ADVANCE WARNING: Kaliné
Advance Warning is a journey to discovering new talented acts across the Nigerian Music Scene. Here we forecast the future of Nigerian Centre stage artistes. These are the ones to look out for in the nearest future.
Kaliné Akinkugbe is a Nigerian-born singer/songwriter and pianist whose clever threading of words and percussive style of piano playing is a direct product of her African roots. With a soulful elegance and funky flutter, she spreads her wings across a landscape of jazz, R‘n’B, and Afrobeat to create an authentic, alternative sound.
A graduate of Berklee College of music with a BMus in Film Scoring, she has a unique set of composition and production skills that enables her to paint lasting images through memorable choruses and unforgettable rhythms.
In 2014, she released her first single and video ‘Ololufemi’ which garnered a lot of attention in Africa. She released ‘The Fires Of Red: Season One’ in 2015, a body of work featuring 14 original songs and drawings (released over a period of 14 days) that serves as a visual songbook detailing a modern fictional drama. Several of her songs have been licensed for TV and film including ‘Falling For You’ licensed for the internationally acclaimed Nollywood movie ‘Flower Girl’ and TV series b430.
Among several performance opportunities, Kaliné has opened for Bob James & Fourplay, Chaka Khan, Angélique Kidjo, Keziah Jones, Bez, Somi and Victor Olaiya. An unforgettable moment in her career was when she performed the Nigerian National Anthem at the 2011 United Nations World Tourism Organization Conference in Calabar, Nigeria. Her performance at the 2015 Harvard Business School African Business Conference was received with resounding applause. She also has her own annual sold-out concert series called ‘The justKaliné’ concert series that showcases her music in a more intimate and conversational setting.
At her core, she is defined by her efforts to remain true to herself/her craft and consistently aims to inspire others to do the same. A strong advocate for social change, she has written a number of songs that address various social issues. ‘Stand and Fight’ that addresses domestic violence, won her 1st place in Berklee’s ‘Songwriting for Social Change’ competition (2012). ‘Bring Them Home’ written in honor of the Chibok girls that were abducted in April, 2014 (including a music video) and ‘Every Woman, Every Child’ a theme song written for a UN- affiliated foundation of the same name (focusing on improving global women and children’s health) are all part of her efforts to use her talent to shine a light on sensitive issues that affect our global community. She has composed a number of other theme songs including ‘The Time is Now’ for The Action Congress Party campaign (2011), ‘An Exhibition’ for Studio of Modé Art Exhibition (2015), ‘Hello, Goodnight’ theme song for Eunice Omole Talk Show on Ebony Life TV ‘Hello, Goodnight’ and has contributed as a composer to a number of short films.
Kaliné performed the Nigerian National Anthem at The nigerian Embassy, D.C upon the arrival of President Muhammad Buhari and her album is expected to be released this year.
Checkout more Kaline music on Soundcloud
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