Putting soul in our roots: Star in the making, Fehdah on making music and taking risks 

Fehdah gave a showstopping performance at the Irish Examiner's ieStyle Live event at City Hall last week. As she returns to Cork for the Jazz Festival, Edel Coffey meets a star in the making 

Fehdah was raised in Maynooth, where she moved when she was three with her Irish mother and African father. Picture: Earth Music Agency

It’s not every physics lecturer that takes to the festival circuit to perform when the academic term finishes up, but Emma Garnett, better known as the musician Fehdah, is not your average science teacher.

Fehdah was raised in Maynooth, where she moved when she was three with her Irish mother and African father, living there until she was nine, when they relocated to Africa to spend time with her father’s family.