we're in a very big unknown that could be very very scary. like every crisis this one has a when animated films can be produced remotely and instead of going to dissent among the new spartans bald will soon be arriving by a steaming service in homes around the one. you're watching news from berlin as always you can keep up with the news on our website e.w. dot com we're on twitter and instagram as well. i'm told me a lot of oh thanks for joining us. on. the. world. to go beyond your own soul to. the stories that matter to. us. whatever it takes. to run enough. to explain further you know that job you made for

mines. yet also no longer wants to answer questions about what makes or african and what makes her german she wants her music to speak for itself. she too was already a successful young singer when she fled her home in africa but it was in france that she rose to the ranks of a legend. neko was 18 when she left nigeria and wound up in a german often it's for young adults today she's an internationally acclaimed musician. it's really many who hit their musical stride by navigating different cultures your closest father is denying and her mother german moving from africa to hamburg at the age of 12 was a shock she experienced racism and suffered exclusion since the day music critics

often compare her to the greats of soul and the blues. back. to back to the audience to. the. yeah. i have. a kid joy has been a leading light in the music industry for decades though she's won 3 grammys and the world music category she rejects that label as too restrictive. her role models range from the south african singer miriam a keva to jimi hendrix was. to.

feels most at home here in the nigerian capital lagos even though she lived in hamburg for years. it's a great determination to forge a path towards making her own music. and. fuse elements of hip hop soul african music under strong helping africa. is a magical chill and until a key george lucas music straddles the continents but none of these singers are committed to a single musical style or category and each has developed a own unique sound they've built international audiences by working in europe over 3 regularly returned to africa this film explores how they transnational

experiences have shaped them you sick. what kind of music do you make when you grow up in gonna be mean or nigeria and then spend a large part of your long. life in europe. now has the 3 process their experiences of rootlessness and of leaving their childhood home. and how did going back influence their creative output. because father is nigerian her mother german and she grew up in nigeria in africa she was teased for her lighter skin once she moved to germany she was confronted with racial slur. in

nigeria she sang at school and in the church choir there were no other opportunities to make music. in nigeria i was too noisy to think. there was a. family. see. it's like i wanted to be but those do even. in gauging in that this is like this is. not happening. you must be who it was that example was. moving from you know. you. know.

but today she's making music after all. you need is the youngest of 4 siblings had german mother left the family when it was 2 years old and returned to hamburg alone. it was $982.00 and the start of a traumatic phase and nick has lined. the children suffered years of abuse at the hands of their stepmother. but never does and speak about her past from early on she saw to focus on her goals and the positive things in her life finding comfort in a christian faith and its music. it provides an outlet for heck spearin says and history charity. when she was 18 nicole and her brother left their father's home and sought shelter

with their biological mother in germany but she had no room for them all alone they turned to the city for help. hamburg was the city way. you could get some really good social help. so you're on missions as the foyer bitched. is the people that actually. took me in so that's hamburg and then after that obviously i got kind of got transferred to. ca told her she's home. the nuns there they took care of me for a couple of years and that's my relationship to hamburg mainly obviously because the i feel like they embraced me and they were people who were very nice to me when i 1st came here who were willing to yet to show me

a path and give me opportunities. which i might have not had when i was in that year. nicole learned german financed she got a high school diploma within 18 months and graduated from university with a degree in ethnology anthropology and african studies though she had to work odd jobs to finance his studies she still found time to sing and play guitar. she was introduced to hip hop by german producer d.j. father hot the pair continue to collaborate in the studio to this day. she left handed more than 15 years ago but she occasionally comes back to visit and to work her management agency is based here. and of course she performs here too like at the big jazz festival in hamburg stockman's. how different

her life is today. but everything she's been through resurfaces time and again in music and lyrics. take me there. through a. window where. whenever. wherever.

the be. down. nikka found her way managing to put her difficult past behind her now she wants to give something back many of her lyrics are political taking aim at injustice environmental destruction and finance. she uses her international naturally as he to promote humanitarian projects lending her voice to those who would otherwise go on her. voice to condemn the nigerian terrorist group boko haram and back all the nice ations that help former child soldiers and advance women's rights. doing good leaving

the be. given men. live. live. live. live. my.

friends is a common destination for refugees and migrants from former french colonies in africa. and chile kidjo arrived in paris after fleeing binny's communist dictatorship more than 35 years ago. today she can't walk down the street without being recognized. to. and she's much in demand as an interview guest she's been invited to do you know that today to talk about her autobiography. better have a good oh you. mean. only. with her animated nature she brings the studio to life singing chatting and spreading an infectious good mood. in the interview she recounts how she left her hometown of course to new and then in and came to paris without any money or a job. her parents who stayed behind in africa feared for their

young daughters welfare in the big city where one could quickly hit the skids in her autobiography entitled spirit rising my life my music she describes this time of her life. well. i mean imagine. like nikka she to manage to keep her head above the water by working odd jobs. as long as i could pay my rent and have enough to eat well to be honest i didn't eat enough which wasn't so bad my passion for music supported me i knew if i worked hard and kept on at my music then i would get there eventually. my music. it's evident that angelica's life and music are defined by her thirst for freedom her embrace of different cultures a self-confident joy in experimentation and a commitment to stand up for others traits she says she owes to liberal minded and

culturally astute parents. it all began in kota new where i grew up i dedicated the book to my father he always brought music and books home and encouraged us to play sports these pleasures always had an educational value my dad was keen to couple learning with fun. i wrote the book mainly to be a few prejudices about africa. despite all the misery there's joy there too it's not like everyone in africa is suffering. freedom of speech was part of the way of life in my family home. everyone had the right to speak freely our father and mother were ahead of their time. but i don't want anyone to write that about me later i want to tell my own story now to tell the truth about what i am and what is going on in africa today along is happening in africa right now a lot of rapid changes people think this continent will never amount to anything

but it's moving ahead. he said and. there's still time for a quick photo shoot at the radio station angelica chose day is full of appointments and everything is tightly timed after all she is not in paris as much as she used to be and she's got a lot to do when she is. she still feels that home here in france the former colonial ruler of her homeland binny. clearly french culture has inspired and influenced her but it's safe to say that she's mastered the art of assimilating other cultures and creating something uniquely her. was.

for instance by drawing an unexpected verb from piaf swilled wearisome songs. even the rehearsal as adroitly not least because she's being accompanied by the playwright director actor and festival director olivier peter. was. a good bad. hour the bad. come. come. come come come.

she drew loves the dynamic culture of paris home tuna ray of good recording studios enticing shops and a large african community. she lives with her husband and manages the bases jaw in play in a small house on the outskirts of town when she's not in new york but mean old somewhere else that has. a leak doesn't put on any airs and graces she cooks herself and likes to show off her cousin mary talents. yes i'm making chicken and trips. to see him some time. next everything together whether it's food or music i mix it all up tied been a nice french whatever i feel like as

a child in between and leak was exposed to music from all over the world his father owned an extensive record collection and played the banjo the mother ran a theater play the clarinet and selling. but after a regime change everything was different. the communist banned all music even on the radio which had played everything until then all sorts of music all a sudden boom you got up in the morning and heard get ready for the revolution the fight goes on and you heard the same when you went to bed too it went on all day always the same old news from the same regime. there was no news from the rest of the world. it was dangerous to listen to the french radio station at afi or other foreign broadcasts if a neighbor heard you you could be denounced as a traitor it was a far cry from freedom. but anybody of it. had

become a star in. the country's marxist regime expected her to sing propaganda songs and was displeased when she refused. she was afraid she'd end up in prison. in 1982 she fled to paris on a small plane. when i arrived in france i caught up with all the music i missed out on. french music english american even classical music. the 1st thing i did was literally bay the music. i listen to anything i hadn't heard before and i'm still discovering new things today i was always curious about what people here were doing. when it's a. function excess paris broadened her musical

horizons it was here that she studied singing as well as law for a while and then developed a profile as a human rights activist. after launching her career with african songs and performances that she developed from traditional dances she came to work with such big music industry names as peter gabriel conason tana joss stone and alicia keys. on her travels and on tour she discovered influences of african music all over the world. whenever i was in the u.s. or brazil where ever i was i always discovered something of my continent the club the rhythm that came with the slaves. to cuba. all these rhythms are based on the clubface is whether to quarter for quarter or 6 quarter time. when i'm making music i never get out of time if i listen to the clip

of it then i know exactly where i am. most. of. the music of africa has had a profound influence on world music and there are a few genres where its presence is as strongly felt as in latin american music. blending it into any as it came naturally to under a leaky jewel who is fluent in spanish.

because he was german grandfather worked on ships in hamburg through its paws the city has always been a gateway to the world. what was sometimes still feels alien and unwelcome it's different when she gets to work here she's surrounded by musicians and dancers from all over the world people of all different skin color is and all regions. she spent the 1st years of her life in ghana and other african countries with her

mother a german development aid worker and her canadian father and musician she was 12 when the family moved to hamburg it was hard to adjust to a new culture a new mindset and who had german school where she was the only people with dark skin. is it's a human heads t.c.k. so i describe myself as a t.c.k. 3rd culture kid. my mother's from hamburg where we're shooting right now. and my father is from ghana. he was born and raised in eastern gonna so i have an entirely different culture namely the 3rd culture and that's exactly how i see music music is the personal 3rd culture it's everything that is inside you the output is indefinable for me output is always indefinable because i like artists who work like that and i draw inspiration from very different things. i recorded my

nephews heartbeat away i'll show you. i mix that with this. yes and it's a backyard inside to go in the car and this was the result. of . the sounds of africa a continuous source of inspiration for your cultural.

the continent is abuzz with music it's not a cliché but reality as we discover in the canadian capital accra. in the district of jamestown a different tune reverberates from every street side stall. we hear afropop and attributes as well as contemporary hits created on computers just like songs anywhere else in the world and yet there's something quintessentially african about them. oh. africa doesn't just inspired through its music this is an artisans course where yasser likes to buy fabrics she finds ideas for his stage shows and music video costumes here. was.

the father of. oh. today she's looking for fabric for a headscarf. and says she's my friend pretty. nice. nice like you but. it. really gets work or we do 3 she's never turned her back on africa she still feels at home his she says and is more relaxed here than in europe in ghana's she tells us she never feels misunderstood never out of place will stay at it and if it's just because of her origin. this also is where she reconnects to her musical roots the music she heard in a child it. back. to him and growing up here you are continuously

exposed to music. and of course the biggest musical influence was my father who was a high life musician. as he had a rehearsal room in our house and rehearsals were always on saturdays at 4 o'clock . feel. my my father taught me how to play the jam by a little our traditional drum and my mother introduced me to piano. i had piano lessons but it was all very classical i had a very strict piano teacher here in akra. i actually only played mozart and the like with him which i. have and so when i got home i mostly did my own songs with a few notes or chords that i already knew. but i must.

today you cut his music is rooted somewhere between africa and europe like millions of people today she's at once adrift and at home in several places at the same time . her worldview is all encompassing taking in different languages and cultures but her lifestyle is also complicated. recordings for a video clip with abandon across. from. the freedom is within you is the message of his song diamonds the diamonds of life are you'll say the lyrics it's you and nobody else who can crack your code to freedom.

because the whole band is european and they rehearse regularly in paris but the musical lunatics is a group here in accra a bridge to africa that helps her to stay in touch with her good name and roots. they currently working on a musical it's a big project that will still take time and work to put together. but now there is a sing the song teacher. it's a huge an irish. a right to start to change.

the culture as a musical comedian who effortlessly transforms have voice from velvety soft high and fragile to powerful sold. out.

yeah because you write songs about people why they come why they go why they fall in love she has called his style soul seeking music. it's february and cold in paris. nikka arrived the previous day commuting between

continents as part of the music business. all 3 sing is returned to the french capital frequently to record which also infuses their music with european influences. from nick has brought some recordings from lagos ideas for new songs to develop in the studio here. she meets up with musician plays and money and a producer she worked with both on her last album was. more. what he wanted to blaze record snake his voice on the computer playing the preprinted used backing tracks overhead fence. never worked for. you never were good for example. from our lives down in.

the studio work and lyrics are strongly shaped by our life experiences and spirituality. down the track step by step and dubs over onto a new original recording. to blaze get it down on his laptop. make us happy i had already done some recordings at home on my computer. back with just with the guitar and i can misty to do to do something else but then we ended up recording it on now it's become a song it's done within 24 hours. of the.

gag there's a. very. bad . word for me. you never heard from. my dad. for. it started snowing. because freezing. escaping european winters was one of the motivating factors behind her decision to go back

to nigeria. when you're listening to the music can you tell whether it was written and produced under the african sun or in snowy paris. and does world travel and constant exposure to new influences really mulder musical style. year we are very receptive beings ideas for a new home as also as a musician. you hear something somewhere you might not be aware that you are taking that information in until maybe a year after. you know and then you hear it in your record or saw yeah i would

see it differently traveling around not just staying in place or just traveling to meeting or them was a chance playing on different stages. call it shows even food can influence your sound like that we all kind of the winds that i see specific types of food can influence how you because then that can also have an effect on how you cook for yourself and how you cook also shows how you make music so. the called the cold. inspires you a lot. as the snow is falling now i mean i don't listen to much but this can't just inspire me to like i don't know when i create something. that has reduced but the rhythm is maybe. dragged up pat. so it's not like. it's not it's not

a rhythm that used to it will be like me to. do. to you know but it's still day so africa is in between and europe is on the surface even if you can't see that. the. african rhythms speeches strongly in all 3 women's music. and there's another thing that makes them stand out a voice a cadence that is clearly african in origin and very hard to copy.

wow. wow. wow wow wow. from africa via europe to new york. a few years ago until e.q. draw adopted the city as her 3rd home. today she's on her way to the united nations

she's been a unicef goodwill ambassador since 2002. i want to make up what you know aside from her humanitarian work she also regularly hosts a current affairs program for the un website. 21st century french episode 69 her music has always appealed for peaceful coexistence between races and the sexes. as a presenter she embodies a life lived between continents and cultures a citizen of the world in the truest sense. of evil i mean what immediately back. on of age. once again his schedule is tight she squeezes in a small studio session with her band. a

song about people who exert control over a country's government. leak and the adventure of music began with personal of people and migration. 3 have made cross cultural innovation their guiding principle and the source of their inspiration.

all the places i've been have shaped the person i am i travel because i have the health and strength to do so and counters with other cultures allow us to grow and recognize the world in its globalism. you are stuck in your own blinkered world where everything is only black or white instead the world has all the colors of the rainbow. the fear of the foreign leads to the creation of isolated worlds and truths. but you can't just live for yourself. i always say hate and love aren't forces generated from outside and they come from within us. it's almost. and we're not you know 100 years everyone will be t.c.k. . case meaning by cultural and multicultural and i think many people find it mentally strenuous because then you can no longer say what is what and who comes from where. so it's making older people

a little nervous. when the people who buy music in a specific box or john or they would see it's afro pop some with see it's off contemporary afrobeat some would say it's hip hop so some would see it's conscious . i would say it's all of the. conscious. life electronic synthetic authentic. can we call. it a frequent flyer. on surely kids will. and. 3 musicians at home

between continents it's in a music that they forge their identity music that knows no exclusion and transcends boundaries. absurd reg. elations the never ending common procedures the frequent lawsuits germany's wind power industry is facing staunch opposition claims that a minister. who has a vested interest in seeing wind energy failed her charming struggling energy

transition closer. to 30 minutes on t.w. . on a new era has become. the age of fireplace the feel it must play list of inflamed play our planet just plain lazy to submerge that never be slaves to consume forests and entire residential areas of. the place in temperatures for water shortages lens clearance there's an abundance of flammable material but once again i did there's no stomach liars the believe what the cult of celebrity is someone world going up in smoke a model conflagration the world on fire starts aug 12th on t.w.

we have to invite it back in and dance with the big. player. playing . this is day to day was coming to you live from berlin a power vacuum in love and all. the entire government quits the prime minister blames a culture of corruption for the huge explosions in beirut a week ago they drove people onto the streets demanding reform and left a quarter of a 1000000 homeless. their roofs a rock spin anger after president lukashenko claims

a landslide victory but his challenger says the boat was bringing and please the country european union and the u.s. have their doubts.