Decoding The Expats : Wayna’s Interview with Afrofusion TV

I don’t know if it matters that Ethiopian American singer/songwriter Wayna‘s sophomore album Higher Ground is high on a list of top 25 most slept-on soul albums of the last decade. After all it’s common knowledge that to hear really good soul music, hip hop, or R&B you have to hunt for it. Mercifully we didn’t

Wayna performs at U Street Music Hall in Washington, DC, Nov. 2013

have to go searching for The Expats, her third and latest album; we had a delicious preview two days before its release at a U Street Music Hall show last November, where the Grammy nominated singer joined two other DC based artists Wes Felton and Asheru for a “Triple Threat” performance promoted by Munch’s Hedrush Music. Fusing her soul sound with elements of afrobeat, alt rock, reggae, indian music, and hip hop, Wayna does with The Expats what she deals with day-to-day – navigating that often conflicting space between varying cultural identities. Her own African Diaspora sensibilities likely did much to inform her recording experience on this album; to hear Wayna tell it, she packed her bags, headed to Canada and ensconced herself in a Toronto recording studio with a group of talented musicians from virtually every corner of the globe. They jammed, they played, they experimented, they created – and The Expats came into being. Wayna graciously invited Afrofusion TV to her home last November to talk about the art behind the music. In the edited interview above, she talks about how her background and upbringing, and explains standout tracks on the LP like “Echo” and “I Don’t Wanna Wait.” Needless to say there was so much to talk about; we will surely have the full interview up on our website afrofusiontv.com soon. You can get your copy of “The Expats” on iTunes, or Amazon, and you can follow Wayna on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Bless…