Shiwezwa is the debut album from singer-songwriter Namvula Rennie. Born in Zambia of mixed Zambian-Scottish parents, Namvula means ‘mother of rain.’ Her great-great-great grandmother, after whom she was named, was a priestess of rain and the album’s title, Shiwezwa, the Zambian village that she came from. Although Shiwezwa references Zambian folk music, it is also fused with urban music and elements of Scottish folk, jazz and Latin. The album is comprised of eleven original songs by Namvula and one song by her aunt, local singing legend Maureen Lilanda and features a stellar cast of some of the UK’s most respected African and jazz musicians, including bassist Liran Donin (Led Bib), saxophonist Chris Williams (Led Bib), percussionist Mamadou Sarr (Baaba Maal), Senegalese kora player Kadialy Kouyate and veteran Ghanaian guitarist Alfred Bannerman (Osibisa).
The making of Shiwezwa was something of a homecoming for Namvula – her childhood was spent in Switzerland and Kenya, before she was sent to school in the UK. Although she visited Zambia regularly all her life, in 2012, she decided to spend more time there in order to research and study with traditional musicians. It was during this trip that she discovered Maureen Lilanda was her aunt and consequently, she became Namvula‘s mentor, inspiring her in ways she could never have anticipated.
The journey was also an opportunity for Namvula‘s mother to reconnect with parts of their family history and she was also instrumental in helping Namvula with her native language, Lenje. A soft, poetic language with which Namvula was familiar, but not fluent, gave her a freedom that she couldn’t find in English. Five tracks on the album, Nsalamo, Maweo Mukwesu, Na Ndayeya and Yumya Moyo are in Lenje, whilst others mix it with English and French. Nsalamo is about her great-grandmother – a feisty woman who, taking her children, left her husband after discovering that he was more interested in treating her like a slave, than a wife (it was also Nsalamo who smuggled banned foodstuffs such as mice to Namvula’s mother as a child). Yumya Moyo is about having the courage to follow your heart, whilst Maweo is a heartfelt song about migration and features some beautiful kora playing from Kadialy Kouyate. The sharp-eared listener will also discover songs sung in Portuguese (Andorinha), and Chichewa (Umoyo Wanga).
The Scottish link is on her father’s side – his parents were missionaries, moving from Scotland to Malawi when he was twelve. The young Namvula visited her grandparents in Scotland, trips filled with singing and storytelling. She was fifteen when he bought her her first guitar and soon after she began writing songs. Having grown up in four different continents, listening to anything from Miriam Makeba and Kanda Bongo Man to Beethoven and Kenny Rogers, it is unsurprising that Shiwezwa is informed by such a broad range of musical influences. However, it is not only the beautiful and soulful voice of Namvula that brings the album together – whether she is singing in Lenje, English or Portuguese – but also her lyrical compositions that make this a deeply impressive debut album.
