Namvula Muntemba-Rennie is a young singer-songwriter who, with her debut album 'Shiwezwa', has already caused a bit of a stir in the English world music scene. Namvula's life story reads like an adventure novel. As the daughter of a Scottish missionary and a Zambian mother she grew up between Zambia, the United States, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Loosely translated Namvula means something like "mother of the rain", a reference to Namvula's great-great-grandmother who was a rain priestess in her home village Shiwezwa (also the title of Namvula's debut effort). On 'Shiwezwa' Namvula alternates between English and Lenje and her music reflects her mixed Scottish-Zambian background: tracks like the funky sounding 'Yumya Moyo' (reminding yours truly of Dobet Gnahoré) or 'Umoyo Wanga' sound unmistakably African, while a song like 'Sign Of The Times' is pure folk and 'Old Man', a tune reminiscent of Nora Jones' repertoire, will probably rather appeal to fans of singer-songwriter ballads.