Hers is a UK based Nigerian family from which Nigeria is sure to hear somehow soon. Large by British standard but well educated all in some of the toughest British universities such as the London School of Economics, (LSE) and the University of St. Andrews, that would not be surprising at all from the family.
Another face of a new voice
Onyeka might thus be an early version of such a becoming. She is not a typical musician in a career sense. Hers is music making imposed by the irresistible force of creativity. Otherwise, she is busy exploring the relative choice opportunities that being born in the UK and attending two of its leading universities such as the London School of Economics avails her. Part of that ingrained creativity, paradoxically, is the force of home calling. And home is Nigeria and her rich, popular culture sphere. It is a space she is tapping into, musically, with her first production, ‘Mornings’, produced by the extraordinary Woman’s Touch, and released in August 2021.
By her own testimony, she was inspired into it by a desire for an alternative kind of music – something more gentle and thought-provoking, reflecting on the day-day realities of life. Her sound is suggestive of music that engages with taken for granted phenomena and which makes a creative domain such as music a powerful barometer for looking at or understanding any society.
For instance, the most prominent in the artwork for her current album or the song is the light showing morning. But for whom might the morning be rising? For her as an individual? For Nigeria?, For the UK or for Africa? That is part of the mystique to be explored by her listeners as there can be no single, fixed interpretation for a text. A musical production is, indeed, a text which can be interpreted and understood from so many angles, any of which stands the chance of being dominant, depending on vocalization.
With her academic training in Social and Public Communication from the London School of Economics and Political Science, (LSE), it is pointless saying she is operating in a comfort zone. It all suggests that we might not have even began to hear this voice yet.
Readers can listen to her latest single, which came out January 28th , 2022 as well her debut single ‘Mornings’ here.
