African Voices Change makers, the 30-minute magazine programme sponsored by Globacom on CNN International, will showcase two female entertainment superstars in this weekend’s edition.
The artistes who will star on the show are Nigeria’s Kele Kele Love singer, Tiwa Savage, and Gambia’s kora performer, Sona Jobarteh.
African Voices Changemakers is broadcast on DSTV channel 401 at 5.30 p.m. on Saturday and is repeated at 4.30 p.m., 7.30 a.m., 12.30p.m. and 6.30 p.m. on Sunday and at 5.30 a.m. on Monday at 5.30 a.m.
The hugely successful Nigerian singer and songwriter is expected to talk about her latest album and how she is helping women in the music industry and beyond. On her part, the Gambian musician will discuss how she is expanding her cultural academy and how she is popularizing kora, a plucked musical instrument of the 14th to the 17th centuries resembling the guitar but with a flat, pear-shaped body.
Tiwa began her music career as backup singer for international stars, George Michael and Mary J. Blige. Reputed for her blend of Afrobeat , hip-hop and pop, she released her first album, Once Upon a Time, in 2013. It was nominated for Best Album of the Year at the 2014 Nigeria Entertainment Awards and for Best R&B/Pop Album at The Headies 2014.
She has won several awards such as Best African Act at the 2018 MTV Europe Music Awards, Best Female West Africa Award in 2017 and 2018 and the Soundcity MVP Award for African Video of the Year in 2020.
Jobarteh is the first female professional kora player to come from a family of celebrated griots. She attended the Royal College of Music in the United Kingdom where she studied cello, piano and harpsichord. She also went to the Purcell School of Music, England, to study Composition.
Her debut album was Afro-Acoustic Soul which contained songs about bittersweet.
