SATE is the stage name of Saidah Baba Talibah, a Canadian rock singer from Toronto, Ontario.Freddie Mojallal, "SATE – aka Saidah Baba Talibah". Toronto Guardian, August 9, 2015. Her 2021 album The Fool was named a Juno Award nominee for Alternative Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2022.Jackson Weaver, "Charlotte Cardin, The Weeknd, Justin Bieber lead 2022 Juno Award nominees". CBC News, March 1, 2022.
Background The daughter of restaurateur Howard Matthews and influential Canadian blues and jazz singer Salome Bey,Bill King, "A Conversation with… the Singer Formerly Known As Saidah Baba Talibah". FYI Music News, July 5, 2015. she began her musical career as an occasional performer with her mother under the name Salome Bey and the Relatives.Martin Morrow, "Fiercely talented singer Salome Bey, 86, led the way for other Black artists: Ms. Bey was a radiant musician, actor, producer and composer who wielded a powerful influence on generations of younger Black artists". The Globe and Mail, August 19, 2020. She was a vocalist with the funk rock band Blaxäm in the 1990s, alongside her sister Tuku and Washington Savage of Infidels.Dorin Grunwald, "Blaxäm finds its own groove". The Eyeopener, October 14, 1998. The band released the EP Kiss My Afro in 1998,Ben Rayner, "Blaxam fuses a Toronto sound". Toronto Star, July 9, 1998. but broke up before releasing a full-length album.Linda A. Fox, "Making his own way serenading the city". The Globe and Mail, November 3, 2001.
Solo career As Saidah Baba Talibah, she continued to perform as a solo artist,Greg Quill, "Mother and daughter blues reunion; Grew up in famous moms' shadows: Daughters now making names for themselves". Toronto Star, November 25, 2006. and released her debut solo album (S)cream in 2011.Errol Nazareth, "Lady sings the blues; Saidah Baba Talibah to perform at Massey Hall revue". Toronto Sun, November 23, 2012. In this era, she described herself as having been inspired in part by Black Rock Coalition artists such as Living Colour.Errol Nazareth, "Think outside the box with Talibah". Toronto Sun, March 23, 2012.
In 2014, she performed at Toronto's Luminato Festival with TV on the Radio.David Paterson, "The irrepressible musical maven Saidah Baba Talibah ready to cook up a storm at Luminato". Streets of Toronto, June 6, 2014. In 2015, she received a Dora Mavor Moore Award nomination for Best Leading Actress, Musical Theatre for her stage performance in What Makes a Man.
She subsequently changed her stage name to SATE, on the grounds that performing under her given names was giving audiences a false impression that they would be seeing a world music artist, when in fact her music blends elements of soul and funk with blues rock and punk rock.Nick Krewen, "Toronto rocker is following her path: Singer and songwriter SATE veers into tarot territory to help make sense of the signs life gives her". Toronto Star, December 21, 2021. As SATE, she released the album RedBlack&Blue in 2016;Graham Rockingham, "Graham Rockingham's best bets". Hamilton Spectator, July 21, 2016. the album's track "Know My Name" has been used as backing music in promotional advertisements for Sportsnet.Michael Raine, "SATE going back to the foundations to tear sh*t up". Canadian Musician, Jan./Feb. 2022.
The Fool was released in 2021. Her video for the song "Nobody" features The OBGMs appearing as her backing band; the album track "Guardian Angel", a short interlude, is a recording of SATE as a child singing along with her mother, which Saidah found in her mother's possessions only after her death in 2020.
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