‘Why I moved to Nigeria’ – Tiwa Savage shares on CNN AfricanVoices

R&B singer, Tiwa Savage has said many people did not want to invest “money or time” in her when she first moved back to Nigeria from the US.

The singer said many in the music business lacked faith in her ability to be successful as a female artiste.

Savage made this known on the new episode of African Voices, a programme which airs on CNN.

“When I first moved to Nigeria, I got a lot of people discouraging me about being a female artist, and a lot of people didn’t want to invest money or time because they didn’t think I was lucrative…. Female artists are huge in other parts of the world. It shouldn’t be different in Africa.”

She said her decision to move back to Nigeria from Los Angeles, US, was motivated by the constant interest in her roots by Americans.

“I worked with a lot of people, and they would be interested by my name… ‘Where’s that from?’ I’d say it’s Nigerian, West African, and they’d say, ‘You’re African?’ and fascinated that I was straight from the Motherland.”

The fascination of her collaborators in the “motherland” gave her an epiphany, Tiwa Savage explained.

“This was a lightbulb moment. These people were interested in Africa, and here I was running from it.”

Reflecting on what she has learnt on her journey and the decision to build a career in Nigeria, Savage tells ‘African Voices’ what advice she would give her past self: “Believe in Africa. Believe in yourself, and believe in Africa.”

Also in this week’s ‘African Voices’, the programme moves to South Africa to meet meets world-renowned singer Thandiswa Mazwai and reports from Zambia, where it meets rising freestyle star, Fungai Chileshe.