Omawumi is one of the best female vocalists the Nigerian music industry can boast of.
After she emerged first runner up in the maiden edition of West African Idol in 2007, Omawumi rose fast to stardom with many hits to her credit including If You Ask Me and Bottom Belle.
After recording successes in the music scene, the award winning singer is well on her way to creating a new niche for herself in the agricultural sector.
Omawumi, who says she was born into a home of farmers claiming her father had a farm in their home town in Warri, has joined the campaign for agriculture to be revived in Africa.
She was involved in ONE.org’s theme song project‘Cocoa na Chocolate’, which was released earlier in the week.
“I have always been into agriculture; my father has a 25-hectare land in Ubeji, in the outskirts of Warri. While I grew up, I used to go to the farm and we used to process cassava. I can make garri; I mean uprooting the cassava, the whole process of extraction and frying it. I can do it effortlessly same thing with fufu and tapioca. I am actively involved in agriculture because I grew in the farm,” she said.
Speaking on why she ventured into agriculture the singer said: “Everything we use is actually from agriculture especially most of the make-up women use. I am a part of the project because I believe we need to be actively involved in agriculture, especially the youths. They see agriculture as something that is ‘uncool’ meanwhile it could create employment for a lot of them.
“I wonder why someone would rather go to a supermarket to buy chicken at a price you could use to buy some chicks, rare them and after a while, you have lots of chicken for your consumption.”
Omawumi gave a glimpse of what to expect from her forthcoming album, saying the 10-track album would be unique and different because it would be more of acoustics.
“I am working on my next album which would be a live album. I have one song with Phyno and it is wonderful. I want to produce a 10 track album that even when you listen to in the next 10 years you would love it.
“I would use live acoustics so you can get a feel of the real music as opposed to using technology all the way. I did not start performing with live band but music is something people want to enjoy raw, if someone is playing a guitar for example, people want to hear and have a feel of the guitar.
“It makes music more enjoyable as opposed to asking a disc jockey to play your songs while you mime to it. However, I do not blame anybody who does not subscribe to playing with live band, different strokes for different folks,” she said.
