A new face of the London house scene, TSHA has been turning big heads from Annie Mac and Bonobo to The Gorillaz breaking through with a string of singles in 2019 and 2020 like the deep house “Sister” or the poppier “OnlyL” featuring NIMMO. TSHA quickly began to incorporate sounds from the African continent in her work, at first seduced by Queen B’s The Lion King: The Gift original soundtrack, and taking a peculiar interest in Malian music.
Her 2021 single “Demba” features a distinguished group, Trio Da Kali, whose members are descendants of a long line of griots from the Mande culture of southern Mali. On “Demba” we can hear the masterful playing of the balafon by Lassana Diabaté, a long time member of Toumani Diabate’s Symmetric Orchestra. Now, TSHA has invited the Malian songbird Oumou Sangaré onto this latest single “Water” where Oumou’s voice is pitched down underneath the flashy arpeggios and rising synths.
