When she was growing up in Nigeria, Charity Ekeke saved up all her money to buy a Record Song Book, once every six months. With these she learned songs from The Beatles, Nat King Cole, Cliff Richard, and so on.
Since that time she’s moved to the California, and has poured all the knowledge she gained from learning these songs into her music, and has now released her debut album, ‘She’.
‘She’ is eleven multi-genre tracks, with a special relevance to women around the world. This is no accident. When Charity first arrived in the US she began to take notice of current events, and was thus inspired to write and record. The lead single on the album, ‘If The Roles Were Reversed’, has a slightly Eastern feel to its rhythms, and is sung to a jangly guitar. The song – and especially the video – asks us to consider what it’s like to walk in the shoes of the other gender. How would men feel if they had to be women for a day? And how would women feel? If the roles were reversed, how would you feel? If as a man, by making the choice to dress a certain way opened you up to attack, or if you always felt on edge when walking down the street alone. The song deals with many different issues faced by women especially and is quite poignant.
Charity’s song, ‘Bloodline’, could easily be a Christmas tune with its horns bells, but the message underneath it is much less jolly than the music. Charity says that she didn’t set out with any theme in mind for the album, but it happened towards the middle of its production, and like ‘Bloodline’, a song about the Syrian migration crisis, and the aforementioned ‘If The Roles Were Reversed’ – and indeed the album’s title, mark it out as an important album addressing issues facing women.
Charity’s sound is unique, and finds its influence in the music of Nigeria, as well as that of artists such as Peter Gabriel and Sade. She describes her music as “relatable, inspirational, and with depth“.
You can find out more about Charity Ekeke online on her official website, Twitter, and Facebook. ‘She’ is available from Amazon, and can be streamed on Spotify.
