Bumi Thomas

Broken silence was written and recorded during the peak of my residency battle with the home
office last year. Coincidentally this EP is being released on the 12th of June 2020, exactly 1 year after I received the refusal letter and threat of Deportation from the home office in June 2019 despite being born in Glasgow and living in the UK for the majority of my adult life. That moment turned my world upside down! This led to
public outrage and a nationwide wide campaign that caught the attention of mainstream media and a petition with over 25,000 signatures.

“Broken Silence ” expresses the experience of Border Natives in a changing landscape and the range of emotions the displaced endure when
transitioning from one state of liminality to another.

Osiki and I created this EP whilst I was fighting for my right to be recognised as a British Citizen.
These songs are borne from the spectrum of states I traversed on a personal yet public journey of
belonging and displacement.It also captures the beauty of love and power of friendship in times of uncertainty.

Music was the heaven that allowed me to process my thoughts and emotions ,
release the trauma and transmute it into an empowering creative experience. I am able to sing
about my past without being in it. Music is indeed my realm of self sovereignty.

The emotional landscape reflects brokenness, rediscovery, rebirth, healing, change, hope, and
the transformative power of love. Broken Silence’ is a story of evolution, depth, transformation and rebirth. In some ways I am telling a life affirming story of a British Black female that encompasses politics, culture , migration and activism through music.


It is strange when I look back on the path my life has taken, so much has transpired in the last year that has lead to a resurgence of the civil rights movement globally.

This is a tale of alchemy, renaissance, the events and forces that catalyzed my golden age of creation.


Broken Silence is a visceral, rhythmic and melodic body of songs with rich grooves that combine inflections of highlife, Jazz, reggae, afrobeat and blues with a pop sensibility.

Written and performed by Bumi Thomas, produced with Oz of 528 Music Global with features
from Ayanna Witter Jonson cellist, Jazz Phenomenon Randolph Mathews, Martei Korley in collaboration with Ivor Novello Prize Winning Artist Michelle Escoffery.

Song List:
1. Soul Harmony ft Randolph Mathews
Quote; ‘Soul Harmony is about awakening to a state of Love, calm and aware of the deeper connection between the sacred feminine + Masculine.’


2. Leso Leso - The leading single for the EP is a conversation with my father, exploring my patrilineal heritage, tethered to the transatlantic migration of form, sound and culture.
Quote: ‘It’s about embracing the journey to Self Sovereignty, understanding that If I don't
accept me in totality...then I will never truly belong anywhere. This took me on a journey from Glasgow to Lagos, Sierra Leone, Portugal and Bahia Brazil, this is reflected in the lyrics written in
English, Yoruba and Portuguese.’


3. Black child (Child of the Sun) ft Martei
Quote: ‘Speaks to the liminality of migration and the inevitable return to sovereignty’


4. Ekwueme {Breathe} ft Michelle Escoffery & Ayanna Witter Johnson
Quote: ‘First you must find your strength … It's about courage, the calm during the storm, being
overwhelmed and finding space to breathe.’

5. Fire ft Aina More
Quote; ‘The Tongue has the Power of Life and Death, The soothing tongue is the tree of life but the perverse tongue crushes the spirit’- Proverbs 15.4


In the height of this pandemic, many norms have become unknowns. We find ourselves grappling with this reality, the ‘new’ normal… What does this mean for the artist? Is our role in the human experience still valid? Perhaps now more than ever…

We are exploring new ways of
being together and sharing collective experiences.

Music has always been a powerful
integrator, an almost shamanic force that captures the essence of what is felt, a way of discussing harsh subjects without resistance.

Broken Silence is my offering in this time of solitude, quarantine , reflection and isolation. The sheer beauty and necessity of human connection has never been more apparent.

About the Artist:

Bumi Thomas is a contemporary British Nigerian multidisciplinary artist based in London. whose work explores transcending cultural boundaries. Music and photography are her mediums of synthesis. ‘The human voice is a raging canvas through which words and melodies create patterns of experience. I tell stories about movement, displacement, joy and humanity.’

To enjoy Bumi's music is to experience a cinematic sound that combines jazz, high-life rhythms, palmwine grooves, reggae and blues, infused with folk and delivered with soul.

Thomas has spoken at TEDx Events about the Power of Purpose, the role of art in evolving cultures and the Ripple Effect on the Next Generation ; Guilty Feminist, BBC and other platforms.

She curates immersive experiences that stimulate trans-cultural dialogue about
the role of the female voice in 21st century society, highlighting the role of art in evolving cultures.

Thomas believes in the importance of creating physical/ ideological spaces that encourage women to activate the feminine principle, take authorship of how they are perceived historically and reclaim their identity through ART, and positive self- representation.

Bumi Thomas was born in Glasgow to Commonwealth Citizens in 1983 and is currently raising awareness through her Initiative ‘Border Natives’ Migration Culture + Interconnections about
the retroactive consequences of the 1981 British Nationality Act on UK Born residents that are yet to be formally recognised as citizens in Britain today, due to the changes in Immigration law that have compounded in the Hostile Environment Policy. She continues to
advocate for the rights of the disenfranchised using music as a catalyst for social change.