Wunmi has been waiting for some time to get to this position. Since her time as a dancer with Soul II Soul (the seminal London jazzy soul outfit led by Jazzy B) she’s worked all over the world, most notably with Masters At Work and the West London Broken Beat crews.

She comes across very much a Londoner on the Intro (like a sweet Gina Yashere) but when she sings, her background of living in Nigeria (between the ages of 4-14) is very strong. None more so than on the Fela/Femi Afro-beats of the title track, which stands for Africans Living Abroad, ‘Talk, Talk, Talk’ and ‘Greedy Body’.

There’s a great line in ‘Greedy Body’, “Too much make up, not enough common sense”. That type of shallowness gets further short shrift on ‘Crossover’ as she contemplates the pitfalls of commercialism. It’s good to get a female take on Fela’s Afro-beat legacy. Little wonder that Wunmi sounds so much at home, don’t forget, she is the voice of the Bugz In The Attic cover of Fela’s ‘Zombie’ (as loved by Zane Lowe and Damon Albarn — see links below).

Favourite tracks at the moment are the couple of ‘odd’ ones, the scat-dubstepin’ of ‘Left 2 Right’ and the dubby ‘Keep It Rockin”.

I wasn’t prepared for the cover of The Police’s ‘Message In A Bottle’ and the couple of housey tracks don’t stand up as good as the roots based material.

Let’s not dwell too much on that as ‘A.L.A’ is a great anthem. It’s a shame that Roy Ayers doesn’t play vibes on it. Roy Ayers! Yep, apparently Roy’s manager discovered her dancing at one of his gigs many years ago and she and Roy have been friends ever since. Let’s hope Roy gets onto the next album.

She ends the One Week To Live interview with the thought that, “We haven’t got too many people putting an African tone on right now.” Well, we’re out there for you Wunmi and recommend people check you out live and get this CD.

Hectic Mix nominations: ‘Left 2 Right’, ‘A.L.A’, ‘Talk, Talk, Talk’, ‘Keep It Rockin’, ‘Greedy Body’

Live Dates:
18th May — African Music Festival — Roy Ayres & African Jazz All-Stars
24th May — yOyO, Notting Hill Arts Club, London
27th Afri-Koka, Big Chill House www.bigchill.net
2nd June — Jazz Café www.jazzcafe.co.uk

Reviewed: Wunmi — A.L.A. (Documented) Cat. No. DMENTCD001 Release date: 22nd May 2006
Tracklisting:
1. Intro: Just Listen
2. Greedy Body
3. Crossover (Commercialism)
4. Keep It Rockin’ (Afro Dub)
5. Talk, Talk, Talk
6. A.L.A.
7. Fanaticals
8. Sweet Lullaby
9. Illegal Alien
10. Message In A Bottle
11. Interlude: Is Anybody Out There?
12. Left 2 Right
13. Good Foot Charlie
14. Woman Child

Links:
www.wunmi.com
www.myspace.com/wunmigirl
One Week To Live 14-20 May 2007 www.oneweektolive.com
MTV Base Africa, Tuesdays 1am www.mtv.co.uk/base
African Music Festival “London is home to almost 80% of Africans living in the UK” www.joyfulnoise.co.uk
Gina Yashere www.ginayashere.co.uk
“Born in Bethnal Green, East London, to a Nigerian family, Gina Yashere turned to comedy after working as a lift engineer.”
Gilles Peterson :: Tracklisting 09.11.06 :: Wunmi In The Studio
Wunmi In The Studio
Masters At Work- ‘Expensive Sh**’ (MAW)
Wunmi — ‘Keep It Rockin (Afro Dub)’ (Documented/ Urban Development)
Wunmi — ‘Talk Talk Talk’ (Documented/ Urban Development)
Wunmi — ‘Good Foot Charlie’ (Documented/ Urban Development)
Gilles Peterson :: Tracklisting 05.04.07 :: Zane talks to Damon Albarn in the studio
Fela Kuti — ‘Zombie’ (MCA)
Gilles Peterson :: Thursday 15.02.07 :: Jon Redfern live in session
The Police — ‘Roxanne’ (A&M)
The Police — ‘Walking On The Moon’ (A&M)