The RoseMary Fiki Band will play Art Sanctuary on Friday.
Rosemary Fiki of Philly is turning heads with her rocking Afro-pop sound, so much so that she was designated a Vibe Vixen in the magazine of the same name in the spring.
That’s Vibe Vixen, not video vixen.
“A ‘vixen’ is a word like diva, which has gone on to mean a woman who is strong and talented and has a super ego,” Fiki says. “A vixen back in the day was someone who was over sexualized, a Playboy pinup. Now, a vixen is a woman who’s out there, doing it.”
Fiki certainly is out there and doing it. Her “The RoseMary Fiki EP” lit up the urban blogosphere in the spring, thanks to Kiki’s sparkling, soulful music. It’s a hybrid sound, effervescent yet edgy, soaring yet warmly sedate.
“My team comes from all different backgrounds,” says Fiki, who is of Nigerian descent. “There’s hip-hop, rock, acoustic sounds, it all comes together. … That’s what you hear on the EP.”
Karl Hicks, late of the city hip-hop group Schoolz of Thought, is the producer and musical director for Fiki’s band. The guys are also gaining notice in the Afro-punk scene.
“In Afro-punk there is so many types of people who are into punk rock, rock, Goth, hip-hop — it’s people who are different coming together,” Fiki says. “They love music and they’re open to being original.”
Fiki and her crew are working on a new EP, which will be released this spring. Up next is a show this Friday at Art Sanctuary with Latriece Branson, along with a showing of the photographs of Erinn Cosby, Bill Cosby’s daughter.
The RoseMary Fiki Band and Latriece Branson
Jan. 17, 7 p.m.
Art Sanctuary
628 S. 16th St.
$10, 215-232-4485
www.artsanctuary.org
