Lakna leaving the skin on
“Kiwi avec le peu” – “Kiwi with the skin left on” – is the mysterious title of the debut album from Geneva-born “pop francophone” singer Lakna. It is available now on all the usual platforms.
The daughter of a griot musician from Burkino Fasso and a Genevan actress, Lakna dropped out of Lausanne University to concentrate on her musical career during the lockdown. Hers is a beguiling melange of R&B, French chanson, contemporary Afrobeat and elements of African traditional music. “Kiwi avec le peu” turns out to be a concept album, using the unpeeled Kiwi fruit as a metaphor for a woman – that is: Lakna herself – who is at last happy within her skin and no longer feels the need to peel away layers of herself to suit the expectations of others. Throughout the album, the present, self-aware and assertive Lakna is holding a dialogue with Lakina, her irreverent, innocent adolescent alter ego.
