Project Mama Earth & Joss Stone

Preparation is overrated. Impulse is everything. Such was the rebellious wisdom that drove the sessions for Project Mama Earth's astonishing debut EP. In June 2017, five world-renowned musicians met in Devon England for a high-wire act unique in modern music. They had no songs. No chord charts. No game plan. No safety net. Nothing, in fact, but a plan to play and catch the sparks. Where a lesser band would have stumbled, the gauntlet was readily seized by the all-star Mama Earth lineup of Joss Stone (vocals), Nitin Sawhney (guitar), Jonathan Joseph (drums), Étienne M'Bappé (bass/guitar) and Jonathan Shorten (keyboards). "The possibility for catastrophe was huge," nods the drummer. "It could have completely tanked. But the minute everyone stood in the studio, before we even touched an instrument – I just knew."

A collaborative Afro-pop, funk, and soul-influenced outfit, Project Mama Earth features British vocalist Joss Stone, drummer Jonathan Joseph, guitarist Nitin Sawhney, Cameroon-born bassist/guitarist Etienne Mbappé, and keyboardist Jonathan Shorten. Formed in 2017, Project Mama Earth was initially inspired by Joseph's longstanding interest in incorporating funk and R&B grooves with the traditional Cameroonian rhythms of Mangambe and Bikutsi.