Franco-Nigerian singer Asa talks about Love and broken Relationship with ´Lucid´

African women in Music:Bukola Elemide Asa on Lucid tour talks about love and broken relationship. On the ´Lucid´ tour recently in Germany. In this interview, Asa, sits with Queendaline Schneider to discuss her album Lucid. And her reasons for the five years break...

Asa, congratulations, it was a great show. How did you feel out there on stage?

Thank you! People are very kind here and very nice, i felt at home on stage tonight. So the audience was really warm, you can tell they are having a great time and i’m having a good time too.

Do you have any rituals before or after a show?

What i do before a show. I usually, you know warming up, preparing. I just really like to meditate, you know, for like 10 minutes if i can, so that i can already be on the stage before being there. That is my rituals, just to meditate and breathe pretty much.

It was the first show on your current „Lucid“-tour. Did you enjoy how the audience responded to your new material?

Yes, people have been very open, very warm towards Lucid, it is really good, it is really good rational that I have gotten so far!

Are you nervous when you are presenting new stuff for the first time?

Yes, always nervous, if i’m not nervous, then i know there is a problem. I’m always nervous.

Many of those new songs deal with a broken relationship!

Is about love, Lucid album is about love. You know, different aspects of love; the joy, the happiness, the sad, everything broken. You know, it really not strict, nothing perfect with love. Love is a feeling, love is life, is a way of life and so, that is what i was talking about in Lucid. Lucid is real inspired by personal story from me and what happened.
Yeah heartbreak is one of it, it a whole package, you know, so it is about love, in different colors of love, different aspects of love.

Was this heartbreak the reason for your five years break? What have you been up to in this time?

Actually no ooo, i was working, i was writing, i was just very quiet. I wanted to come out with something that was meaningful. I did just want to go into the studio and i needed something, i have songs but i felt they weren’t the right songs for that time and then life happened, you know which gave me story to write about. You know, i was in a relationship, i was no longer in a relationship, it was fun while i was there, it was heartbreak, it was an interesting experience for me. So i think, in actually, i was writing about this, not knowing it was just an album, so it happened naturally, everything happened natural.

You were born in Paris, then moving back and forth between Nigeria and France. When, where and how did you get into music?

Oh! As far i can remember, getting into music, i was a little girl and music has always been what i wanted to do, i never changed. My father told me, i was singing when i was very little, i couldn’t remember, i just know that, as a little girl, music was what i always did. I did a lot with my mummy spring jazz, i played the guitar with my mummy turning spoons and i played precaution on any flat surface. So music has always been in me since i was a kid.

Did you attend a music school and have you learned any new skill?

Yeah, i left the university to go to the music school in Lagos, Badagry Lagos. That is where i learned to play the guitar for six months and after six months i lef, i was already working professionally. I think when i made the two put steps to go to music school. I didn’t want to go to the music school because my parents, especially my father didn’t wants me to do music. ,He said no child of mine will do music.’ I like to peep and see people who do music but i was not very confident to do it, until i was pro to late 18, when i decided to go for it. So, when i made that decision, it led me here, it led me on tour, it led me almost everywhere in the world.

How does Nigeria music differs from the Europe music and where are the challenges?

Nigeria music, i mean hey, Nigerian music is the famous famous music right now in the world, how does it differs? It differs because it’s Africa music, as Africa inspired is church inspires, it’s what we grew up, for me, the black music is soulful, it warm, how else can i explain africa music. You know, right now it’s the biggest music in the world.

You did some of your song in yoruba language, do you think your audience understand you or you just carry them along with the lyrics?

Well, with the Yoruba songs, you don’t have to understand yoruba, that is one thing when i write yoruba songs you don’t have to understand it but you just need to be in the music, let the music wrap you like a warm blanket. Well, i will talk about Yoruba because it’s my mother tongue. I enjoyed writing in those languages, i think, i express myself differently from Yoruba or Englisch. So, they don’t have to understand Yoruba, the music is there, the music says it all. Yeah!

Do you feel the market for African (influenced) music in Europe is growing?

Definitely, oh yes! You can hear on the radio, Europeans artists are beginning to play afro beats, Africa music yes.

You are travelling a lot in every case. Where do you write your songs? Can you write anywhere?

I can actually, i can write anywhere, i don’t know if i enjoy writing on the tour, it is very fast, i don’t have all the time. I do really love to stop, at least stay in a town, somewhere i can just be all by myself because i really love that quiet and silence, so that i can write well. On tour is really just music, but really i don’t know if i can write songs on tour, i haven’t give it a try. But when i was writing „Lucid“ i was right in front of Nigerian Embassy in Paris (smiles), just in Café waiting to get my passport renewed. Just within the noise environment, just because we get our ideas we can write anywhere.

Do you start with the lyrics or the music?

I start with the music, then the melodies, then the lyrics.

With the new album already out and your tour happening – what are your next goals?

Next goals is to write a new album or to bring out new songs, new singles.

Photo credit: Asa (Trinity Ellis)
Interviewer: Queendaline Schnneider