This summer The Africa Centre marks nearly 50 years as a cultural
hub in the heart of London with a free arts and multimedia festival curated by renowned
Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare. Over the first weekend of August the
Covent Garden Piazza has been commandeered for two days of live music, film screenings, a fashion show plus an array of other activities. On the music front, DJ
Edu has done a good job keeping the crowd in positive spirits as they wait for Saturday's headline act: internationally acclaimed Nigerian-German singer/songwriter
Nneka Egbuna. Surprisingly, things are
pretty much running to schedule (Look, I’m an African. Cultural double-standards
mean I can mock our lackadaisical approach to timekeeping, even if no one else gets
away with it).
After much ado and
preamble (read: stalling) from the festival hosts this elfin champion of
socio-politically conscious music strolls onto stage as if she has all the time
in the world, sporting a PLO-style headscarf and a caretaker’s trench coat. It is unlikely that it would make much of a
difference to her whether she knew that most of the audience, including yours
truly, are here just to see her. Nneka
epitomises the simplicity of a person very much grounded in reality and with a
grip on what really matters. Born and raised in Warri, Nigeria before relocating to Germany in her late teens, the best
part of 15 years spent living in Europe hasn’t altered Nneka's thick, Delta-Igbo accent. There are probably
few artists as devoid of pretence as Miss Egbuna. This sincerity pervades everything
she does and is the source of her enduring appeal.
‘Welcome to my therapy session’ she says before launching
into second single‘Shining Star’ from her latest album ‘Soul Is Heavy’,
one of those catchy ‘I’m surprised no one else has thought of it before’
numbers that she seems to churn out with comparative ease. Once in a while Nneka grabs her distinctive,
hollowed out guitar. Her plaintive wail,
at once high (a contrast to the fairly deep timbre of her speaking voice), fragile and urgent, soars over our heads like a rallying cry; a call to
action. Bona fide fans mouth the words to album
opener ‘Lucifer’ with gusto. Yet this is
not the gamely crowd nor the febrile atmosphere of her unforgettable 2010 gig at the London Scala. Nneka is a little more subdued too, her dimpled smile an even rarer occurrence than usual. She is
not her normal garrulous self although the performance is every bit as heartfelt. Rock-rap title track ‘Soul is Heavy’ is
particularly impassioned. Nneka, after
all, considers Hip-Hop to be her base.
Some way into the one hour set she explains why
she is not in such a chatty mood.
There’s nothing she could say that has not been said before, is her world-weary admission. She is not here to preach, she reassures us but she does offer some spontaneous words of advice. She urges us to throw off our
self-absorption, to stop beginning sentences with ‘I’ for a change. She berates the trend, popular amongst
certain artists, of speaking about revolution without actually living it. Nneka doesn’t let herself off the hook
either, confessing with typical candour that she is sometimes guilty of the same things she riles against. She follows this up by paraphrasing Michael Jackson's 'Man In the Mirror'. Why wouldn't you admire someone so brutally frank - even with herself?
For the last couple of songs she returns to the classics. Not
yet being properly au fait with ‘Soul Is Heavy’ it is with relief I sing the
chorus to ‘Suffri’ before a soulful acoustic piano solo segues into the
crowd-igniting ‘Heartbeat’. Finally the Piazza
is stirred properly to life. We chant, we jump and then… it’s all over. No time unfortunately for even a little bit of 'The Uncomfortable Truth'. Pleas for an encore go unheeded. Nneka has said
all she needs to for the night.
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