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A programme on
Swiss national television, ‘Rundschau’ (Back to the Roots), features
five celebrities who have roots in other countries; and shows them
going back home to reunite with their families and learn more about
their origins.

According to its
presenter, Sonja Hasler, ‘Rundschau’ is a socio-political documentary
that was conceived to educate the immigrant-wary Swiss about so-called
‘foreigners’ in their land. “Some Swiss feel that most migrants in our
country are there just to profit from the system,” says Hasler, “so by
taking these celebrities back to their home country and documenting
their interactions with the people, we hope to show that these migrants
do add value to our country.”

Coming back

One of the latest
celebrities to be featured on the programme is Swiss pop star, Nubya,
whose roots are in Nigeria. Tailed by a film crew which included the
presenter, a cameraman, and her sister Katherine, Nubya visited Nigeria
as part of the documentary. Though very popular in Switzerland and
Germany, almost nothing is known about Nubya here in Nigeria.
Interestingly, she is sister to Uche Eze, creator of the entertainment
blog, Bella Naija.

I found out about
Nubya and her potential visit to Nigeria via the cameraman, Mitja, who
happens to be a friend, and caught up with her at Tribeca Club,
Victoria Island, where she was scheduled to give her first ever public
performance in Nigeria, which would be filmed by the Swiss film crew as
part of the documentary.

Nubya’s real name
is Nnenna Eze, a name she seldom uses in Switzerland, as it posed
something of a security risk there. “I don’t use the name at all in
Switzerland. I am just known as Nubya,” she says. But now, she sees the
‘Nnenna Eze’ as one way of getting closer to “her family”- here in
Nigeria.

The singer’s family
moved to Nigeria almost immediately after her birth in Switzerland. She
moved back to the European country, which she calls ‘home’, with her
mother at the age of two. Her father, who has long remarried, hails
from Enugu State.

“I have visited
Nigeria often since [the age of two], mostly to visit my father’s
family,” she says. This is her tenth visit to Nigeria; her first as a
performer.

Music and me

Nubya’s interest in
music was first piqued, when as a teenager, a friend gave her a Whitney
Houston record. “It was beautiful,” she says of the listening
experience, “and led me to take [singing] lessons.”

She did not
immediately think of being a singer in any professional sense. “I just
did [the lessons] for myself.” Her training in music had really started
much earlier when, at the age of seven, she started to take piano
lessons. “It is sort of the custom in Switzerland for a child to learn
how to play a musical instrument,” she explains, “so when my mom asked
which one I wanted to learn, I chose the piano.”

After high school,
she moved to New York where she studied jazz music for one year at the
New School. These days, she is known as a pop singer but Nubya still
declares an undying love for jazz and the great names of the genre,
like Ella Fitzgerald. She also swears by Soul and Blues singers like
Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder.

After her year in
New York, she returned to Switzerland to study Economics for three and
half years at the University of Basel before dropping out to focus on
music. “I was singing while schooling and as I slipped more and more
into music, I decided to quit school to concentrate on it. I intend to
go back some day,” she says with a laugh.

Nubya started her
musical career as a back-up singer and member of the concert choir for
Swiss musician, Bo Katzman. In 1997, she performed at one of Celine
Dion’s concerts in Switzerland as part of the choir. Her big break came
in 1999 when she opened for Whitney Houston before 12,000 people at a
concert at the Hallen Stadium in Zurich. She recorded her first album,
‘From the Bottom of my Heart’, that same year; and then took a hiatus
to a makeover/variety show, ‘Cinderella’, which aired on TV3, a private
Swiss television station.

Although the show
featured live performances by singers, Nubya in her role as host, never
got to perform. This was a bit trying for her and she soon left the
show to go back to her music. She released her second English language
album, ‘My Wish’ in 2002, followed by a third album sung entirely in
German, ‘Auf Meine Weise’ (In My Way) in 2005. Her fourth album, ‘Love
Rocks’, followed in 2007. ‘Love Rocks’ was basically an album of covers
of songs originally performed by various artists, including Prince,
Beatles, Ray Charles, Kiss, and AC/DC – “But we added our own style to
the songs,” says Nubya.

Her next album is
scheduled for release in February 2011, and with this one, she hopes to
finally penetrate into the Nigerian market. She declares her love for
contemporary Nigerian music and musicians, especially the duo, P-Square.

“It feels great
being home and I would really love to come back, stay longer, and do
stuff with Nigerians. I would love to collaborate with P-Square,
D’Banj, and Asa,” she enthuses.

Her representatives
are current talking with “some people” here, to ensure her upcoming
album would be marketed and promoted in Nigeria on release.

Warm welcome

On the image of
Nigeria and Nigerians in Switzerland, Nubya says it is not entirely
good. “There are very few, mostly drug dealers, who portrait a very
poor image of themselves and hence give a bad name to the majority who
are really working hard at decent jobs.”

She talks about
being ‘black and Swiss’ before she became famous, and says it was not
easy. “I used to get the odd looks when I go into shops, people
thinking you are just there to steal something. Now that I am a
celebrity, it is much better, of course. Still…”

As she made ready to get on stage, one wondered the kind of
reception the Swiss pop star would receive from her ‘home-based’
audience. Still, knowing Nigerians and their love for all things “our
own”, I was sure that the reception of the Nubya and her forthcoming
album would be much warmer and far less cautionary than the ones that
inspired the documentary that brought her back to her roots.