Debbie Defire has lived in Jamaica, the United Kingdom and United States, but none of those countries compare to Africa where she has visited regularly for the past 11 years. The Motherland provided much of the inspiration for Where Do I Go From Here, the singer’s first album which was released in October. Defire fuses Afrobeat sounds of West Africa with reggae on some of the songs including the title track, which she dedicates to her husband Isaac who died in late 2019.
“I first went to Tanzania in the fall of 2009 and have been visiting ever since. I fell in love with the country, plus my childhood friend lives there and I’ve been to Uganda and Zanzibar,” Defire explained. She added that, “As an artist I wanted to infuse the Afrobeat with the Jamaican twist…infusing the two cultures gave me this wonderful piece of musical artistic expression.” The title song features sultry phrasing from saxophonist Dean Fraser, while Respect is a collaboration with Hugh Masekela, the legendary South African trumpeter Defire met in the 1980’s while living in Chicago. Bongo Land and U Don’t Deserve Me are other bi-cultural songs on the album.
Defire was born in the UK but moved to Jamaica as a child with her parents. She got involved in the arts and music as a teenager living in Kingston and by the late 1970’s, was recording songs as Debbie Keys, her real name. For over 20 years, she was a fixture on the Chicago reggae scene, working popular venues like the Wild Hare club. She currently lives in London.
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