Posted at 07:35h
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Interviews,
Music
[Photo by Michele Roux]
As
Anna Omak arrives at a central London location for our interview, I am struck by how positively statuesque she is. Tall and poised, today she favours the simple elegance of dark denim jeans and a black winter jacket whilst sporting a luscious shiny mane of carefully styled afro hair. Her clear, coffee bean complexion brings out her striking bone structure. No wonder British legend
Sting was quite smitten by Anna during a chance encounter, claiming if he wasn’t already taken he would have married her.
But it would do a disservice to Anna to let you think she’s just another good-looking chick with vague musical aspirations. A self-taught guitarist, singer-songwriter and vocal coach, she’s the genuine article.
The image of the Bohemian musician is alive and well in London-born, internationally raised singer-songwriter U’mau Otuokon. This is no gimmick, mind you. The easy-going mannerisms, positive energy and Bo-ho raiment are all the artist’s own.
The daughter of a diplomat, U’mau’s slightly transatlantic inflections betray an intercontinental upbringing, one which saw her living in far flung destinations such as Russia, Cameroon, Spain and Canada. Along the way she picked up some Spanish and French as well as smatterings of her parents’ indigenous Ibibio and Efik tongues of South-Eastern Nigeria.
On U’mau’s debut album Sound Journeys of the Lost and Found you can hear influences from West Africa, Central and South America, the Middle-East, as well as more conventional western R&B rhythms. I imagine her nomadic childhood must have had a knock-on effect on her art; an insatiable restlessness maybe, to try new things...
There are lovers of music and there are lovers of music. There are those who harbour a healthy interest and others who embody music as an entity, oozing its essence from every pore. I suspect