Folk in Her Soul : Naomi Wachira
Naomi Wachira is an African Girl grew up in a small town of Kijabe in Kenya. She is in Seattle now and work for Casey Family Programs, a non profit that serves children in foster care. She is known among music lovers as a Afro soul singer/ song writer, a newly minted American Citizen singer who weaves her delicate folk from the fibers of American and African continents.
'I write as an African but America has allowed me to become emotionally free. The emotional aspect of my songwriting is influenced by lining in USA for such a long time. Her soulful folk music has been heard on stages from the Doe Bay Festival to a march performance in Nairobi.
She never thought to be a singer. In fact after doing her schooling in Kenya, she studied communications in Chicago and eventually graduated with an MA in theology from Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. But she always had passion for singing, it had inherited from parents and love for song s of South African Singer Miriam Makeba that had led her to an open mike at Conor Byrne in 2011. There, in a sense that nurtured musicians like The Head and The Heart and Bryan John Appleby , she debuted her gentle alto - a smoky voice with shades of Sade and Tracy Chapman. and began to perform regularly, connecting with musicians like like Justin Forese and former Macklemore collaborator Zach Fleury, they were the people who helped her to blossom her story.
Forese says about Naomi's talent, ' I appreciate how genuinely she is in her heart when she performs.'Forese is the person, who produced Naomi's EP 'African Girl', released last November. 'It is easy to get into a cerebral place, but Naomi sings with her heart and lets herself be vulnerable. It takes lot of courage.' says Forese.
To Wachira, vulnerability is her strength. Like Makeba and Tracy, Wachira sings about social and civil issues from a personal point of view. The song 'Stand Up' for example was inspired by an abusive relationship. She says her philosophy as an artist is to write music that challenges us and at the same time dignifies people, even when you are talking about victims and perpetators, because they are still human' She further adds,'In my understanding, they are laying out a story that has really affected them and they end up acting out in a way that are not healthy and can sometimes damage other people's life.'
This considerate approach to the story telling colors Wachira's work. Consider the lyrics on what she calls Soul Anthem, 'African Girl' :
'I have been carrying my father's words', she sings over light acoustic guitar and thrumming drums.
'That said to me/ learn to be wise, walk with integrity, and be honest'. Their simplicity draws people in-like the one who commented on her Bandcamp page that the song left me wanting more.'
'It allows me to open their hearts' says she of her impact on listeners..' I am always amazed when people open up to me about their life , responding to a particular song.. I love that about being a musician.'
Married and mother of three years old daughter, she has long way to go in her music career.
Link to her song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrrfOgqSEUA
'I write as an African but America has allowed me to become emotionally free. The emotional aspect of my songwriting is influenced by lining in USA for such a long time. Her soulful folk music has been heard on stages from the Doe Bay Festival to a march performance in Nairobi.
She never thought to be a singer. In fact after doing her schooling in Kenya, she studied communications in Chicago and eventually graduated with an MA in theology from Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. But she always had passion for singing, it had inherited from parents and love for song s of South African Singer Miriam Makeba that had led her to an open mike at Conor Byrne in 2011. There, in a sense that nurtured musicians like The Head and The Heart and Bryan John Appleby , she debuted her gentle alto - a smoky voice with shades of Sade and Tracy Chapman. and began to perform regularly, connecting with musicians like like Justin Forese and former Macklemore collaborator Zach Fleury, they were the people who helped her to blossom her story.
Forese says about Naomi's talent, ' I appreciate how genuinely she is in her heart when she performs.'Forese is the person, who produced Naomi's EP 'African Girl', released last November. 'It is easy to get into a cerebral place, but Naomi sings with her heart and lets herself be vulnerable. It takes lot of courage.' says Forese.
To Wachira, vulnerability is her strength. Like Makeba and Tracy, Wachira sings about social and civil issues from a personal point of view. The song 'Stand Up' for example was inspired by an abusive relationship. She says her philosophy as an artist is to write music that challenges us and at the same time dignifies people, even when you are talking about victims and perpetators, because they are still human' She further adds,'In my understanding, they are laying out a story that has really affected them and they end up acting out in a way that are not healthy and can sometimes damage other people's life.'
This considerate approach to the story telling colors Wachira's work. Consider the lyrics on what she calls Soul Anthem, 'African Girl' :
'I have been carrying my father's words', she sings over light acoustic guitar and thrumming drums.
'That said to me/ learn to be wise, walk with integrity, and be honest'. Their simplicity draws people in-like the one who commented on her Bandcamp page that the song left me wanting more.'
'It allows me to open their hearts' says she of her impact on listeners..' I am always amazed when people open up to me about their life , responding to a particular song.. I love that about being a musician.'
Married and mother of three years old daughter, she has long way to go in her music career.
Link to her song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrrfOgqSEUA
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