Elsy Wameyo embraces duality on ‘Saint Sinner’

To make her latest album, Elsy Wameyo made the trek from her longtime home in Adelaide to Nairobi, where she was born. For the longest time, Wameyo didn’t feel like she belonged to either country, but that has begun to change.

“I think there’s so many things about Kenyans that I see — I’m, like, 100% I’m from this country. Like, the way they think, the way they act — there’s no other way. Like, I have to be Kenyan,” she says.

Duality is at the heart of Saint Sinner, both in terms of identity and Wameyo’s spirituality. The album is also a highly anticipated debut for the up-and-coming singer-songwriter, rapper and producer.

In this session, Wameyo talks about growing up “a saint” and the relief that comes with letting out some anger. Plus, she explains why being a perfectionist is great when you’re creating music, but not so much when you’re recording it.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Kimberly Junod. The web story was created by Miguel Perez. Our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.