“I get this question a lot,” Tommyphyll chuckles when asked about his particular style of music.
The answer is tied to the Winnipeg artist’s bold embrace of the future while not being tied down with expectations. That artistic fearlessness will be on full display on January 16 when Tommyphyll takes the stage at the Rady JCC as part of their Music ‘n’ Mavens series.
Tommyphyll has dubbed his genre-defying sound as “Afrodiem” - a combination between the Afrobeat sound that drives his music, and his “carpe diem” approach to creating music.
The roots of “Afrodiem” can be traced to Tommyphyll’s childhood in Lagos, Nigeria. “My mom was actually the person that taught me to sing... before I ever decided to pursue music professionally,” he explained to Nolan Kehler on Morning Light. “Hearing different sounds all over the house from Yinka Ayefele to ABBA to Hans Zimmer... that was something interesting growing up.”
One might be surprised to find classical music mixed with the sounds of Afrobeat pioneers and pop royalty, but Tommyphyll has a simple explanation for its influence on his music today. “I’m a very dramatic person,” he smiles wryly. “I’ve always been very big on the heavy orchestra, you know, the strings [and] how they come and create a mood [and] just take you from a place of calm to the super dramatic side of things.”
“The Afrobeats is all about movement. It’s all about the good vibes,” he continues. “So it’s like, why not just combine the two together and see?”
Tommyphyll’s use of sounds from the past are what grounds to pursue an Afrofuturistic angle to his artistry. “One thing about sounds from the past is that you always have to respect them,” he explains. “I believe that the artists, the legends are fantastic storytellers. There was something about storytelling that I felt like the instrument and the artist themselves did together.”
One more key ingredient in the “Afrodiem” sound is the collaborative nature of the Winnipeg music scene. “People don’t actually give it as much credit because the smallness of it all is one of the key things that actually fosters that community,” Tommyphyll shares. “There’s so many talented people in such a concentrated area of space that if you don’t collaborate with them, you’re definitely doing something wrong.”
Audiences at Music ‘n’ Mavens will get a firsthand experience of Tommyphyll’s “Afrodiem” sounds on January 16 at 2 p.m. You can learn more at the Rady JCC’s website, or learn more about Tommyphyll on his social media channels.
