Azana

Azana walks the line between Afro-pop, vocal Afro-house, and soul with care and confidence. This versatility and ability to marry genres comes with having a dexterous voice—wide and textured, the Chesterville-born singer’s alto comfortably sits over this varied soundscape. Her take on singing and songwriting was shaped by musicians she grew up idolizing, from Beyoncé to Nina Simone and venerable South African singers Camagwini, Simphiwe Dana, and Letta Mbulu. Being an artist is second nature to Azana, who has been singing since primary school in the 2000s. The lush Afro-house hit “Not Yet Uhuru,” on which house music producer Sun El Musician featured her, introduced her as a powerful new voice with a lot to say about her surroundings—an identity she further cemented with the release of her 2020 debut album, Ingoma, which covers a wide range of topics including love, spirituality, and the pursuit of success.