Ngaio Anyia on Voice, Joy and Creative Power.
HYFYV Podcast: Episode 5
I was joined by singer, songwriter, DJ, producer and Booty Bass founder Ngaio Anyia to talk about what it really means to lose your voice and rebuild it again.
Ngaio Anyia HYFYV podcast episode artwork
This conversation moves between the personal and the practical. Ngaio reflects on the childhood bullying that led her to stop speaking for a period of time, and the later vocal strain that forced her into months of physical silence. Rather than stepping away from music, she found new routes into it, first through DJing and later through production.
We talk about music as a form of social ritual, rave culture, the quiet recalibration that follows performance, and why creative control matters so much. Ngaio also speaks candidly about the gender imbalance in music production and the subtle ways women are still pushed into the vocalist lane rather than the producer’s seat.
This conversation is a refreshingly honest picture of voice as something that evolves over time; as something we keep finding again and again.
About Ngaio Anyia
Ngaio Anyia is a multi-hyphenate creative: a singer, songwriter, DJ, producer, community creator and inclusion and diversity consultant.
Ngaio is a versatile artist, known for her bass-heavy DJ sets, as well as her powerhouse vocal range. Her music oozes with intricate jazz harmonies, African percussion and truth-laden spoken word. Ngaio confronts the politics of black bodies, whilst poetically unravelling her mixed-race identity. You can read more about Ngaio and her work here.