Elsy Wameyo has emerged as a force to be reckoned with in recent years. Against a changing social and cultural landscape, Elsy’s work has elevated and evolved – a chameleonic artist pouring life’s lessons and experiences into dynamic pieces of art.

Born in Nairobi, Kenya, Elsy migrated with her family to Adelaide, South Australia at a young age. Experiencing displacement and unease as a young person, neither identifying as a “Kenyan” or “Australian”, the anchors for Elsy as she navigated the world during this time came in the form of her devout faith, and in music. 

“Home is a place you retreat to for safety, love and comfort. A place that your being recognises and your spirit connects to,” Elsy explains. “My accent allows me to assimilate and my ways of thinking embed me seamlessly within the community, but my spirit will forever remain unsettled.”

Describing her “safe place” as the music room at her school, Elsy developed a love for the craft as a way to express herself, but connect with a sense of identity that would flourish into her artistry in later years. Identifying a natural talent for singing early on, Elsy’s father took her to a local music studio in Adelaide’s northern suburbs, NSS (Northern Sound System), where the teenage Elsy became a go-to singer for the community of musicians and rappers there.

Still, her spirit remained restless, and the hunger to do more became central to Elsy’s journey. As she remembers, “Though I felt very welcomed during this time, I was always determined to break from the shadow of others’ artistry and become my own.”