The “Kulturzelt” in Kassel is an annual festival dedicated to Jazz and Worldmusic. Stretching over several weeks every summer, it presents handpicked artists from around the world in an intimate atmosphere.
As it was first set up in 1987, the festival for me basically has always been there. I have a lot of good memories connected to it. Although I don’t remember all the concerts I’ve seen there, as my parents used to take me when I was a kid and the names of the artists didn’t matter too much to me at that age, I do recall a lot of classy shows: from Lizz Wright and Jocelyn B. Smith to “Fred Kellner und die famosen Soulsisters” (with Anke Engelke getting my friends and me on stage to sing and dance “Blame it on the boogie” together with them – what a blast!) to Raul Midon two years ago.
This year, another memory was added: Nneka
I really like her approach to music, lyrics and her profession. While it increasingly seems that a lot of so-called singers and songwriters mainly intent to have a hit, to be famous, to earn money – no matter what the quality of their product is; while many kinda reduce music to a common denominator to reach a lot of people but while doing this produce nothing that is in the slightest way innovative or has a message, Nneka is completely different. She doesn’t write her music to please people, she’s not on stage to make some egocentric show of herself, but what she wants is to convey a message. This message is at the bottom of her songs and constitutes the guideline of her performance. Her message is simple and yet complex: Stop the hatred in this world and let there be love! And with hatred Nneka, a native-born Nigerian, especially refers to racism and the conditions in Africa. These conditions are a result of the way Africans were treated by colonists in the past, but, she says, it’s too easy to just put the blame on others, the continent has to “wake up”, as she sings in “Africans”, and make changes itself instead of continuing what they have learned from their oppressors, namely suppression and hatred.
There is no doubt that she means every word she says and sings. She dives so deep into every song that it sometimes seems like she forgets that she’s on stage and just relives the emotions of the song. It’s touching, inspiring and thought-provoking.
Before the show I had hopes she’d do “From Africa 2 U”, one of my favourite tracks. It has this carefree African-type of rhythm. It would brighten up the show a little, make it less heavy. But now that I think of it, I guess it wouldn’t really fit. I guess it’s as the title of her tour says: “Soul is heavy”!
As always in the Kulturzelt, taking pictures was prohibited – very annoying! So here are some photos from the last time I saw Nneka in Munich, Muffathalle, on the 8th of November 2011.
music, the world & me 