Nneka

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nneka in London, 2009
Nneka in Hamburg, 2011

Nneka (born December 24, 1980 in Warri , Nigeria ; full name Nneka Egbuna ) is a Nigerian hip-hop / soul singer and songwriter living in Hamburg . She sings in her native English , often also in Igbo and Nigerian Pidgin .

Life

Nneka in Munich, 2015
Nneka in Munich, 2015
Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
No longer at ease
  DE 31 05/09/2008 (6 weeks)
  AT 46 05/09/2008 (6 weeks)
  CH 42 05/11/2008 (8 weeks)
Soul is heavy
  DE 65 October 24, 2011 (1 week)
  AT 46 10/21/2011 (1 week)
  CH 30th October 09, 2011 (6 weeks)
My fairy tales
  CH 52 03/08/2015 (1 week)
Singles
Heartbeat
  DE 49 04/18/2008 (8 weeks)
  AT 34 04/18/2008 (8 weeks)
  UK 20th 09/05/2009 (7 weeks)
Shining Star
  UK 97 04/07/2012 (1 week)

Nneka is the daughter of a Nigerian and a German. She grew up in the Nigerian city of Warri and moved to Germany at the age of 18, where she initially lived in a residential group in a children's home in Hamburg - Altona . Nneka had her first appearances with the school and church choir.

Since 2003 she has been working with DJ Farhot in Hamburg. She had her breakthrough in June 2004 when she appeared in the opening act of dancehall interpreter Sean Paul in Hamburg's Stadtpark without any publications .

After the production of her debut EP The Uncomfortable Truth with the music label Yo Mama had been completed, Nneka could be seen as supporting act for Patrice Bart-Williams at 17 concerts in Germany, Austria and Switzerland from the end of April 2005 . In September of the same year their debut album Victim of Truth was released , followed by their first tour in Germany as well as support concerts for Seeed in spring 2006 and another tour of their own.

The album was also released in France, the Netherlands, the UK and Japan. Shows in Paris (Maroquinerie, New Morning), Utrecht (Tivoli), Amsterdam ( Paradiso ) and London (ULU) followed. Nneka has also performed at festivals in Haarlem ( BevrijdingsPop ), The Hague (Park Pop), Saint-Brieuc (Art Rock Festival) and the Chiemsee Reggae Summer .

In 2006 the Sunday Times called the album "the year's most criminally overlooked album".

With her album No Longer at Ease and the single Heartbeat , Nneka achieved great popularity in 2008 in Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The album bears the same title as a novel by the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe . Like the novel, the songs on it tell of the conditions in the Nigerian state of Delta and denounce corruption. Political and individual experiences merge into a “winning mix of soul, hip-hop and reggae”.

Together with the German rapper Curse , she recorded the track Baby .

In 2009 the box To and Fro was released. It includes the albums Victim of Truth and No Longer at Ease as well as a third CD with various tracks such as live versions and demos of older songs as well as the videos of all released singles. That same year, her music video Heartbeat into three categories for the price Channel O Music Awards of South African music TV station Channel O nominated. In September 2009 she won the award for best African artist at the MOBO Awards .

During a US tour in late 2009, Nneka gave concerts in New York City , Vienna , Boston , Philadelphia , Los Angeles and San Francisco . At the beginning of the following concert series in winter 2010, she was a guest with her song Heartbeat on the Late Show with David Letterman .

A worldwide guest appearance and concert activity marked the further career of Nneka: In 2010 she appeared in Europe, Africa and Israel and played at festivals in the USA such as Lollapalooza , South by Southwest , "Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival", Lilith Fair and Newport Folk festival . She previously appeared in the opening act for The Roots in New York and in the same year accompanied Nas and Damian Marley on their "Distant Relatives" US tour.

The third album Soul Is Heavy , released in 2011, is based on soul compared to previous releases . The individual titles offer space for cross-references to Afropop, Pop , Reggae , Jazz , Hip-Hop up to Flamenco and Desert Blues, whereby a musical complexity of the album as a whole is achieved. Two tracks on this album were recorded by The Roots, Ms. Dynamite and Black Thought .

The publication was followed by a tour through France, Germany, England, Portugal, Spain, Poland, Switzerland, Denmark, Holland, Belgium and, for the first time, through Norway, Sweden and Slovenia.

In spring 2012 Nneka played in Kenya , Tanzania , Rwanda and Uganda at the invitation of the Goethe-Institut . In the summer she performed at music festivals including the Hurricane Festival , the Southside Festival , Rock Werchter in Belgium, "The V Festival" in Great Britain and "Way Out West" in Sweden. Also in 2012 she completed two tours through the USA and Canada with a total of 30 shows. In that year she also gave concerts in Bulgaria , Greece and Russia for the first time .

At the end of the season in Europe, Nneka performed in the Paris Olympic Hall .

In March 2013 she played in front of 1200 spectators at the Apollo Theater in New York as part of the festival for modern African music “Africa Now!”. In the published in May 2013 album False Idols of Tricky she sings the song Nothing Matters .

Music genre

Although Nneka sings more than raps, she draws musical influences from hip-hop with borrowings from dub , soul, reggae and afrobeat . She says: “There is no drawer for my music. I do what I want. ”Her lyrics are about her life in Germany and her childhood in Nigeria. Her musical role models include the artists Fela Kuti and Bob Marley as well as modern rappers such as Mos Def , Talib Kweli , Mobb Deep and Lauryn Hill . Inspired by the spirituality of reggae music, many of her lyrics deal with religious values. Morality and the importance of the family are recurring themes in her pieces.

Discography

Albums

  • 2005: Victim of Truth
  • 2008: No Longer at Ease
  • 2009: To and Fro (3-CD box set)
  • 2010: Concrete Jungle
  • 2011: Soul Is Heavy
  • 2015: My Fairy Tales

EPs

  • 2005: The Uncomfortable Truth

Singles

  • 2005: The Uncomfortable Truth
  • 2006: Beautiful
  • 2006: God of Mercy
  • 2007: Africans
  • 2008: Heartbeat
  • 2008: walking
  • 2009: Kangpe
  • 2010: Viva Africa (FIFA 2010 World Cup Album)
  • 2011: Soul Is Heavy
  • 2011: My Home
  • 2012: Shining Star
  • 2014: One Mistake (Maskoe feat. Nneka)

Web links

Commons : Nneka  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ nnekaworld.com
  2. ↑ a b Chart sources: Singles Albums DE UK
  3. ^ Records of the year . In: The Sunday Times , December 10, 2006
  4. ^ Rhymes and punishment . In: The Sunday Times , August 23, 2009
  5. ↑ David Hilzendegen: Comparisons with US sizes like Erykah Badu are now taboo. laut.de, accessed on April 9, 2013 .
  6. ^ Frank Lähnemann: Nneka: Soul is Heavy. rollingstone.de, accessed on April 9, 2013 .
  7. ↑ Nneka Egbuna: Big drama, big heart. In: The Standard . August 2, 2016, accessed August 3, 2016
personal data
SURNAME Nneka
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Egbuna, Nneka (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Nigerian-German hip-hop / soul singer
DATE OF BIRTH December 24, 1980
PLACE OF BIRTH Warri , Nigeria