"I never bought any records till my late teens because we never really had anything to play it on when I was growing up. I listened to radio all the time. I remember borrowing Kenny G’s first album with that naff tune, 'Songbird' on it. I Loved it!!!...When I finally started buying records as a woman in her right mind, however, Julian Joseph’s 'Language of Truth' was one of my first loves.
I actually ended up making [the black atlantic] tune in my childhood bedroom of my parents house in Harare, Zimbabwe. I wanted to communicate my journey, our journey as people. I wanted to communicate that I am an African. I was born in London, I grew up in Harare, I lived in Bristol, I have since moved back to London. I wanted to narrow the conceptual gap that exists between Black people in Britain and the US with that of Africans. I think there is still a lot of prejudice between Africans on the continent and Americans and Europeans, black and white. Aside from the literal story in the song, I wanted to make our connection audible.
I felt like I had a lot to say because “Black Atlantic”: the title, the premise of this project is embodied in me, where I was living: Bristol as middle passage in the slave trade story. Who I am now: Zimba-British. How I perceive myself now."
ABOUT NETSAYI
Netsayi’s earliest memories are those as a refugee in London, and her music mediates the dilemmas of current British, African and black identity. Born in Camden during the Zimbabwean war of liberation, Netsayi combines the rich traditions of her Zimbabwean upbringing with music of the diaspora. Her music has been classified as everything from R&B/jazz to blues, broken beat to world, and slides smoothly between both genres and language (English and Shona, her native tongue).
Hailed as one of the UK’s most exciting new talents, Netsayi has performed at most of the UK’s premier music venues including the Royal Albert Hall, the Festival Hall, the Barbican, the London Jazz Festival, the ICA, the Hammersmith Apollo and WOMAD. Her debut album, Chimurenga Soul, was released in spring 2006.
“Most of us are brought up on lies. People aren’t allowed to be honest or to say what they really think - especially about their own failings. I like to get to the root of things …I’ll will write about anything as long as there’s a question to be answered.”
-Netsayi
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