Nneka Lucia Egbuna is an award-winning Nigerian singer based in Germany. Born to Nigerian father and German mother, Nneka, who relocated to Germany in 2003, after her basic education in Nigeria has

been doing the country proud abroad, winning awards to her credit. What makes Nneka unique is that though she has stayed for almost 10 years outside the country, she still identifies with Nigeria through her music. SEYI GESINDE reports.

A Nigerian doing Nigeria proud is Nneka Lucia Egbuna, popularly referred to as a Nigerian German hip hop soul singer and songwriter in Germany.

What makes Nneka’s type of music unique in the Diaspora is with blending of her native Igbo language with English language – projecting a positive image for Nigeria abroad and this style has been widely accepted by her fans.

Born December 24, 1980 to an Igbo, Nigerian father from Anambra State and a German mother, Nneka was brought up in Warri in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

She had her basic education at the primary school of the Delta Steel Company, and later proceeded to Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) secondary school before travelling abroad.

Nneka developed her singing ability from her childhood both in the school and in the church as a member of her church choir.

She later went professional with her singing career after she relocated to Hamburgin 2003. There, she established a relationship with a popular Hamburg-based hip hop singer, DJ Farhot.

It was not too long after Nneka started off in Hamburg that she had a breakthrough, as her relationship with DJ Farhot and her ability to learn fast shot her into limelight, barely a year after she got to Hamburg.

What particularly gave her a breakthrough was when she performed as an opening act at Hamburg Stadtpark for dancehall reggae star, Sean Paul.

This was what spurred her record her first single, “The Uncomfortable Truth” under Yo Mama’s Recording Company, in April 2005; she went on her first tour performance another popular singer, Patrice Bart-Williams, while she staged shows in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

Later in 2005, she recorded her first album entitled “Victim of Truth,” which was released in Germany, England, France, Netherlands, Nigeria and Japan. Music analysts in Sunday Times of the United Kingdom after reviewing the album and comparing it with “The Miseducation” of Lauryn Hill, declared it “the year’s most criminally overlooked album.”

The album after the release, enjoyed a favourable public acceptance which fetched Nneka her fans accolade; she later became popular music brand that top singers in Hamburg wanted to associate with. She was wooed to perform at festivals such as Chiemsee Reggae Summer, Haarlem known as Bevrijdings Pop, Den Haag, also popularly known as Park Pop and Saint-Brieuc, the Art Rock Festival, while she has also performed at high- brow musical venues like La Maroquinerie and New Morning in Paris, Tivoli in Utrecht, Paradiso in Amsterdam and Cargo and ULU in London.

She had worked with popular stars like Femi Kuti, Bilal, Seeed, and Gnarls Barkley.

It was in February 2008 she released her second album entitled “No Longer at Ease,” the title she took from Chinua Achebe’s novel.

She reflected on the plights of her Niger Delta people in the album, while she also went political in her lyrics and also sang against corruption within the corridors of power.

Besides, in the album, “No Longer at Ease,” Nneka combines the political lyrics with a mix of soul, hip-hop and reggae.

The lead single from the album “Heartbeat,” the year it was released made it to the Top 50 songs in Germany, while in September, 2009, the song entered the United Kingdom’s Singles Chart at number 20.

The month after her rating, Nneka, supported by supported Lenny Kravitz went on tour of France, Italy and Portugal month.

On her return, she was nominated in three categories for the 2009 Channel O Music Video Awards, and won an award for “Best African Act” at the 2009 MOBO Awards.

Later in 2009, she was chosen as one of Beyond Race Magazine’s 50 Emerging Artistes. It was during that same year, Nneka staged her first concert tour of the United States where she performed New York City, Washington DC, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Francisco. On February 2, she released her first US album Concrete Jungle and her track “Kangpe” featured as a soundtrack on the EA Sports FIFA 2010 video game.

In June 2010, Nneka won the reggae category of the Museke Online Africa Music Award 2010 with her hit song, Africans.

After then, she agreed to go on tour with Nas and Damian Marley to help them promote their “Distant Relatives” album. Nneka has done a remix of her highly rated track, “Heartbeat” with Nas, the popular American musician and it is expected to be released soon.

Nneka won the award for Best Indigenous Artiste in Nigeria at the Nigerian Entertainment Awards 2010 which was held in New York, U.S.A. Her musical heroes are Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and Bob Marley and contemporary rappers like Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Lauryn Hill which she see as great influences on her career.