Who wants a MAMA when you can win the Grammy?

Nneka. Photo Credit:Nairaland

Who wants a MAMA when you can win the Grammy?

I read Lolade Sowoolu’s "Between Sasha and Nneka" in the Showtime magazine of the Saturday Vanguard on December 18, 2010, and it was quite an interesting critical analysis of how and why the Nigerian rap diva Sasha beat the more internationally acclaimed Nneka to win the Best Female Artiste award at the last MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMA) in Lagos, Nigeria, making Sasha the first Nigerian to win in the Best Female category after Kenyans dominated it in the last two years. Sowoolu reported that many people thought Nneka should have won the award, because she is considered a more internationally accepted Nigerian artiste as Asa .



Sasha

Asa

Nneka the Nigerian-German hip hop/soul singer and guitarist is a popular artiste internationally, but not locally, because presently majority of her fellow Nigerians and the rest of Africans do not appreciate her kind of music which is more of a revolutionary fusion of modern reggae and hip-hop and her unique style has taken her places from Europe to the US and then to Africa and she won the award for Best African Act at the 2009 MOBO Awards. And Nneka was on the Late Show with David Letterman in New York before her first concert tour of the United States publicized as the Concrete Jungle and she performed shows in New York City, Vienna (Washington DC), Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Francisco. And she made the coveted hot list of Rolling Stone and no other Nigerian female artiste has made it and for what Nneka has achieved so far, she is ahead of Asa and Sasha in the world of music. And her ambition is above the MAMA. She is looking forward to winning the Grammy like Sade Adu has done and even a dummy knows that the Grammy is a more globally acclaimed recognition in music than MAMA, MOBO or Channel O.

~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima

MAMA 2010 WINNERS IN FULL

Best Anglophone - Daddy Owen (Kenya)
Best Francophone - Fally Ipupa (DRC)
Best Lusophone - Cabo Snoop (Angola)
Artist of the Year- 2Face (Nigeria)
Best Female - Sasha (Nigeria)
Best Male - 2Face (Nigeria)
Best Video - Fally Ipupa (DRC): “Sexy Dance”
Best Group – P-Square (Nigeria)
Brand New Act - Mo Cheddah (Nigeria)
Best Performance - Big Nuz (South Africa)
Song of the Year - Liquideep (South Africa): “Fairytale”
MAMA Legend – Miriam Makeba (South Africa)
Best International – Eminem (USA).

Nneka’s Concrete Jungle Tour in the USA

Nneka is 2010’s First Breakout Artist to perform on “The Late Show with David Letterman” on February 3rd.

“…righteously bold and heartbreakingly fragile.”-SPIN, 10 To Watch in 2010

“Nneka…is pure hotness.”-Rolling Stone

Nneka had a successful US tour from January 27th to Valentine’s Day. It was called the Concrete Jungle Tour and launched her stateside debut album that was released on February 2nd.The tour took her to 14 cities across the US, including New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles.
Nneka made her US late night television debut on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” on February 3rd.

Rolling Stone selected her as an Artist to Watch in 2010, and her video for “The Uncomfortable Truth” has been getting regular spins on both BET and MTV.

Shot throughout the course of her recent November 2009 visit to the US, the Who Is Nneka? video is an intimate look at the artist. See it HERE.

“My main message is to wake people up,” Nneka said. “To make them feel themselves; to make them feel their spirit; to be in touch with their innermost.”
From the critical acclaim of her recent collaborative mixtape The Madness (Onye-Ala) with DJ and producer extraordinaire J.Period to her sold-out performances with The Roots in NYC, Nneka’s certainly only just getting started.

“There’s so much that I, myself, have to learn in my life…and there’s still much that I do not know. At the same time I’m sharing my music with people, [I’m] learning from that sharing.”

For more information or to interview Nneka, give us a ring!

Pam Nashel Leto (212) 989-2222 x 111 pam@Girlie.com

Kabeer Malhotra (212) 989-2222 x 123 kabeer@Girlie.com

Vickie Starr (212) 989-2222, x101 vickie@girlie.com

Alexandra Dunne (212) 833-5429 alexandra.dunne@sonymusic.com
www.myspace.com/nnekaworld

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Nneka's 'The Uncomfortable Truth' Named iTunes Single Of The Week

Nneka

26 Jan 2010 15:00 Africa/Lagos


Nneka's 'The Uncomfortable Truth' Named iTunes Single Of The Week

US Debut Album Concrete Jungle Available Exclusively on iTunes January 26th - February 1st Concrete Jungle Available Everywhere on February 2nd Nneka to perform on "The Late Show with David Letterman" on February 3rd

NEW YORK, Jan. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Nneka's timely and poignant song, "The Uncomfortable Truth" has been named as iTunes' Single Of The Week offering the track as a free download starting today through February 1st. The song is the lead single from the singer/songwriter's US album debut Concrete Jungle, which will be offered exclusively on the iTunes Store during that same time period for just $6.99.


Having released three previous albums in Europe and beyond, Nneka's music has been heard and loved by hundreds of thousands of fans across the globe. Admirers within press and music circles continue to grow, and she has been embraced by the likes of Garth Trinidad, Gilles Peterson, The Roots & Perez Hilton alike. In a recent blog entry, Hilton introduced Nneka to his readers explaining that her music "is a gift to the world."


Having been declared by both Spin and Rolling Stone as one of the best new artists in 2010, Nneka is set to bring her message of hope and truth to the United States while embarking on her upcoming Concrete Jungle Tour on January 27th. Her first US release stands as an offering of love, hope and optimism dedicated to the people of Warri & the Niger Delta of Nigeria, and the US is ready to embrace that message and it's messenger with open arms.


"The Uncomfortable Truth" will be available for free download on iTunes starting today, Tuesday, January 26th.


Nneka's first US album, Concrete Jungle will also be available on iTunes exclusively this week for $6.99.


Concrete Jungle Tour Dates

Jan 27 San Francisco, CA @ Red Devil Lounge
Jan 29 Los Angeles, CA @ Hotel Cafe
Feb 2 New York, NY @ S.O.B's (Official Release Party)
Feb 3 Performance on David Letterman
Feb 4 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East
Feb 5 Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live
Feb 6 Baltimore, MD @ Sonar Club Stage
Feb 8 Birmingham, AL @ WorkPlay Theatre
Feb 9 Atlanta, GA @ Vinyl
Feb 11 Nashville, TN @ 3rd & Lindsley
Feb 13 St. Louis, MO @ The Gramophone
Feb 14 Chicago, IL @ Double Door


www.nnekaworld.com

Source: Epic Records

CONTACT: Pam Nashel Leto, +1-212-989-2222 x 111, pam@Girlie.com, Kabeer
Malhotra, +1-212-989-2222 x 123, kabeer@Girlie.com, Vickie Starr,
+1-212-989-2222, x101vickie@Girlie.com, or Alexandra Dunne, +1-212-833-5429,
alexandra.dunne@sonymusic.com


Web Site: http://www.nnekaworld.com/