
AMA: My body has been really hurt, so it's not the same as before. So I have to make adjustment. First of all, I cannot play percussion for, you know, those shows that you make like two sets of percussions. It's really hard. It's a physical instrument, and I need to find ways to deal with my new low stamina and what better than electronic music?
AHMAD: That's where the launch pad comes in. Picture a board with multiple square buttons, all different colors. Each button is programmed with a different instrumental or electronic sound. In the video, you see her quickly tapping the buttons on the board while also hitting an electronic drum to her left, all while singing into a microphone.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AMARRA")
AMA: (Rapping in Spanish).
It's like a transformation. I'm just searching any way to be a musician. We are creative people as a musician, so we have to find creative ways to assist.
AHMAD: Ama says writing the songs helped her process some of the pain she felt.
AMA: I love them because that was going on on my head during chemotherapy. We suffer from chemo brain and we have blurriness. We are, like, forgetting things. So that was going on during that process. And it was very important to me to leave it like that.
AHMAD: She's still recovering, but remains hopeful and eager to make more music.
Hiba Ahmad, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AMARRA")
AMA: (Rapping in Spanish).
ELLIOTT: You can watch Ama's submission to the contest at tinydeskcontest.npr.org. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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