Nneka
Bajah + The Dry Eye Crew
Mon, March 26, 2012
8:00 pm
TT the Bear's
Cambridge, MA
$12 advance / $15 day of show
Tickets
This event is 18 and over
http://www.boweryboston.com/event/88595/Nneka
Every year since her musical career took off in 2005, this Afro-German warrior princess has built on her successes, stretched her muscles, and widened her range. Her debut album Victim of Truth (released in the UK in 2007), an inspirational mix of hot loops, black consciousness and 21st-century soul music - was garlanded with praise by the British media. 'As good as The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,' said UK's The Sunday Times.
Her sophomore release was every bit as lush and visionary as her first. A record where brains, beauty and beats collide No Longer At Ease made its mark across Europe and beyond. It's a record that Lenny Kravitz and Lauryn Hill both heard and said: 'I want this girl opening my show!'
It's easy to see what got Lauryn and Lenny so animated. Nneka's music has still got a big splash of Bob Marley in the recipe, a measure of Nina Simone and a lick of Erykah Badu.
But this time around there's more of the best ingredient – Nneka herself. Her first US release, Concrete Jungle is a collection of songs that put the singer/songwriter at the forefront. This album is an offering of love, hope and optimism dedicated to the people of Warri & the Niger Delta of Nigeria. Holding it all together is the emotional focus of her beautiful voice, located in a place somewhere between yearning and rage.
While love, hope and optimism form the bedrock of all Nneka's recorded work, there's a steeliness to her new material, the engagement of a highly developed mind on some of the tough realities of modern politics – both personal and international. It takes no little courage – and insight – to write a song like 'Africans', which tells her people to stop blaming their colonial past for their problems and take responsibility for themselves. To then go back and sing it to packed houses in Nigeria – where the military rule with an iron fist - shows an extraordinary depth and strength of will. But that's just what she did, making a triumphant return to her home country on tour with MTV-Award-winning Nigerian rapper 2-Face.
Yet, like the woman who wrote it, the song 'Africans' is not dry and hectoring – it's a soft and elegant melody, a piece of music that doesn't need to shout but instead seduces. Backed by the production of her longtime collaborator DJ Farhot, whose dubby soundworld she has inhabited since those early demo days in Hamburg, Nneka finds the perfect foil for the raw emotion that she brings to a vocal.
Her sophomore release was every bit as lush and visionary as her first. A record where brains, beauty and beats collide No Longer At Ease made its mark across Europe and beyond. It's a record that Lenny Kravitz and Lauryn Hill both heard and said: 'I want this girl opening my show!'
It's easy to see what got Lauryn and Lenny so animated. Nneka's music has still got a big splash of Bob Marley in the recipe, a measure of Nina Simone and a lick of Erykah Badu.
But this time around there's more of the best ingredient – Nneka herself. Her first US release, Concrete Jungle is a collection of songs that put the singer/songwriter at the forefront. This album is an offering of love, hope and optimism dedicated to the people of Warri & the Niger Delta of Nigeria. Holding it all together is the emotional focus of her beautiful voice, located in a place somewhere between yearning and rage.
While love, hope and optimism form the bedrock of all Nneka's recorded work, there's a steeliness to her new material, the engagement of a highly developed mind on some of the tough realities of modern politics – both personal and international. It takes no little courage – and insight – to write a song like 'Africans', which tells her people to stop blaming their colonial past for their problems and take responsibility for themselves. To then go back and sing it to packed houses in Nigeria – where the military rule with an iron fist - shows an extraordinary depth and strength of will. But that's just what she did, making a triumphant return to her home country on tour with MTV-Award-winning Nigerian rapper 2-Face.
Yet, like the woman who wrote it, the song 'Africans' is not dry and hectoring – it's a soft and elegant melody, a piece of music that doesn't need to shout but instead seduces. Backed by the production of her longtime collaborator DJ Farhot, whose dubby soundworld she has inhabited since those early demo days in Hamburg, Nneka finds the perfect foil for the raw emotion that she brings to a vocal.
Bajah + The Dry Eye Crew
After packing the national stadium for performances in their home country of Sierra Leone and contributing music to the Academy Award–nominated film Blood Diamond, African superstars Bajah + the Dry Eye Crew are poised to conquer the global airwaves with their international debut album (due out in fall 2009) and their unique sound, which blends the swagger and funk of hip-hop, the passion and energy of dancehall, and the socially conscious vibe of reggae. The group has generated so much buzz in the hip-hop world that major stars including ?uestlove and Black Thought of The Roots, Talib Kweli, K'Naan, Res, and El-P have contributed their vocal and/or production talents to the upcoming release, helmed by the production team Fyre Department (whose credits include 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, GZA, Talib Kweli, Justin Timberlake). With this great collection of creatives, Bajah's own star is rising as the Sean Paul of West Africa with the social conscience of Bob Marley and Fela Kuti.
So much more than just another hip-hop outfit, Bajah + the Dry Eye Crew have been likened to another band renowned internationally for speaking out against political and social injustices: U2. In Sierra Leone, now emerging from the throes of a brutal 10-year civil war, Bajah + the Dry Eye Crew are hailed as "the voice of the voiceless," speaking truths on behalf of those people who have no political power, spreading messages of peace and reconciliation, outing corrupt politicians, and inspiring the disenfranchised youth to pursue their dreams. "We always speak about real stuff, like the suffering, what is going on," says the group's frontman, Bajah. "So most of the youth, the fans, are going crazy over it, because they think it's the reality— that's how it is. So they show mad love at times."
So much more than just another hip-hop outfit, Bajah + the Dry Eye Crew have been likened to another band renowned internationally for speaking out against political and social injustices: U2. In Sierra Leone, now emerging from the throes of a brutal 10-year civil war, Bajah + the Dry Eye Crew are hailed as "the voice of the voiceless," speaking truths on behalf of those people who have no political power, spreading messages of peace and reconciliation, outing corrupt politicians, and inspiring the disenfranchised youth to pursue their dreams. "We always speak about real stuff, like the suffering, what is going on," says the group's frontman, Bajah. "So most of the youth, the fans, are going crazy over it, because they think it's the reality— that's how it is. So they show mad love at times."
