NAZAMA — SINGLE FROM MY DEBUT ALBUM, FEELING BODY

via cmntx records on Jan 25, 2023

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‘Nazama’ means ‘to sink’ in Kiswahili. This track is the final chapter of FEELING BODY, an album somewhat following the structure of an old classic story: where the first track (“Subira”) is a foretelling, a prologue; the final track, “Nazama”, is a confirmation of that first track’s foretelling — but includes all the new lessons learned because of the journey. 

The song’s lyrics are based on a memory of a time earlier in the year when I learned how to swim within larger, seemingly scarier, ocean waves. The theme of water runs throughout the album, but this track reveals, finally, a complete submission to the force of water, of body — there are field recordings of the sound of underwater submersion, and the sound of rumbling thunder from this perspective. The song also references the biblical River Jordan, where dipping seven times would bring healing from sickness.

The lyrics of Nazama provide the final puzzle piece for why I say “the ground will come after” in the first track: when you let yourself fall into the flow of the waves, you will find the shore, eventually. Perhaps, this is another way to rephrase the adage, “the only way out is through”. The repeated lyric in the track, “I’m getting better” is quite literal, of course, as the album is based on getting through an extended period of illness. But it does ultimately serve as a larger meaning beyond this — perhaps an acknowledgement of life being a continual process of growing, and learning.

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Lyrics

I’m getting better at facing the ocean;

I sink before I pray

Where I’d run before, I’ve learned it was okay

To let your body fall in 

And call it your River Jordan;

And after 7 times, you learned, it was okay.

I’m getting better.

Full Credits: Written & Produced by Nyokabi Kariũki / Performed by Nyokabi Kariũki / Non-featured performers: Ian Fales (double bass) / Mixed by Noah Horowitz / Mastered by Dan Langa / Recorded in Brooklyn, NY (with underwater field recordings sourced online)