Tangled Roots: Goya Gumbani Interviewed – clashmusic.com

Goya Gumbani has a wavering definition of home, finding shelter in both music and place. With these musical epicentres playing a role in shaping the Brooklyn-born, London-based rapper, Gumbani remains somewhat inscrutable. Since his self-produced debut EP ‘Morta & More Doves’, Gumbani has challenged the confinement of genre. His musical hierarchy? “Sade, Prince, J. Dilla, and 50 Cent…” Gumbani borrows remnants of every flavour, lending to a sound completely uncharted.
Now, he explores the sweet intricacies of jazz, producing a vibrant project with full-band arrangements thanks to an unexpected baptism by Miles Davis. “I got introduced to Miles Davis kinda out of luck,” Gumbani shares with CLASH. “I was hanging with a friend and she was playing ‘Kind Of Blue’. I was like, ‘Yo, what the f—k is this elevator music? This is so peaceful.’” Wanting to gift the limited edition vinyl box set for her birthday, from the moment it was in his possession it was clear the vinyl always belonged to him. 
“I was like, ‘I love shorty but I can’t give her this. I gotta keep this.’ I was listening to it on repeat,” he continues. “Then my cousin gave me the Miles Davis autobiography for my birthday. Subconsciously, I was studying Miles Davis without realising it. I started meeting mad jazz artists in London, and organically we started making music. I could feel myself making my voice an instrument.”
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The project is a whirlwind of orchestra, an immersive journey of saxophone and trumpet paired with raw, heart-drenched storytelling. In an industry crowded by ephemeral connections, everything about ‘Warlord Of The Weejuns’ is a home-cooked meal. Its features are all real-life friends, ranging from Yaya Bey to Joe Armon-Jones. Gumbani also opted out of recording in studios, finding the experience to be too sterile. “I tried to sit in a few big studios and felt the pressure of how much money I was spending in the studio. I prefer to make music in a bedroom or in someone’s living room; we can pull away, go to the kitchen, cook a meal, watch something and then come back with inspiration from all these little walks of life,” he says.
Liberation is the pulse of ‘Warlord Of The Weejuns’, a sonic encapsulation of Gumbani’s surrender. It tells stories of love and Blackness, born from “pianos falling out the sky” – an intuitive journey both inward and across hemispheres Gumbani took to find himself. “I just felt free making this album. I wanted to make something that spoke to my development not only as an artist but as a human,” he says. “As I’ve kinda gotten older, I really appreciate jazz. I appreciate no words. I appreciate that every instrument plays within the confines of a song. I feel like that’s the beauty of music: there are no bounds. People fit it into boxes to be able to understand it or sell it. But when you’re making it, when it comes from somewhere that’s pure, it’s freedom.”
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‘Warlord Of The Weejuns’ is out now.
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Words: Jazmine Kylene
Photo Credit: Argiris Loisis

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