Voice from musical edge of African diaspora Winnipeg Free Press [Video]

Tomiwa Omolayo sees himself as a futurist.

“You know the way hip-hop took over the world for a while? Afrobeats is going to be the next wave,” says the Nigerian-born, Winnipeg-based musician, whose stage name is Tommyphyll.

Omolayo also believes Winnipeg is an emerging hub for some of the most cutting-edge sounds of African diasporic music.

“Music execs that are present here would have the advantage of significantly tapping in early before the rest of Canada starts to realize that, ‘Oh, there’s something really special that’s going on here,’” he says.

The 27-year-old performs an evening of original music Thursday, Jan. 16 at the Rady Jewish Community Centre’s Music ’N’ Mavens concert series. Omolayo calls his program Afrodiem, a portmanteau of “afrobeats” and “carpe diem,” which is Latin for “seize the day.”

In this way, he reflects the modernist leanings of his take on …