Afrobeat Becomes Afrosoul on Teni's Afrodisiac

Jazz singer Teni describes her music as afrosoul. Afro for the beat that inspires her sound and soul for the feeling it evokes. Teni's music often fuses driving, hypnotic afrobeat with a pure, soaring operatic jazz vocal like her song 'Lionheart," a powerful, personal declaration of triumph over adversity. Born in London of Nigerian origin, she seeks to express herself through a sound that is a melting pot of influences from jazz and West African afrobeat to the blues and '70's soul and funk, showing deep love for the past while delivering it in a style that is modern and truly one of a kind. Sounds like highly sophisticated afro-pop with even a couple of afro-infused dance songs featured on the album like the ethereal "Your Love Is The Key".

Teni spent ten years in Nigeria honing this sound while also working as a fashion designer building an ethical design house called the House of Makeda. With her ten piece band the Afro-Renaissance it evolved into music that is African influenced yet utterly universal. On first listen one hears the funk, afro-horns and sinuous guitars in the title track "Afrodisiac" and is immediately reminded of an early '90's Sade Adu. Teni's vocals are elegant and stripped back, filled with cool yearning, like still waters that run deep. The bass guitar, and the rhythm and tenor guitars anchor Teni's sensual sound and are constantly present throughout the album "Afrodisiac." Live jazz drums and west african percussion, saxophones, trombones and afro-keys are also featured though a couple of songs are completely electronic. This album is a diverse tapestry of sounds with the Indian tabla featured on the haunting torch song "When Will It Be."

She also on occasion performed with the Egypt 80, Fela Kuti's band and experimented with ways of making the traditional afrobeat sound she loved her own. She developed a great interest in musicology, drawing inspiration from jazz greats Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday and Nina Simone and sang the afro-blues. She was inspired by the spirituality and message of Bob Marley's music. Out of the blues came jazz, soul, reggae even and Teni's compositions reflect this with an eclectic album with many layers and colours that really takes you on a journey. In some songs her voice is closer to Nina than Sade. She invokes the gospel tinged soul of the 1960's on the siren song "Surrender".

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