I was led into a seventies style closed room to listen to exclusive tracks from Magda’s EP titled Free To Fly. The clandestine circumstances say much about her exalted status. With the kind of secrecy usually reserved for top selling global status artists such as U2 or Madonna. I was allowed only a supervised listening of three of Magda’s new tracks, the word of which I had to frantically scribble down before the lyric sheets were snatched back at the end of the session. There was no question of taking the EP home.

The 21-year old London singer songwriter brings an exciting acoustic soul sound fused with, hip-hop and Jazz beats to our shelves. Magda Sinit was born and bred in South London but she is quick to stress that she is still Habesha. “For those who don’t know what Habesha is, let me school you folks! It means I’m from the horn of Africa, a mixture of both Eritrean and Ethiopian decent.” Over the past five years, Magda has been working with a diverse range of producers and musicians. Where did it all begin? “My dad would always play music at one of our many birthday parties and our whole extended family would be around, dancing to Steve Wonder’s Happy Birthday. And that’s were it began, I had an innate love for music, singing in my school or church choir.”

Tragedy struck in 1991 when her brother Joe died from a heart condition aged three. This sparked her to write, at age five, her first song ‘Joe where did you go?’ She recalls, “One of my most memorable show was the fridge bar, where I performed the song I wrote for my brother. The performance was deep, I cried towards the end.” Her first gig, at the age of sixteen was in a variety showcase held at her local college, where she performed her first Gospel/Spiritual son titled ‘Call on him.’ She counts her parents as her greatest supporters, “They always supported my sisters and me, we did ballet, and tap as children. They even bought my sister a piano and me a violin and even paid for lessons! Which if my memory services me right, we neglected to take serious at the time. My extended family are also supportive, always asking what is new and what I am doing regarding my music. I love them for that.”

Magda’s conversation reflects this dual allure. Veering between sophistication and youthful, she talks of, “..the way people’s faces light up when they hear her music and how they dance at parties and weddings.” She admits that a duet with the Marley brothers would be ideal, “They are truly refreshing and uplifting, I love how they’ve built a bridge between their reggae roots from Jamaica and today’s hip-hop culture. In addition, they are still able to remain mainstream and I think Damian Marley is beautiful!”