CBC Radio has one word for the young talent scheduled to entertain at The Club on July 7: "Wow!" Ndidi Onukwulu was born in B.C. of Nigerian heritage and writes and sings of the anger and pain of growing up ethnic in small-town Canada. It's not a protest, it's cathartic. Writing music was the only way Ndidi could see her way out of the heartbreak and struggle. "Blues is the music of the people," she says. "It's what I do."
And it's what she has been doing all her life. At the age of seven, her mother encouraged her to enter talent contests - she was that good. Influenced by her Nigerian-born father playing drums, she started writing music at 13. She listened to King Sunny Ade, Big Mama Thornton, Bessie Jones and John Lee Hooker. She's been compared to Billie Holiday and Bessie Smith. Globe and Mail says she's "already a young queen of the blues."
In 2004, she was a finalist in the Toronto Blues Society talent search. A representative of Jericho Beach recording company was so impressed he signed her up for a record deal. Since then, she's been playing folk fests and clubs across the country.
She brings with her the three-time Juno award winner Madagascar Slim, who accompanies her on guitar and has co-written songs that she delivers with her dusky, seductive voice.
For the double treat of a beautiful blues singer and a great guitarist, be at The Club on Friday, July 7, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15, available at Coast Books, the Roberts Creek Health Food Store and WindSong Gallery.
This concert is brought to you by the Sunshine Coast Live Music Society, a registered, non-profit, volunteer-run society dedicated to bringing all styles of music to the Coast.
