“I don’t want people to say I’m back because I did not go anywhere you know, I’ve been around, still in the entertainment business learning other aspects of it and still trying to make music. I’d rather say, I’m here and I’m ready to put myself and my music out there for Africa to hear”, says the Cameroonian female artiste who is no stranger to the limelight as she is a very popular television personality on Africa Magic’s Good Morning Africa as well as a regular presenter on Africa’s latest music and entertainment TV channel, PRTV.
A little background on her music career.
Zinnia was the National Song Competition (Mutzig Star, Cameroon) winner a couple of years back and Nescafe African Revelation winner with the group BAAM working with famed music producer, Wayne Beckford who produced their hit single, ‘Stand Up’.
With her winnings and a dream to chase, Zinnia took a risk and moved to Johannesburg, South Africa where she followed her other passion for entertainment which is working with television.
She is now stepping into the music game with her debut single, ‘RUN’; a song that has a distinguished African sound, with undertones of highlife, Afro Jazz and a touch of Cameroon’s Makossa.
“I chose RUN as the first single because it’s a song that could be from anywhere in the continent. It’s a song that Africans of all ages can enjoy and it doesn’t sound like anything else out there right now. But I don’t want people to think this is my sound, am an artiste and the African music industry right now is a blank canvas. We can explore different sounds so my next release might be something completely different – in fact it will be completely different! I want to experiment and keep surprising the fans so am pretty excited to release more music and let the fans be a part of shaping the direction I’ll be going with my music”, she said.
There has definitely been an influx of female artistes especially from West Africa coming on to the scene and Zinnia believes it’s time for female artistes to step up their game and compete with the boys who have dominated the industry for the most part.
“It’s been so great seeing so many females come into the music industry recently. It’s no doubt these women taking that step forward was also what gave me the push to get my own music out there. Female artists like Gasha, Daphne, Adele Clarice, Omawumi, Asa and Bucie and then I also draw inspiration from the greats; Angelique Kidjo, Yvonne Chaka Chaka and Annie Anzouer who are global African female super stars! My music is also about empowering the African woman so I hope that even as we compete which is healthy for any developing industry, we can also support each other the same way the boys are working together, so we can really start to make an impact as female artistes”.
Female artistes in Africa haven’t been consistent, which is one of the reasons Africa doesn’t yet have a female artiste in the same league as the male artistes. Will Zinnia be different?
“Well, I don’t plan on stopping especially since it’s been such a hard climb to get here. It’s my dream; to sing and be a great performing artiste, entertaining millions of people so I’m committed. Especially for my country and other Francophone countries that don’t have female artistes who are mainstream in Africa. Music is at the forefront of uniting the continent right now so I want my French and of course English speaking people from French Africa to be part of the new African movement so I hope they will rally behind me and push me to keep going”.
And finally tell us about RUN?
“Run is a fun upbeat Afro dance song but it also depicts the daily life of African men and women going through the obvious headaches of relationship problems, money problems, young girls making wrong choices. In all, how we all face life’s different challenges in our everyday activities so it’s also a serious song. For my non French speaking African fam – it’s pretty much saying RUN from all this trouble!”
