Womanchild

Is she urban contemporary, pop/rock, or world music? Very hard to categorize, Bemshi's debut album, Womanchild, didn't make the playlists of either pop or R&B stations in the U.S. — and that's a shame because this neglected CD has a lot to offer. To be sure, Womanchild doesn't fit neatly into any one category. The music of Bemshi, an expressive and charismatic singer who does much of the writing and co-writing on this disc, has as much to do with pop/rock as it does with R&B and hip-hop — and she also incorporates elements of Indian, Middle Eastern, and African music. But regrettably, Bemshi's risk-taking spirit didn't pay off commercially — while Womanchild should have been a hit, it fell between the cracks and received little attention. In 1992, the obscure singer was dropped by Capitol — and when the 21st Century rolled around eight years later, Bemshi had yet to record a second album.