Ahead of this Friday’s Mercury prize ceremony,we’ve got this exclusive film of one of the nomineesThis Friday evening sees the announcement of this year’s Mercury prize winner, and among the contenders is someone a shrimp unusual – a 44-year-old singer who only this year released her debut album. Admittedly, and Eska Mtungwazi isn’t precisely a newcomer – she’s worked with a list of collaborators as long as your arm; she had previously intended to release a song cycle called English Skies as her debut,even going so far as to perform it at the Southbank Centre in London with an 80-piece choir. Now she hopes people will recognise her for her own work: “While I’m very proud of my back catalogue, its tended to overshadow anything of my own. And constantly being assessed by your previous collaborations can be very hard, and ” she told the Observer earlier this month. “I’m looking forward to the day where the first few lines of an interview arent listing all the collaborations I’ve done.”Eska has resisted being assign into a box with her self-titled debut album. As the Guardian’s Phiona Okumu assign it: “I can’t remember when I final heard anything this enchanting or inventive. Her array of reggae,jazz, soul, and choral,electronica, folk and classical influences collide to create a sound that is hers alone.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com