Storytelling Through Music with Chioma Ogbonna (CILL)

Chioma Ogbonna is an alternative musician based in Lagos, Nigeria. She loves telling stories through music, she enjoys making music in the genre of soul, alternative rock, folk and country music with splashes of African sounds, born and raised in Benin to a family of seven she uses her music as a tool for social engineering, advocacy, and promotion of patriotism. Her single sound the alarm released in 2013 was inspired by her experiences while volunteering with an NGO monitoring election in Nigeria at the time. She believes in spreading quality music like wildfire knowing that someday good music will eventually chase bad music out of the Industry. She is gifted with a passionate voice that will take you on a journey through storytelling. She has shared the stage with various artistes like Olamide, Femi Leye, Isaac Gerald, Johnny drille, Nana Aisha and so on. She is now making her way up and is gradually becoming a known name.

Below is a summary of the Interview Storytelling Through Music with Chioma Ogbonna (CILL)

She described herself as an alternative musician, which she referred to it as music that was not mainstream and originated from rock music. She recalled singing for the first time in church at age thirteen and singing at the top of her voice leading to when she was able to build self-confidence over time.

She revealed that she had grown up listening to country music and would sometimes record herself singing but never thought anyone would appreciate her voice. She spoke further saying that at a point in her music career when she saw her songwriting was getting better she decided to build a community where songwriters could challenge themselves and get better.

She recalled that the first song she ever wrote was in the form of a story titled ‘Baby Girl’ based on the experiences she had back in the university when she tried to shut everybody out. So thinking about how the people she was trying to shut out might feel, she decided to sing from their perspective and was amazed at how people connected with the song.

That was when she saw that she could actually do more of storytelling in her music as it was the easiest way to communicate to people and people seemed to relate well with stories. She was also of the opinion that storytelling would be a good practice even in the music industry. She explained that the most effective way of telling a story would be to write from the first person so anyone who hears it will be able to connect.

She maintained that for one to become better at storytelling it was best that they learn by practicing and reading other people’s stories. Sharing tips on how artistes could position themselves for jobs in the industry, she advised up and coming artistes to be consistent in their work so as to stand out and carve a niche for themselves.

She went further to stress the need for artistes to have their own unique style believing that when it gets to their time they too will stand out. Speaking on challenges she had faced when she had first started, she recalled that it had been difficult at the time to fund projects and garner reputation amongst her audience.

She believed that it was the attitude towards excellence and giving her best at every point that put her in the spotlight. In the course of the show, a caller by the name Emmanuel called to ask her how she was able to write her songs. Replying to the caller’s question, she explained that a song usually started from an idea and so people should write out their inspiration as it comes because the more they write the more they get better. She advised up and coming artistes to start the process of music writing without thinking things out or canceling and they can then go back and build on what they have written.