Artists After the Escape: Musician Nneka from Nigeria
In Germany, Nneka Egbuna experienced a sense of freedom that she never had in Nigeria. Now she sings for people in her homeland whose everyday lives are defined by brutal conflict over valuable oil.
Flight, freedom, success
When Nneka came to Hamburg's Altona neighborhood at the end of the '90s, Germany seemed peaceful and full of a freedom that she had never before known. Here she met like-minded individuals and quickly found her way into the local music scene. Her breakthrough came in 2004 when she opened for Sean Paul at a concert in Hamburg's urban Stadtpark.
Where conflict rages
Nneka's childhood was far from easy. The musician was born in Warri, a city of some 500,000 inhabitants located in Delta State, one of the nine federal states in Nigeria that make up the oil-rich area around the mouth of the Niger river. The city's ethnic makeup is predominantly Ijaw, Itsekiri and Urhobo — groups that are often engaged in conflict with one another.
Lots of oil, little money
The different ethnicities fight in part over who controls oil production. According to some statistics, Nigeria has the 10th largest oil reserves in the world. It is consistently Africa's largest oil producer, and some 70 percent of the country's budget comes from the industry. This money does not reach the delta area, however. Instead, environmental pollution threatens humans and animals alike.
Singing against terror
In addition, injustice and corruption in Nigeria has fed the growth of the Islamist terror organization Boko Haram in the country's north. Nneka takes them on in her politically and socially critical song lyrics. In "Pray for You," the faithful Christian lambasts the group for its murders, but sings that she nonetheless prays for these perpetrators, whose acts have led to much mourning (above).
A call to take responsibility
The singer uses her worldwide fame to broadcast her message about how international companies reap profits without involving local populations, and how oil destroys relationships and society. But Nneka also preaches that inhabitants of the African continent must take responsibility for current conditions and stop blaming colonial powers. "Wake up Africa," she sings in her song "Africans."
'It is about loving yourself'
Nneka's lyrics don't just focus on political and social wrong-doings, however. Morality and the importance of family are recurring themes in her tracks as well. She also sings about her feelings of being torn as a German-African and the contradictions between both her cultures. The singer has come to the conclusion that, "It is about loving yourself in the end."