bio
Lyn Rye grew up in Bloomington, IN and attended Indiana University where they pursed studies in music performance and neuroscience. While living in Indiana, Lyn became involved in social movements of their generation, witnessing history in the making at Standing Rock, Trump’s inauguration, and Ferguson. The experiences deeply shaped Lyn's artistic life, and from 2015-2017 Lyn co-led a protest jazz ensemble with fellow students called The Liberation Music Collective, releasing two studio albums and conducting workshops locally and nationally prior to most members’ graduation. Through music and advocacy, Lyn became embedded in regional networks of radical organizing and socially conscientious artists, connections which informed their desire to move to Chicago and commit to a life of community and arts-based advocacy. After leaving Indiana in Aug. 2017, Lyn toured with OneBeat, a fellowship of 25 international musicians and activists, and Unkettled, a nomadic music and story-telling project, before settling in Chicago in Jan. 2018.
Lyn's life in Chicago is a patchwork of engagement with the city’s fertile music scenes and grassroots community groups. Lyn is a versatile musician with an extensive creative palette, gravitating towards projects that cross-pollinate between diverse musical traditions. They can be found performing, recording, and touring with artists such as The Salaam-Shalom Music Project (world folk), Al Scorch (alt-country), Ben Burden (hip-hop), Not Lovely (jazz/hip-hop), and Tommy Carroll (jazz). In addition to music, they dedicate their time to organizations such as Masjid Al-Rabia, the first queer mosque in the Western hemisphere to open a permanent location, and Interfaith Community for Detained Immigrants, a coalition of faith leaders providing care for detained migrants in Chicago. They are passionate about involvement in autonomous support networks for queer migrants fleeing Muslim-majority countries and grassroots resistance to the detention of migrant children in Chicago and across the USA.
Lyn Rye also performs as a solo artist and released their debut album, Roots of Rye, in January 2019. The album began as a personal challenge to record and release a demo song and one-minute music video every week. Recorded entirely in Lyn's home studio, the songs are built almost exclusively of bass, vocals, and lo-fi beats made from "found sounds." Over the course of 11 weeks in 2018, the project blossomed into a fully-fledged body of work. Lyn brought in collaborators for each new song in December 2018 before polishing the tracks with the assistance of Bryan Schwaller at Classick Studios in Chicago. Releasing Roots of Rye brought a whirlwind of opportunities and Lyn Rye spent 2019 performing their material on tour with OneBeat Balkans and a supergroup of Colombian, American, and Brazilian musicians called Todas Las Puertas. In 2019, Lyn also toured with their live band at venues and festivals in six US states and performed regularly in Chicago at events such as Muslim Writers Collective Showcase at Steppenwolf Theatre, Decibel Crawl Fest, and FOUND: Love Letters of Muslim Resistance and Community. Lyn frequently composes commissioned works, including songs for the children’s music project BloomingSongs that collaborates with international musicians to create quality content for Indiana public school music programs. In 2019 she composed a movement for the Seattle LGBTQ+ Men’s Chorus’ song cycle “Love Beyond Borders” telling stories of queer refugees from Muslim-majority countries.
Lyn Rye embodies the belief that art should reflect life and life should reflect art. Their creative output blurs the lines between art and activism, between music and mobilization, between the intimate and universal.
Lyn's life in Chicago is a patchwork of engagement with the city’s fertile music scenes and grassroots community groups. Lyn is a versatile musician with an extensive creative palette, gravitating towards projects that cross-pollinate between diverse musical traditions. They can be found performing, recording, and touring with artists such as The Salaam-Shalom Music Project (world folk), Al Scorch (alt-country), Ben Burden (hip-hop), Not Lovely (jazz/hip-hop), and Tommy Carroll (jazz). In addition to music, they dedicate their time to organizations such as Masjid Al-Rabia, the first queer mosque in the Western hemisphere to open a permanent location, and Interfaith Community for Detained Immigrants, a coalition of faith leaders providing care for detained migrants in Chicago. They are passionate about involvement in autonomous support networks for queer migrants fleeing Muslim-majority countries and grassroots resistance to the detention of migrant children in Chicago and across the USA.
Lyn Rye also performs as a solo artist and released their debut album, Roots of Rye, in January 2019. The album began as a personal challenge to record and release a demo song and one-minute music video every week. Recorded entirely in Lyn's home studio, the songs are built almost exclusively of bass, vocals, and lo-fi beats made from "found sounds." Over the course of 11 weeks in 2018, the project blossomed into a fully-fledged body of work. Lyn brought in collaborators for each new song in December 2018 before polishing the tracks with the assistance of Bryan Schwaller at Classick Studios in Chicago. Releasing Roots of Rye brought a whirlwind of opportunities and Lyn Rye spent 2019 performing their material on tour with OneBeat Balkans and a supergroup of Colombian, American, and Brazilian musicians called Todas Las Puertas. In 2019, Lyn also toured with their live band at venues and festivals in six US states and performed regularly in Chicago at events such as Muslim Writers Collective Showcase at Steppenwolf Theatre, Decibel Crawl Fest, and FOUND: Love Letters of Muslim Resistance and Community. Lyn frequently composes commissioned works, including songs for the children’s music project BloomingSongs that collaborates with international musicians to create quality content for Indiana public school music programs. In 2019 she composed a movement for the Seattle LGBTQ+ Men’s Chorus’ song cycle “Love Beyond Borders” telling stories of queer refugees from Muslim-majority countries.
Lyn Rye embodies the belief that art should reflect life and life should reflect art. Their creative output blurs the lines between art and activism, between music and mobilization, between the intimate and universal.
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