Elsy Wameyo

Last updated

Elsy Wameyo
Born
Elsy Wameyo

Nairobi, Kenya
NationalityKenyan
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • rapper
  • producer
Years active2018–present
Musical career
Genres
Instrument
  • Vocals
Labels

Elsy Wameyo, also known as ELSY, is a Kenyan Australian singer-songwriter and rapper, whose style ranges from hip hop to the fusion of traditional African music with contemporary rap and R&B. Based in Adelaide, South Australia, Wameyo was awarded Young Kenyan of the Year in 2018, and won People's Choice Best Hip Hop Award at the annual South Australian Music Awards in 2019. Her first studio album, Saints Sinner, was released in July 2024.

Contents

Early life

Wameyo was born in Nairobi, Kenya, [1] and migrated to Australia with her family in 2006, when she was seven years old. [2]

Music career

Wameyo has performed at Laneway and Groovin' the Moo festivals, and was a featured artist with triple j Unearthed. As of 2019 she was signed with the independent record label created by her mentor, Gabriel Akon, aka DyspOra, Playback 808, [2] but her November 2021 single, "Nilotic", was released on the Music in Exile label. [3]

Lady Leshurr and Masego have shown interest in her music, [4] and she has also played alongside Adrian Eagle, Printz Board, Aminé, Sampa the Great, Hilltop Hoods, and Duckwrth. [5] In October 2018, she appeared as ELSY, as one of two support acts for DOBBY (along with DyspOra) at Nexus Arts in Adelaide, as part of the OzAsia Festival. [6]

Her work is informed by her strong belief in God, and she sees her talent as a gift from God. In 2019 she did not feel her African roots to be a huge influence on her music, but the response to her music in Kenya was enthusiastic when Akon took samples there. [2] Her music is influenced by the gospel tradition as well as contemporary R&B, [5] and in 2022 she cited Kendrick Lamar, Little Simz and Ludwig Göransson (who composed the music for the film Black Panther (film) as her biggest musical influences. [7] [8] She produces her own music, and directed her music video for her 2022 single "River Nile". [9]

Her first single, "Intuition" was released in early 2018. This was followed by "Outcast" in November 2019 and "Pastor" in February 2020,. [5] "Outcast" tells a personal story, largely based on the experience of growing up as an African in Australia, and the effect that racism has had on her and her peers. [10] Both singles received positive reviews. [11] It also explores the concept of "home" for African Australians. [12]

She was studying full-time at university as of 2019, and also singing in her church. [2] She spent some time travelling over the northern winter in 2019–2020, in Europe, the US and Kenya, during which she had a break from songwriting. Her 2020 single, "Pastor" uses an upbeat rhythm to explore feelings of anger, as she explores identity and belonging from the point of view of her parents, migrating to Australia. [13]

She performed at WOMADelaide in March 2022. [1] [7]

Her first EP, Nilotic was released on 1 April 2022, featuring the singles "River Nile" [9] and "Nilotic", and four other tracks. [14] [3] Its name is a nod to her Nilotic roots, [1] and the title track (released November 2021 on the label Music in Exile [3] ) is more overtly political, addressing issues of culture, race and police brutality. She mentioned Ota Benga, Trayvon Martin and George Floyd as part of her inspiration for the track. [8]

Her single "River Nile" is featured in the mobile football video game EFootball 24 as one of the in-game soundtracks.[ citation needed ]

In May 2024, Wameyo announced her debut studio album Saint Sinner would be released on 26 July 2024. [15] The album, which was co-produced with Wuod Omollo and Polycarp Otieno, includes collaborations with musicians in the rural Naivasha region of Kenya as well as Nairobi singer Okello Max. The styles range from Afrobeat to the fusion of traditional African musical styles with contemporary rap and R&B. [16]

Discography

Albums

List of albums, with selected details
TitleDetails
Saint Sinner
  • Released: 26 July 2024 [15]
  • Label: Self-released

Extended plays

List of EPs, with selected details
TitleDetails
Nilotic
  • Released: 1 April 2022
  • Label: Music in Exile

As lead artist

TitleYearEP
"Intuition" [17] 2018TBA
"Daily" [18]
"Outcast" [19] 2019
"Pastor" [20] 2020
"Never There" [21]
"Time Flies" [22] 2021
"Nilotic" [9] 2021Nilotic (EP) [1]
"River Nile" [9] 2022
"Make Way"
(with Motez) [23] 		2023Non-album single
"Sinner" [24] 2024Saint Sinner
"Piny Lara" [25]
"Umva" [15]
"Coquer"
(with Ywaya Tajiri) [26]
YearTitleAlbum
2018"Seven" (Holas May feat. Elsy Wameyo) [27]
"Open Wide" (DyspOra feat. Elsy Wameyo) [28] AustrAlien
2020"Long Road" (Stefan Rossi feat. Elsy Wameyo) [29]

Awards and nominations

J Awards

The J Awards are an annual series of Australian music awards that were established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J. They commenced in 2005.

YearNominee / workAwardResultRef.
2022 Elsy WameyoUnearthed Artist of the YearWon [31] [32]

South Australian Music Awards

The South Australian Music Awards, also known as SA Music Awards, commonly SAM Awards, formerly Fowler's Live Music Awards (FLMA), are annual awards that exist to recognise, promote and celebrate excellence in the South Australian contemporary music industry.

YearNominee / workAwardResultRef.
2018Elsy WameyoBest New ArtistNominated [4]
Best World MusicNominated
2019Elsy WameyoPeople's Choice Hip Hop AwardWon [33]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thelma Plum</span> Indigenous Australian musician (born 1994)

Thelma Amelina Plumbe, known professionally as Thelma Plum, is an Aboriginal Australian singer, songwriter, guitarist and musician from Delungra, New South Wales. Her debut album, Better in Blak, was released on 30 July 2019 and peaked at number 4 on the ARIA Albums Chart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tkay Maidza</span> Musical artist

Takudzwa Victoria Rosa "Tkay" Maidza is a Zimbabwean-born Australian singer-songwriter and hip hop artist from Adelaide, South Australia. She has been nominated for and won many awards, and released two albums: Tkay (2016) and Sweet Justice (2023). She collaborated with Flume on her 2023 single "Silent Assassin".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meg Mac</span> Australian musical artist (born 1990)

Megan McInerney, known by her stage name Meg Mac, is an Australian singer-songwriter and musician. She signed to littleBIGMAN Records in 2014, locally, and 300 Entertainment in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gretta Ray</span> Australian indie-pop singer-songwriter

Gretta Louise Ray is an Australian singer-songwriter from Melbourne, Victoria. In 2016, she was the winner of the national Triple J Unearthed radio competition for bands and songwriters, and the 2016 Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition, with her song "Drive". To date, Ray has released two studio albums – Begin to Look Around (2021) and Positive Spin (2023) – as well as the EPs Elsewhere (2016) and Here and Now (2018).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Lahey</span> Musical artist

Alexandra Lahey is an Australian alternative rock singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She has released three full length albums: I Love You Like a Brother (2017), The Best of Luck Club (2019) and The Answer Is Always Yes (2023).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sampa the Great</span> Zambian rapper and musician

Sampa Tembo, known professionally as Sampa the Great, is a Zambian singer, rapper and songwriter. Between 2014 and 2020, she was based in Australia. Her debut solo album, The Return, peaked at No. 12 on the ARIA Albums Chart. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2019 she won Best Hip Hop Release for her second single, "Final Form". In the following year she won the same category for The Return, as well as Best Female Artist and Best Independent Release. In March 2020 Sampa became the first artist to win the Australian Music Prize twice: for Birds and the Bee9 and The Return. The artist was based back in Zambia from late 2020, where she issued her second studio album, As Above, So Below.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">G Flip</span> Australian musician

Georgia Claire Flipo, known professionally as G Flip, is an Australian singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer from Melbourne, Victoria. Their debut studio album, About Us, was released on 30 August 2019. Its follow-up, Drummer, followed almost four years later on 11 August 2023.

Alice Skye is an Australian singer and songwriter. She is a British and Wergaia/Wemba Wemba woman from Horsham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruby Fields</span> Australian musician

Ruby Phillips, known professionally as Ruby Fields, is an Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist from Cronulla, New South Wales. In 2018, she released her debut EP Your Dad's Opinion for Dinner, followed by the singles "I Want", "P Plates", and "Ritalin". Her single "Dinosaurs" reached number nine on Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tones and I</span> Australian pop singer

Toni Watson, known professionally as Tones and I, is an Australian singer, songwriter, and record producer. She is best known for her breakout single "Dance Monkey", which reached number one in over 30 countries including her home country Australia. In 2019–20, "Dance Monkey" completed 24 weeks at number one on the Australian singles chart, beating Bing Crosby's all-time Australian record for his version of "White Christmas", which spent an equivalent of 22 weeks at the top in 1943. "Dance Monkey" was certified 19× platinum by ARIA for shipments of over 1,330,000 units by June 2023.

Moutaiz Al-Obaidi, known professionally as Motez, is an Australian record producer, musician, installation artist and DJ. Motez was a refugee born in Iraq and moved to Adelaide in 2006. Motez's Song "The Future" featuring Antony and Cleopatra was certified Platinum in Australia. He has won several South Australian Music Awards for Best Solo Artist (2021) and Most Popular Electronic Artist

Gabriel Strum, known professionally as Japanese Wallpaper, is an Australian indie pop singer-songwriter and producer. He released his debut single "Breathe In" featuring Wafia on 10 October 2013. The song featured in Zach Braff's film Wish I Was Here. Strum has had three songs feature in the Triple J Hottest 100: "Between Friends" featuring Jesse Davidson at No. 97 (2014), "Forces" featuring Airling at No. 69 (2015) and "In Motion" featuring Allday at No. 44 (2017). He released his debut album Glow on 18 October 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tia Gostelow</span> Australian singer-songwriter

Tia Gostelow is an Indigenous Australian singer-songwriter from Mackay, Queensland. Gostelow released her debut studio album, Thick Skin, in 2018 on Lovely Records. Further albums, Chrysalis and Head Noise followed.

Georgia Mannion, known professionally as George Alice, is an Australian singer-songwriter.

Gabriel Erjok Majer Akon, known professionally as DyspOra, is a South Sudanese-born Australian rapper and activist. He is the founder of the music collective and independent record label Playback 808, and released the 8-track EP, The AustrAlien, in partnership with the not-for-profit organisation Music in Exile in April 2020, after a series of singles and shorter collaborations. He calls his brand of hip hop "Sonic Activism", as he uses his music as a tool to influence social change.

Sasha McLeod, known professionally as Sycco, is an Australian singer-songwriter and producer from Brisbane. She was nominated for Triple J Unearthed Artist of the Year in 2020, having released the pop singles "Nicotine" and "Dribble" in the same year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tasman Keith</span> Australian rapper

Tasman Keith is an Australian rapper and singer-songwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Becca Hatch</span> Australian musician

Rebecca "Becca" Hatch is an Australian musician and singer-songwriter from Sydney, Australia. She signed to "Forever Ever Records", a joint venture label between Australian hip hop host Hau Latukefu and Sony Music Australia, in February 2021.

The Nilotic peoples are a collection of ethnic groups indigenous to Nile Valley in East Africa.

Northern Sound System (NSS) is a dedicated youth centre focused on music, broadcasting, and other creative industries, located in Elizabeth, a northern suburb of Adelaide, South Australia.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Elsy Wameyo". WOMADelaide . Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Smith, Matthew (9 June 2019). "A gift from God Kenyan-born Elsy Wameyo set to produce her debut EP". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 Langford, Jackson (17 November 2021). "Elsy Wameyo shares new single 'Nilotic', a stirring ode to her heritage". NME . Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  4. 1 2 "Elsy Wameyo – Outcast" . Amrap's AirIt. 6 November 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Elsy Wameyo". triple j Unearthed . Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 12 November 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  6. ↑ OzAsia Festival 2018 brochure. 14 August 2018. p. 34. Retrieved 28 November 2022– via Issuu.
  7. 1 2 Brice, Charles (11 March 2022). "Up-and-coming African-inspired rapper Elsy Wameyo 'excited to tell story' at Womadelaide". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  8. 1 2 "Why Elsy Wameyo's 'Nilotic' is one of the year's most powerful uploads". triple j . Featured Artist. 29 November 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Condon, Dan (28 February 2022). "'River Nile' will show you why". Double J. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  10. ↑ "Premiere: Adelaide's Elsy Wameyo shares the vulnerable 'Outcast'". Tone Deaf. 5 November 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  11. ↑ "Elsy Wameyo: Hip Hop – Adelaide, SA [Reviews]". triple j Unearthed. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  12. ↑ Von Einem, Johnny (7 November 2019). "Elsy Wameyo releases the first single from her upcoming EP, 'Outcast'". CityMag . Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  13. ↑ Von Einem, Johnny (22 April 2020). "Elsy Wameyo's 'Pastor' is a hymn against cultural erasure". CityMag. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  14. 1 2 "Meet Kenya's Coolest Fast-Rising Act, Elsy Wameyo". KenyanVibe. 21 February 2022. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  15. 1 2 3 "Elsy Wameyo Announces Debut Album 'Saint Sinner'". Music Feeds . 23 May 2024. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  16. ↑ Newstead, Al. "Saint Sinner". Double J. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
  17. ↑ "Intuition - single". Apple Music. February 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  18. ↑ "Daily - single". Apple Music. September 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  19. ↑ "Outcast - single". Apple Music. November 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  20. ↑ "Pastor - single". Apple Music. February 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  21. ↑ "Never There - single". Apple Music. December 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  22. ↑ "Time Flies - single". Apple Music. January 2021. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  23. ↑ "Feature Video Motez and Elsy Wameyo Make Way". Australian Broadcasting Corporation . 17 August 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  24. ↑ "Elsy Wameyo Shares New Single 'Sinner'". Broadway World. 31 January 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  25. ↑ "Elsy Wameyo Shares New Single 'Piny Lara'". Music Feeds . 7 March 2024. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  26. ↑ "Conquer ft. Ywaya Tajiri - Out Now". YouTube. 12 July 2024. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  27. ↑ "Seven (DD)". Apple Music. February 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  28. ↑ "Open Wide (DD)". Apple Music. September 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  29. ↑ "Long Road (DD)". Apple Music. September 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  30. ↑ "Current winners". Awards Australia. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  31. ↑ "Here's all the J Awards 2022 nominees!". Australian Broadcasting Corporation . 1 November 2022. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  32. ↑ "2022 Unearthed Artist of the Year". Australian Broadcasting Corporation . 1 November 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  33. ↑ "About". South Australian Music Awards. 1 September 2021. Archived from the original on 7 March 2022. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.