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::MUSIC NEWS::
LE Newsletter -
August 12, 2010
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Neo-Soul Sister Nneka Cooks Up A Global Groove
Source: www.globeandmail.com -
Brad Wheeler
(August 09, 2010) The singer-songwriter
Nneka,
a journey-making artist of Nigerian and German heritage, is
well known in Europe but has had minimal exposure in North
America. That’s beginning to change, though.
The compilation album Concrete Jungle was released in
the United
States and Canada early this
year, and the neo-soul singer recently completed a tour with
rapper Nas and reggae star Damian Marley. She performs in
Toronto on Tuesday.
The music
What Nneka terms a “mélange” is an expressive mix of pop,
reggae, hip hop and African traditional music. Fans of The
Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and the work of Erykah Badu will
appreciate its thoughtfulness, lilting soul-folk melodies and
grooving rhythms.
Lyrics address political and spiritual concerns. “I would
describe it as socially consciousness,” says the 28-year-old.
The refrain to the hypnotic rap song Showin’ Love defines
life as being about “giving love, showing love, doing love,
making love.”
And the Bob Marley-esque Africans tells Westerners to
take responsibility for their exploitation of the developing
world, while imploring Africans to stop blaming others for their
plight.
“It’s about raising awareness about how Africans can make a
change by realizing we have to eradicate a certain colonial
mentality that has been imposed upon us,” says the singer, who
was born and raised in Nigeria (her mother is German), “and that
the inferiority complex that we’re still running around with has
to be eliminated.”
The heritage
When it comes to artists with complex racial and cultural
backgrounds, Nneka, who relocated to Germany at age 18 to study
anthropology in Hamburg, is one of many these days. There is the
Somalia-Canadian hip-hop troubadour
K’naan;
the England-born Jamaican-Iranian pop-soul singer Rox; and the
Sri Lankin Londoner M.I.A.
But although Nneka acknowledges the unique sensibilities a
mixed-race artist may enjoy – “it does have an impact on the way
people write and hear music” – she downplays any mysteriousness
or inherent advantage.
“All musicians travel to different places and see the world, so
I don’t know if it matters where you come from. I mean, there
are many Americans who have colourful musical ideas.”
The mission
Nneka is no Madonna or Lady Gaga when it comes to showmanship.
“I don’t know what entertainment is,” she says. “I just what do
what I do – take it or leave it, that’s how it is. I do my act.
I’m not there to please anybody.”
That being said, Nneka on stage is no shoe-gazing mope. And
neither is she unthankful toward her fans. It’s just that she
has little interest in the business end of the music business.
“For people to come and see me, of course, I appreciate it.
People buy tickets to see me play – capitalism exists. We all
have to earn money, et cetera, et cetera. But it’s music that I
live. It’s music that I am.”
The concrete jungle
Themes of polarity dominate Kneka’s lyrics. For example, the
album title Concrete Jungle refers to two worlds: the
artificial and the authentic, with the “plastic” United States
being inauthentic in her eyes. “Everybody there is polite,” she
explains. “But it’s what Malcolm X would consider tokenism and
philanthropic.”
When it’s suggested to the singer that her assessment of America
is overly sweeping and critical, Nneka apologizes – “I’m sorry,”
she laughs. “Who am I to judge?” – before she rephrases.
“What I’m trying to do is bring the superficial and the natural
together. To being the concrete into the jungle, and the jungle
into the concrete.”
Nneka appears Tuesday at 8 p.m. at the El Mocambo in Toronto. |
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::LANGFIELD
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