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Abstract

Music serves as a tool to promote National unity in Nigeria. One notable figure at the forefront of this endeavor is Onyeka Onwenu, a renowned Nigerian singer and activist. Her role as a “mother” who reaches out to different ethnic groups affords her merit to create a song to commemorate Nigeria’s centenary since its inception. Through the song, Onwenu assumes the role of the mother in reflecting on the country and encapsulating its present circumstances while offering a vision for a new Nigeria. Her lived experiences and the musical trans-African ties between South Africa and Nigeria shape Onwenu’s musical activism as she mirrors Makeba, mobilizing to unify the Nigerian nation.

Biography

Assistant Professor of Music, Ethnomusicology

Columbia University in the City of New York

Ruth Opara’s research centers on African and African diasporic music and knowledge production. Specifically, music and decolonial discourse, women in music, music and gender, and African music and transnational encounters. As a practitioner, a teacher, and a scholar, who has lived and taught on the African continent and the diaspora, Ruth successfully straddles both world’s musical cultures. With the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship and other awards, Ruth continues to research and work on her current book project, Music, Motherhood, and Transnationalism: A West African Perspective. The book focuses on a group of married women musicians to explore how they utilize music to navigate motherhood on the African continent and in the diaspora. Ruth has published peer-reviewed journal articles and has presented at many academic conferences around the world.