Introducing you to the music of singer-songwriter-poet Offiong Bassey (www.OffiongBassey.com) is a privilege. Her self-titled global soul debut album signals the arrival of a cross-cultural artist of substance and breadth with a unique perspective and heritage. The Boston-born woman of Nigerian parents sings, raps and chants stories and commentary in English, Pidgin English and Efik, her native tongue, immersed in earthy body-moving Afro-Peruvian rhythms amidst R&B harmonies, danceable funk, jazz intonations, divinely-illumined gospel and colorful Nigerian Ekombi. The CD that will be released February 4th, after a limited release last year debuted at #2 on the CMJ New World Music chart, reached #4 on the SoulTracks chart and garnered a full-page feature in the Boston Globe. Bassey authored the eleven multicultural songs that make up “Offiong Bassey,” which was produced by Blethy Emmanuel Tiegnon of the Ivory Coast. Authentic through and through, she recorded with African musicians, percussionists and vocalists as well as players from Mali, Morocco and other parts of the world. With lyrics rooted in traditional African storytelling along with modern day Western sensibilities, a pair of cuts will be worked at radio. Calling “Legitimate Child” one of her most important songs, Bassey sings over an invigorating Calypso workout about the value and worth of every human being in the eyes of our Creator no matter the circumstances of their birth and what they have or do not have. The celebratory “Conclusion” is her foray into Afrobeats that pays homage to countryman Fela Kuti, a pioneer of the genre and one of her musical influences.
After recently selling out a show at Boston’s famed Scullers Jazz Club, Bassey, a Yale graduate blessed with a name that means “God’s moon,” is eager to tour leading into the recording of an unplugged album this spring.
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