Why you need to know Elsy Wameyo

It has been a flashflood for emerging rapper, singer, songwriter, producer and Angle Vale local, Elsy Wameyo.

The Nairobi-born artist has stamped her name onto the lineups of Australia’s biggest music festivals, brushed shoulders with Aussie hiphop royalty during her national tour with the Hilltop Hoods and lit up airwaves after winning Triple J’s Unearthed Artist of the Year in 2022.

It came as no surprise that the creatively versatile rapper would enjoy a deluge of accolades for her debut EP Nilotic at the South Australian Music Awards in 2022 – winning Best Song, Best EP, Best Solo Artist and Best Music Video.

Elsy’s rise on Australia’s rap scene occurred simultaneously with her own journey of selfdiscovery.

The Kenyan expat admits grappling with dueling elements of her identity throughout her youth.

“The last two years I’ve felt the strongest of who I am as a person,” said Elsy. “This world is very loud, I had to learn not to fear what I was creating and trust in my ideas.”

Elsy was seven years old when her family made the life changing move from Nairobi to Angle Vale. The memory of the plane touching down at Adelaide Airport is hazy for Elsy, but thankfully her dad remembers the moment well.

“My father likes to tell me this story. We arrived super late – I was so confused. The weather was so hot. I was crying about how hot and dry my nose felt. It wasn’t just the weather, everything looked different.”

That feeling of unfamiliarity would linger throughout Elsy’s school life.

“I tried to forge a new persona, but it never worked. It was hard. I didn’t look like anyone else in my classes, nor did I eat, dress or sound like anyone else.”

She would find solace in music – a love which would trickle out of school, into choir at church and eventually to the studios of Northern Sound System (NSS).

“My father has this way of finding things – he told me there’s this studio where they do music. So he drove me in and I connected with everyone there.”

During those early visits to NSS she would just sit and soak in what everyone was creating. Elsy was dipping her toes into the music industry for the first time and was loving every minute of it.

“It was the biggest blessing seeing people invest into their music. We were all on our own paths, but we all shared that one love.”

Elsy would sit in during Tkay Maidza’s studio sessions and watched in awe as the NSS protégé would go onto team up with Run the Jewels front man, Killer Mic and Yung Baby Tate.

In 2019, Elsy’s opportunity to break into Australia’s music industry came when her name was added to the bill of Triple J’s national festival, Groovin the Moo.

Over the next four years, Elsy became one of NSS’s proudest exports. Elsy said she can’t wait to see what talent grows out of the northern suburbs next.

“Adelaide and more importantly the northern suburbs don’t always get their time in the sun. There is a lot of greatness that lurks around these streets.”

“So, to all those kids starting out, remember that big ideas are precious and magical, you must trust in those and ignore the doubt building in the back of your head. Own your ideas and be as authentic as you possibly can,” she said.

NSS is a youth-focused facility dedicated to the music and creative industries located in the heart of Elizabeth. northernsoundsystem.com.au

Musician Taiaha aims for greatness

“I’m still feeling like wow this is out of my hood,” laughs Rapper/ Musician Taiaha AKA

“The Weapon” about his recent work at The Academy – a joint development program run by Northern Sound System (NSS) and WOMADelaide. Despite his reservations, the Aldinga local looks at home clocking time in the music studio at Elizabeth.

For over a decade, Taiaha has ignited audiences with his genre-bending, acoustic rap performances, including once performing as the opener for American hip-hop group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. Despite playing hundreds of shows, and establishing his own grassroots following, Taiaha has struggled to get his break.

“It’s pretty hard to keep the positivity going with your music when you are up against such an industry. So you are putting all your time and effort into how to market yourself, how to survive in that world,” he said.

In 2022, Taiaha turned north – teaming up with his childhood mentor and award winning NSS educator Nick O’Connor.

“Nick’s made me feel at home at NSS. There’s a whole squadron of artists putting their blood, sweat and tears into their craft – the whole hub is humming.”

It was during his time at the NSS studios that Taiaha would hear about the WOMADelaide x NSS Academy – a program, which provides support for emerging First Nations and culturally diverse artists. It would give Taiaha a chance to perform at the festival which had been on his vision board for years.

In November of 2022, Taiaha was told he and Pitjantjatjara rap duo DEM MOB had been handpicked to perform on stage at the upcoming WOMAD festival at Botanic Park, Adelaide.

Taiaha said he dug deep for the performance of his lifetime, teaming up with a live band to bring his rap discography to the big stage.

“I was just overjoyed.”

Taiaha harnesses a unique on-stage energy, something which transcends his unique blend of reggae, rap and soul.

His ability to lead his craft, on stage and off is something he attributes to his Māori heritage.

Are you looking at writing, recording or releasing your very own tunes but don’t know where to start?

You can kickstart your own music career by joining Northern Sound System’s Music LAB. Visit northernsoundsystem.com.au

“In my culture, everyone is part of the art but there is always someone leading the creation. Someone always leads the Hakka, or Whakario rakau (wood carving). It’s a beautiful part of my culture and I think it bleeds into my performance,” he said.

Happy 40th to our grand Grenville Hub

Since 1983, the City of Playford’s Grenville Hub has welcomed the over 50s through its doors on the simple premise to help people live life to the fullest.

This ‘live life’ mantra is reflected in a loaded timetable of activities for members.

There’s fitness with Agnes, art class with Chris, the Grenville Players’ rehearsal and the Silverbeats Rock Choir practice.

Between classes there is access to ageingrelated services, affordable meals with family, a cup of tea with fellow members and unlimited laughs with friends.

Gladys Humphries and Shirley Lewis are two such friends who have been at the Grenville since its beginning.

Gladys, who recently celebrated her 100th birthday, reminisced with Shirley about the ‘old days’ and how the centre is still a vital hub of activity.

“I started in the Keep Fit program two weeks after it began and attended until I was 95 years old,” said Gladys.

The duo fondly recalled names of programs past – there was Anne, who used to teach Keep Fit on Wednesdays; Irene Henry, who started the line dancing and the knitting group who made dolls to send to charities overseas. The hub would be decorated for annual events – St Patrick’s Day and Valentine’s Day among the most memorable.

“I was a volunteer, and I was in the fish and chip section,” explained Gladys, who served meals from the Grenville kitchen.

“What was unusual was the mushy peas,” she said puzzled.

“Oh, that’s an English thing,” Shirley laughed back.

Shirley was in the original fundraising brigade, turning an idea for a centre for older people into the bricks and mortar Grenville Hub.

“I helped raise the money with the Elizabeth City Band Club and we had the idea for a social club for the over 50s,” Shirley said.

They were humble beginnings, with the band raising donations on bingo nights and darts competitions in the old Octagon in Elizabeth.

Fundraising was just part and parcel of an Elizabethan’s pastime.

“Everything was new, the schools were new, we had to raise money to do the libraries for the school. We were forever going to things to help them to get started because the whole of Elizabeth was so new,” Gladys said.

Long time Grenville supporters, Shirley Lewis and Gladys Humphries, celebrate with volunteers, 40 years of the Hub.

Gladys and Shirley have seen the ribbon cut on many of Elizabeth’s landmarks, including both generations of the Grenville Hub, which moved from its original 1983 location to its new home across the plaza in the Elizabeth CBD in 2020.

Even with the move across the way, the new Grenville with its modern façade is still many people’s second home.

“To me it’s just part of my life, it’s something I’ve always done and I shall continue until I can’t do it,” Gladys said.

Friends are the reason Shirley keeps coming to Grenville.

“For a lot of us its friends,” she said. “On top of the exercise, the laughter and the fun you can have here.”

Grenville Hub is turning 40 on 1 May 2023. Stay tuned to playford.sa.gov.au/grenville, on Facebook @playfordgrenvillehub or phone 8256 0377.