Okwei Odili

Okwei Odili is a singer and composer from Lagos, Nigeria. She is a potent rising voice in afrobeat and soul music. Her work with the West African-based Nigerian afrobeat band Ayetoro, her solo projects and the success of her joint EP with the Brazilian band Ifá in 2015, “Ifá Afrobeat + Okwei V. Odili”, have made her a reference in music and in culturally improving connections between the two countries/continents. Okwei has inspired bands from South America, Lithuania and the USA. She spends her time between West Africa and Brazil, where she plays and records with her amazing band Aweto. Okwei has directly collaborated with musicians and bands from Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Ghana, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA.

ÒSÙMÀRÈ represents the energy and force of the rainbow, in Yoruba African mythology. The Atlantic Ocean is very significant for me on various levels. When I first came to Brazil, because of the unfortunate transatlantic human trade some hundreds of years ago, the ocean from this side evoked strong emotions for me, especially because Afro-Brazilians continue to suffer discrimination based on their ethnic origins in Brazil. But in these recent years of living here, I frequently saw the rainbow over the sea, a phenomenon I never saw in my home country.

With the support of the Onassis ΑiR Emergency Fellowship, together with my band mates from Salvador (Brazil) I will conclude the research for my latest album ÒSÙMÀRÈ, named after the rainbow. The album addresses issues of unity, love, governance and political responsibility, women’s rights, ecological and environmental issues. ÒSÙMÀRÈ continues in the sonic path I started from Nigeria to Ghana all the way to Brazil, experimenting and making sound fusions of the new regions I encountered with those of my origins, and expanding to embrace the foreign genres that have influenced me along the way. It reflects my artistic and human trajectory from my homeland Nigeria to Brazil where I have lived, researched and constructed my musical career over the past five years.