Grammy-nominated Wayna brought soul, R&B, and world music together to celebrate her fourth LP (the first in a decade) at Lincoln Center’s David Rubenstein Atrium on Thursday, July 10th.
The singer, born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and raised in the Washington D.C suburbs, brings a unique vantage point to her music. Her perspective is broad, having been a White House writer during the Clinton administration, nominated for two Grammys, toured with Stevie Wonder, and helped create the Grammy Award for Best Song for Social Change (now The Harry Belafonte Best Song For Social Change Award). All of that life experience enters into her music, which channels soul, R&B, and world music into one performance.
On Thursday the 10th, as part of the Summer for the City Festival, Wayna was set to play at 7:30 pm ET. However, a rare technical delay, later identified as “a data failure between the stage stack and the soundboard,” delayed the show almost an hour. In the Atrium, the crowd of over 100 waited patiently, with nearly the entire audience staying until 8:25 when Wayna and her band were finally invited on stage.
For those audience members who stayed, it was worth it. Wayna switched up her set list – given the shortened timeframe – and started with a blues number about the first time she felt like singing the blues. This is where the singer excels: bringing her lived experience to her music.
The song “I won’t answer” is about both Wayna’s unique experience and a broader statement about the struggles immigrants face across the U.S. The song focuses on what Wayna would do if she could go back to when she was nine and her teacher, Miss Philips, decided to call her “WW” instead of her actual name. When Miss Phillips called roll for the first time of the year and tried to pronounce Wayna’s name -the singer’s legal name is Woyneab Miraf Wondwossen – she said, “I don’t have time to learn all that, why don’t I call you WW for Wonder Woman?” Current day Wayna said if she could go back, she would sing the blues to Miss Philips and say, “No it isn’t all the same… no I won’t answer to that name.” The song tackles not just Wayna’s lived experience but the microaggressions immigrants and non-white individuals face every day throughout American society – a powerful message in today’s political climate.
One challenge of Wayna’s set, potentially because of the technical delay, was that most of the singer’s songs ran into one another in a way that was reminiscent of Moulin Rouge’s Elephant Love Medley. While this style showcased Wayna’s range of musicality from soul, to reggae, to R&B, to spoken word, it also mashed together musical styles with fundamentally different time signatures and emotional tenors. This created moments of discordance as these different styles clashed, which caused the audience to be suddenly taken out of the music.
With that said, Wayna was direct and open with the audience – at one point saying, “I wanna get real right now and these nails aren’t it.” The singer then took off her nail extensions and said, “While I’m at it, let me take these off too [proceeds to take off eyelash extensions] because this is real music.”
Throughout the night, it became clear that more than anything, Wayna is a storyteller. Stories of her history, of struggle, of her heritage, and of triumph, merged with broader stories of race and immigration throughout the United States. Wayna could be as comfortable on stage at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe as in a stadium – telling stories in different mediums. These narratives are backed up by Wayna’s beautiful vocals and a fantastic band that shifts musical styles as needed to express the story’s intent.
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