Black History Month is really about giving Black History the importance it deserves.
We wanted to do our part by highlighting the impact that black women have had and continue to have in electronic music. This Black History Month is the most crucial for the future, so we want to present huge artists.
Today our talented artists are Shinedoe, Mathon Drummer Queen and Niniola.
SHINEDOE
Shinedoe has made a big impact on electronic music. And although she still has a long way to go (because it doesn’t end here) and we still have a lot left to hear from her, Shinedoe has already made history.
She is an artist that has a great trajectory, with a mixture of traditional African music and 80’s electronica. She has also said in interviews that her Nigerian roots have always played an important role in her career.
Passionate about music (having succumbed to it even as a dancer). She started recording mixtapes in styles such as garage, Detroit techno and even some house.
Since her mixtapes were discovered by the management of Amsterdam’s Club Jo, her career has been on the rise. In 1995 she could already be seen at big festivals like Dance Valley in her native Amsterdam.
From her debut track ‘Dilemma’ to the founding of the MTM (Music That Moves) label in 2018 (created to focus on her own musical vision and create soulful techno) she hasn’t stopped and… We don’t think nor hope she will any time soon.
We encourage you to get to know this great black artist further, a talent who has already made history and still more story to tell (and for us to live with her music in the background).
Don’t forget to visit her website.
MUTHONI DRUMMER QUEEN:
Muthoni is setting the pace because this drummer (among many other things) is a fighter.
This independent artist from Kenya has fought for independent music to have more visibility despite the adversities. She is multifaceted and it would be a mistake to restrict her to any particular box.
She produces electro-hip-hop music, is a rapper, singer-songwriter and drummer. She is also a cultural entrepreneur and founder of two festivals in East Africa: Africa Nouveau and Blankets & Wine.
This unstoppable artist even has a Ted Talk called “Creativity Builds Nations“.
We highly recommend our readers to check it out. It shows how, through music, she has fought for different cultural identities in Kenya to be heard and supported. This talk leaves us with a powerful phrase: “You can’t love what you don’t know exists”.
She identifies herself as a musician, feminist, festival founder, TED Collaborator in 2019 and Kenyan. But we think we can safely say she is also a genuine innovator. Fusing African melodies and experimenting with different styles.
You can find her music in different languages, from English to Kikuyu and Kiswahili.
This talented artist has released 4 albums since 2011, the first one being “Welcome to the Disco”. Her latest single, ‘Power’, released in 2020 has a powerful message for the feminist movement.
Emotive, vindictive, feminist, inspirational and consciousness-raising. This artist is the complete package, being the living image, that music can help to change everything. Black history month is on fire.
NINIOLA
Niniola is a Nigerian singer, lyricist and dancer.
She plays genres such as afro-house, house and folk. Although the style of which she has become the undisputed queen is Afrohouse, transporting it to all corners of the world. Seeing this in her latest album “Colours and Sounds” (2020). This album has as much touch of Jamaican dancehall, vintage Afrobeat and Amapiano. It has allowed her to be crowned as a queen and to be recognised as such by numerous media and artists.
Currently, she has collaborated with artists such as DJ Snake and Major Lazer (among many others). It is worth noting that she has also received support from Beyoncé, as her song “Find Your Way Back” is based on the highly-regarded beat of her single “Maradona”. A single that helped Niniola go international.
On the other hand, Major Lazer also fell into the clutches of her catchy music by adding her track “Sick” to his Afrobeats mix. Of sure, if we start listing all her collaborations, we will never finish, as she has collaborated with artists as important as Timbaland.
Nowadays, everything is looking up for Niniola, but it wasn’t always like that. Her beginnings, although early, were hard. She was a two-time contestant on “X-Factor Nigeria” and was rejected on both occasions. After that she gave up music for a while and then tried one last time. Finally giving her a chance in “Project Fame West Africa”, finishing this contest as a finalist. Niniola has finally achieved much deserved international recognition, but it has not been without sweat and effort.
She has commented in interviews that she is happy to be able to be comfortable as an African and sing in her own language. Embracing her roots, we see how in many of her songs she constantly switches from English to Yoruba (an example of this can be found in her song “Addicted”).
She herself says that the rhythms are what transmit her emotions and from there she creates the lyrics.
Niniola shows us that getting back on your feet, standing up and trying again pays off. And that when you do what you are really passionate about, the “no’s” become “maybe in the future…”.
