Nneka live at
Joe's Pub, New York City
A day prior to her CMJ showcase at Littlefield in Brooklyn, Nigerian-German singer-songwriter Nneka performed two intimate sets at the venerable Joe’s Pub in NYC. I attended the earlier set and - to no surprise - it was a packed house. Nneka and her band emerged to loud applause. She had some problems with the strap on her guitar and coyly apologized, which made her even more endearing. Once settled, she launched right in, playing mostly songs from her latest album, Soul is Heavy.
Nneka is one of those musicians who demands to be seen live. Don't get me wrong, her studio recordings are top notch and highly recommended, but you don't get the full force of the emotion in her voice, or the anguish and urgency of her lyrics, listening to her on a stereo. In some instances during the show, she seemed almost overwhelmed with emotion; towards the end of Do You Love Me Now, for instance, it looked as if she was wiping away tears. You’re not going to experience that listening on an iPod.
Another great thing about Nneka live is her interaction with the crowd. On this night, her discussions ran the gamut of the human experience. She talked about her humbling experience in Sierra Leone where she met women who'd been displaced by civil war. She was there to bring them comfort but it was they who comforted her when they sensed her sadness. She said she felt ashamed about that, considering her problems were insignificant compared to theirs. That she opened up and admitted this publicly is characteristic of this very humane singer, and the quality comes across in her music, too. She truly wears her heart on her sleeve. She talked about how people in the west endlessly complain about insignificant things that shouldn’t even matter.
However, it wasn’t all “serious” topics. Her music is socially and politically-engaged, but she’s multifaceted. She joked around as well,, and kept the atmosphere communal. For instance, at one point in the set, she paused and awkwardly poured herself some tea from a flask. It wasn’t a big deal, but she brought attention to it by actually saying “I’m going to drink some tea now.” The audience got a kick out of that. Things like this kept the vibe really down to earth, so you felt like it was a friend up there playing great music and regaling you with amazing stories. She Nigerianized her drummer Gary by referring to him as ‘garri’. Yes, at Nneka’s show, eba was brought up. The reaction to that comment was funny because for the most part, the only people who got it were the Nigerians in attendance (Garri is a popular West African staple that's mixed with hot water to make eba).
There is an effortless and disarming earnestness in Nneka’s music. She’s very real, and that authenticity makes the listener hear what she’s saying. A perfect example of this is the song Saltwater. The subject matter is a serious one. It’s about Africans who lose their way and their lives trying to make it to the west for a “better” life; a truly heart-wrenching, but necessary message that people need to hear.
Nneka is an amazing musician, and is not only a treasure for Nigeria; she’s a treasure for the world, a breath of fresh air in a landscape that seems polluted. Buy her music, digest the breadth of her messages and go see her perform live. It’s an experience that can only be described as transcendental.
While Livestream's video stream is still up, you can actually watch the entire set as it happened (the action begins after 10 minutes):
