Romarna is a drummer, composer and producer with a hip-hop and jazz influence, from Birmingham.
She studied at Berklee College of Music and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Having just released her 25th Birthday project, she is now working on her debut EP.
Romarna performed worldwide with Billy Childs, Courtney Pine, Ephemerals, Ralph Peterson's GenNext BigBand, Gary Crosby, Denys Baptiste, Mark Kavuma and Benet Mclean, playing Miles Davis' Kind of Blue for BBC Radio 3.
Under her name, recent features include a virtual-performances for Jazz Re:Freshed, amassing nearly 4000 views, and Berklee College of Music's #BerkleeAnywhere with over 12,000 views across platforms.
Romarna’s latest independently released project is a collection of 25 songs that she wrote, arranged, performed and produced remotely during the lockdown in approximately three months. She collaborated with many distinguished musicians, including Soweto Kinch, Tomeka Reid, Sumi Tonooka, and Lady Sanity.
Song #1 (Drum Melody) was produced as part of a joint commission by Mutual Mentorship for Musicians (M3) with Val Jeanty, premiered at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. The music charity responsible for THSH commissioned ‘Inherently Political’, a musical response to racism, individual and systematic. It was debuted on Midmornings with Anne Frankenstein and Folded Space with Tony Minvielle on Jazz FM, on Selector Radio with Jamz Supernova as New Name of the Week, and by the British Council.
Through studying at Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, Berklee Global Jazz Institute, Tomorrow's Warriors, the Notebender's Community Big Band and Town Hall Symphony Hall, she counts Gary Crosby, Terri Lyne Carrington, Ralph Peterson, Neal Smith and Billy Kilson as just a few of her mentors.
