Nubiyan Twist

Nubiyan Twist are a collective born from Leeds’ eclectic music scene with a unique sound that draws from jazz, hip hop, African styles, Latin, R’n’B, reggae and electronics. Orchestrated by guitarist / producer Tom Excell, the band originally met at Leeds College Of Music. The band’s enigmatic vocalist Nubiya Brandon remembers: “We were on different courses but we all went out and partied together. It was only at the end of the course that we decided to get together to jam and it happened from there. Originally the band was a DJ, vocalist and sax set-up; I was more into writing lyrics and poetry than music at that time. The line-up quickly expanded; we used the name Ten Trick Pony because there were then 10 in the band but our eventual name came from a moment catching Lauryn Hill on the radio, talking about a hairstyle called the ‘Nubiyan Twist’.”