Shay Lia – Djibouti’s musical ‘first lady’
When you grow up in Djibouti, with camels outside your school and nomadic uncles who bring you goats (big ones) as presents, the world of heavy-hitting American politics is likely to feel a long way away.
But if you are Shay Lia, a woman of the world who has lived in Djibouti, Tunisia, Ivory Coast and France, then anything is possible.
And that includes having one of your tracks, Good Together, chosen by Michelle Obama, the former US first lady, for her Spotify playlist.
“Honestly, I felt speechless. And my favourite is Michelle, it’s not Barack. I’m sorry”, she told This Is Africa.
“Also, it was part of the podcast and it was the first time we were able to hear more of herself, hosting a show, talking about many topics, and I’ve connected with a lot of the things she was saying. It helped with PR and no, I didn’t talk to her. I wish.”
You could say that Ms Obama’s choice makes Lia Djibouti’s musical “first lady”. But remarkably, the political connections don’t end there.
Lia’s uncle was Djibouti’s prime minister and her father worked as one of his right-hand men.
“I just knew that my dad was doing something serious and that he was very respected. I felt very protected. Even walking to school, the men who guard the house, they would be like, ‘Hey…your dad is OK?’ And I could continue and walk the whole city. Everybody knew who I was. No threats. It was not like that at all.”
Lia is now based in Montreal, Canada, and has just released a remix of her track Irrational, featuring a guest vocal from a member of Nigeria’s musical elite, Adekunle Gold.
But she retains the influence of her formative years living on the Horn of Africa.
“I think Djibouti shaped the person that I am more than my sound,” she says.
“I’m not impressed by money. It’s more about the values, ethics and stuff like that.”
And she learned that particular lesson from her extended family in Africa.
“They’re nomads. At seven years old you kind of judge them, you don’t know any better. You think, ‘Oh, this poor man.’ My dad would be like, ‘That’s your uncle. And he’s going to offer us a goat, and you’ve got to say thank you because it’s a big one.’”
By BBC
