Onyeka Onwenu Has This To Say About Reports That She’s A Snub

Coming after she was accused of being a snub by singer, Aramide, Nigerian veteran singer, Onyeka Onwenu in an interview with TheCable Lifestyle, debunked the report.


The veteran  also talked about her fight against chauvinistic Nigerian entertainment industry, her journey into music and acting, present-day lyrical content, videos and so much more.

Here are excerpts from the interview;

How did you get your first break into music, then later, acting?

While still in the United States in 1978 or thereabouts, I happened to speak on the phone with Sunny Okosuns. His first wife Nkechi was the sister of my first cousin’s wife, Ada Dan-Chimah and Sunny had called their house in Chicago where I was spending my summer holidays.
I told him I was interested in having a professional music career. He asked me to send him a demo tape, which I did and which he liked. When I got back to Nigeria in 1980, I contacted him again and he took me to EMI. I was signed on and Sunny Okosuns produced my first album, ‘Endless Life’.
I never planned to go into acting. My immediate elder sister Ijeoma was the Actress in the family and she was very talented, my mother too. However, around 1989, Zik Zulu blackmailed me into acting in the film, ‘Nightmare’.
The story was about a childless woman who found an abandoned baby and raised her. He promised that the proceeds would go to an orphanage. He had faith that I could act. The film was well received and my acting career took off from there.

Your role in the adaptation of Chimamanda Adichie’s ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ earned you wide praise.How was that experience?

It was very special on a number of levels; It was Chimamanda herself who insisted that I must play the part and she felt really vindicated after my performance. The producers thanked her for it.
The experience of working with Hollywood greats like Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandi Newton, Annika Rose provided me with a great opportunity to learn a thing or two. To have received the reviews I did, in the midst of them, was something to be proud of. It was God’s grace.
I am also very proud that one of us John Boyega who was later cast in a Star Wars film is now the toast of Hollywood.
I am hoping that opportunities like that will also come for me, from my appearance in Half of A Yellow Sun. It was a pity that for some political reasons, efforts were made to kill the film in Nigeria.
Finally, for the first time in Nigeria, Biafra could be depicted in a film. It gave us the opportunity to discuss our history. This is something that is needed, even if it still makes us uncomfortable, discuss it we must, so that we do not continue to make the same mistakes.

You have managed to keep your personal life vis-a-vis your children from the media glare. How’s that been possible and is that, in your opinion, the way to go?

I am a shy and private person. Because I insist on living a down to earth life, going to the market, doing the school run and going to places with my children when they were younger, I knew that I had to play down the celebrity lifestyle to a minimum.
I am a diva on stage or in any situation that calls for it, otherwise, I am just an ordinary person. That simplifies my life and protects my family from unnecessary scrutiny and unwanted attention. My children are not keen on capitalising on their mother’s name. They are intent on making their own. I respect them for that.

A lot of veterans have issues with present-day lyrical content and shoddy live performances — what’s your take on this?

I grew up in Port Harcourt in the ’50s and early ’60s, before the Nigeria/Biafra war. Those were the days of Rex Lawson, Osita Osadebe Celestine Ukwu, etc. Their songs were philosophical.
But they also had lyrics castigating women and calling them Ashawo, ‘One Pound no balance’ and so on. That made me promise myself that I would sing songs that would uplift women.
My point is that sexy, nonsensical lyrics have always been with us. As each generation matures, they realise that what endures is what edifies. They will switch tactics and write better songs.
I am more worried though about their videos. They are becoming more sexually explicit by the day and the children are watching. In fact, they are being influenced by the lewd dances they see in these videos, and their parents seem unconcerned. Mark my words, sooner than later, these children will begin to enact these sexual moves in real life.
I was at a children’s party recently and I nearly cried at what I was witnessing. Many parents were around and didn’t care.
But when I took over the microphone and began singing my songs, Iyogogo, Ekwe, You and I, Bia Nulu, Alleluya, etc, the dance steps changed. The children enjoyed dancing and synchronised their steps but no lewd movements.

Did you ever consider taking a hike when the entertainment industry wasn’t as financially profitable as present day?

Yes, I considered leaving the music industry, but not for financial reasons, but for the lack of respect and consideration from the audience, the press, as well as the male practitioners in the industry.
Sometimes, people feel that you are public property just because you are a woman and an entertainer. They feel that they are entitled to talk to you anyhow, touch you, use your services and not pay you.
I had to devise ways to protect myself. My policy is to only mix with people on a professional basis. I am very formal. I do not joke around and I do not socialise. I also collect all my fees before the show.
By the same token, I conduct myself in a professional and self-respecting manner. I leave no room for failure to live up to expectations. In fact, I strive to exceed expectations in my performances.
I must say, however, that this has led to some people labelling me a snub. But I am not. I am indeed shy and very down to earth. I am also confident and self-assured.

What projects are you involved in other than entertainment?

When the music industry took a nose dive in the ’80 and ’90s, when record companies such as Polygram, EMI and Sony left the country, artistes like me picked up the gauntlet and continued to sustain the industry by financing releasing and promoting our music, under individual labels.
Mine was called Ayollo Productions. We owned and rented out a rehearsal studio, musical equipment and the Kabassa Band.
I also set up and Events Center in GRA Ikeja called The Unity Center. As a member of PMAN and PMRS, I contributed my bit to sanitising and regulating the music industry, with regards to issues such as piracy, intellectual property and copyright dues. PMRS metamorphosed into COSON, one of the two collecting society in Nigeria today.