Finding Home Through Music | NKAN on Nigeria, Oakland & Giving Back

What does it mean to find home thousands of miles from where you were born?

In this episode of Tradition Café, Ana Chavier Caamaño sits down with Nigerian-born Afrofusion artist NKAN to explore the journey that brought her from Lagos, Nigeria, to Oakland, California—and how music, community, and unexpected acts of kindness transformed a new place into home.

NKAN shares the story behind her music, the meaning of her name, and the inspiration for her song "California Love." She reflects on the father who first encouraged her to perform, the decade she stepped away from music to raise her late sister's children, and the husband who reminded her that the world still needed to hear her voice.

The conversation also explores the role of Yoruba language and storytelling in her songwriting, why she describes her performances as "edutainment," and how growing up as an orphan inspired her lifelong commitment to helping orphaned children pursue an education.

This is a conversation about identity, belonging, resilience, gratitude, and using your gifts to create opportunities for others.

In this episode:

•  What Afrofusion music is 
•  The meaning behind the name NKAN 
•  Growing up in Nigeria 
•  Moving from Lagos to Oakland 
•  The story behind California Love
•  How family and community shape who we become 
•  Returning to music after a decade away 
•  Teaching culture through music and storytelling 
•  Supporting orphaned children through education 

Learn more about NKAN:

Website: http://nkan.world/

Instagram: @nkanofficial

Facebook: Nkaneledua 

YouTube: NkanMusic 

TikTok: @nkan 

X (Twitter): @nkan

Transcript

The First Time Nkan Took the Stage

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Anytime you we have an event in the house, you'll always play a song and put a cotton blind around and he will play the music. I say, Kemi, you ready? I say, Yes, daddy. And I'll go behind the curtain and I'll come out dancing because I learned that I picked that dance from me from my dad because he's a he was a good dancer. So I come out from behind the curtain and I started wiggling my toe because the trout is our cultural dance. So I started doing that, I started doing that, I started doing that. I'll come out and I would turn, I would wiggle, I'll do some stones that he never did. Then everybody started wondering, but they start clapping about my head. And that's why when I perform in Nigeria, that memory comes back to me. And it means a lot to me.

Welcome To Tradition Café

Ana 0:43

Hey friends, welcome to Tradition Cafe, the spot where the past bumps into the present, and we get to sip our favorite drinks while digging into the stories that make people well people. I'm Anna Xavier, your host. In each episode, we'll talk about art, passions, customs, celebrations, everyday traditions, and how people's cultures shape the way they live, work, and create today. So if you're like me and love a good story, pull up a chair, grab your cup, and thanks for listening. Today I am speaking with Nka, a Nigerian-born Afro-fusion artist whose music brings together rhythm, storytelling, yoruba, English, pigeon, and contemporary Afro-fusion, creating performances that invite

What Afro-Fusion Sounds Like

Ana 1:28

people to dance, participate, and connect. We'll talk about her journey from Lagos to Oakland, her song California Love, and what it means to bring culture, community, and passion to the stage at Rhythmics Cultural World. I'm so happy to have you here. That was the best entrance ever. Love it. Oh my gosh, we didn't catch that on the first take. Cheers. Hey, hey, yes. Hey. You know, I'm gonna come clean and tell everybody that we just did this and I screwed up and didn't press record. And this lady is so magnificent that she agreed to stick around for a little bit longer and help me fix my flub-up. Thank you, honey. You're welcome. For people who have never heard Afrofusion before, um, tell me about what they're going to be able to find uh in your music. My name is Uncorn Ela.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

I'm an artist, a recording and performing artist. Uh I'm an instrumentalist, I'm a storyteller, and I love to dance. Afrofusion, a mix of a beautiful, beautiful collections of art. Um before now I sing, I do my I play my music with just guitar and drums. But now I've been able to infuse the likes of the keyboards, the likes of the bass, um uh the likes of the sacks, the likes of, I've been able to infuse every other contemporary uh instrument into my music. So that's the fusion.

The Meaning Behind Nkan

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Come listen to. So tell me um how you came up with the name Uncon. Uh, way back in Nigeria when I started, I started a project called the um busy executive uh theater initiatives, where I bring people that naturally would not have anything to do with theater. And uh I brought in one of the legends of people that brought in Afrobeats to Nigeria who uh started a record company, they're very popular. Uh Dio Adina, I brought him on stage to act with uh to act with us on Black Image Stage. And after acting with me, and so meal stay that I can sing, dance, act, and do everything, prepare the show, do the uh the costumes. And he was like, This girl is something. So that sticks with me. And and something means n con. So that's how Mkon Kong became uncon. And um, and I remember having a show somewhere. We're back in Nigeria, I think we're having some theater, and I have to come in, come in and sing with my loud voice, my beautiful loud voice, come in singing, and they said, Welcome, uncon. And somebody said, What kind of something is that? What kind of uncon is that? Immediately, God laid it into my heart and said, something from God. So uncon eledua. Uncon ele dua. Yeah, oh, come on, girl. Yeah, uncon means something, and eledua means God. Every of my art, every of my talent, every of my costumes, every of my inspiration, every of my lyrics, every of my words came from God.

unknown 4:53

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

So I hold nothing to it.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

I think you have a little bit to do with it. If God gives you a gift, you have to be smart enough to use it. So that part is your part.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Let's give you a little bit of credit here. If I don't sound too proud. I'm saying it for you.

Ana 5:13

Okay, thank you. There you go. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

Exactly.

Lagos To Oakland By Surprise

Ana 5:18

So you were born in Nigeria. What town were you from? Um I was born in Lagos.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Lagos, that's how you say it. Lagos, yeah. But I'm originally from Ondo State. When did you come to Oakland and why Oakland? Did you know someone here? Oh no. I remember Oakland. I didn't I didn't even know anything about Oakland. I thought I was coming to Oklahoma. I didn't even know I was traveling. So even when people were asking me, where are you going? I said Oklahoma, Oklahoma. But literally, I'm like, okay, I'm going to Oakland. So I didn't really know uh where I was going. I didn't have any plan for going anywhere. After taking care of my nephew for over 10 years, when my younger sister passed away, and I felt I needed uh I needed a break. I needed to travel. The last time I ever traveled was in 2003 and 2004. And I felt I needed a break because I dedicated my life just to make sure that they get the best of everything in life. Two weeks before that time, I I came down and I just found myself in Locan. And I love it. Where do you consider home? I think everywhere that you are being accepted and loved, it's your home.

Ana 6:24

I agree with that full force. Today, not just Oakland, but you wrote a song called California Love and it just got released,

The Story Behind "California Love"

Ana 6:39

right? Yes. Uh-huh. That's great.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

I literally celebrated Oakland in that music because I was saying born in Oakland, bred in Oakland, and brought up in Oakland. California Love.

unknown 6:50

California Love.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

The story began. I would say two-pack inspired song first. Two weeks before I traveled, I never knew where I was coming, like I said earlier. Uh, but this song keeps ringing in my head. So because of copyright, I don't want to sing the song out. So thank you, because I'll get sued. So uh two weeks after I found myself on the plane and I was sleeping, and the pilot said, Why come to San Francisco? Why am I away from my dream before the pilot said that I started hearing that song again? Mm-hmm. I was like, Okay, God, what's going on? Why are you so funny? I just ignore it. Then a month after, nearly a month after, I met the love of my life, and the inspiration of that song and the lyrics of that song came by. And that's why I said, 10,000 miles away, for the door coming. So which means 10,000 miles away, my heartbeat keep beating. But I never knew that that was the butterfly in my belly that is telling me that I'm gonna find my love. And I see you, you saw me, eyes never lies. Miles away. Yes, your thoughts, your smile brought me so far. Never know, never know the direction to go in life, finding love. But the moment we saw each other, we found ourselves. And that is dedicated to my husband, whom uh make me feel welcome in Oakland, and also the people. The people are so beautiful. The diversity in Oakland, yeah, the acceptance, the drum circle. They know you feel this is um for me, and that's why I celebrated Oakland and I said kudos to Oakland and thank you. Always love.

Ana 8:56

That's a love song to a lot of people. People, yes. You know, it's it's for sure, it's for your husband, it's for California, but it's also for the people of Oakland.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

Absolutely. I love that. I I want to mention uh a few people, I I think Pat Nisha, Williams, Ali, Barbara Rex, uh um Sarah Breed. I just want to say thank you guys. I use this medium to say thank you guys. You guys play the role in my life. Thank you so much. How did they play the role in your life? So uh I feel God has put this people in place for me when I got here and my husband as well. So uh Patnesia uh accommodated me even without knowing me. She only had my voice. She saw me perform and said, gosh, your voice. If you ever need anything, let me know. And she accommodated me for three months where I was able to save up some money as well. And within that three months, I met my husband. Without Patnesia Ali, um Patnesha Williams Ali, without her doing that, I wouldn't find my voice today.

Ana 10:06

So you came here not knowing anyone, but you met you made a family, you made home, and they did that for you. That's great. Yes. I love that.

How Community Becomes Family

Ana 10:15

Growing up in Nigeria, you had told me that your father played music and really encouraged performance. Tell me um how that helped your confidence to be the amazing performer that you are today.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Oh, I'll tell you, he was the one that started building that confidence as a child for me. Anytime you we have an event in the house, you'll always play a song and put a cotton blind around and he will play the music. I say, Kemi, you ready? I'll say, Yes, daddy. And I'll go behind the curtain and I'll come out dancing because I learned that I picked that dance from me from my dad because he was a good dancer. So I'm but I'm bad when it comes to dancing. I'm a bad dancer. Stop. So I copied his style and I come out from behind the curtain and I started wiggling my toe because the trout is our cultural dance. So I started doing that, I started doing that, I started doing that, I'll come out and I would turn, I would wiggle, I'll do some stones

Her Father Built Her Confidence

SPEAKER_00 11:15

that he never did. Then everybody started wondering, wow, wow, they start clapping about my head. And that's why fast forward when I perform in Nigeria, that memory comes back to me. And it means a lot to me. I'm kind of emotional about that. I remember performing at the most beautiful girl in Nigeria, one of the beautiful projects in Nigeria. When I finished performing and I bowed down to over 30,000 or 20,000 people, reflection of my father comes back to me. Seeing myself bowing at that time. I see myself as a little child of six years old doing the same thing now. And now myself as a headliner.

Ana 11:50

So you take that on stage with you every time.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Every time.

Ana 11:55

Oh, I love that story.

Finding Music Again After A Decade

Ana 11:57

So you did step away from performance uh for about a decade. How did you find your way back to music after stepping away from it for 10 years?

SPEAKER_00 12:08

Yeah. Um I would say when you are called and destined to do something, you finally you definitely find your way back to it. Because I haven't been free for almost a decade taking care of my nephews. Because of my their mom passed away and I have to be responsible for it. I wasn't married. I took over the child. So there wasn't time for me to even have anything to do with music for 10 years. So when I got here and I got married, and I started singing to my husband, and the first thing he tells me is the whole world needs to hear your voice. That's why he keeps telling me, you gotta go, you gotta make your music. And that's why I found myself back in back into singing.

Music That Brings People Together

Ana 12:52

So you have a song called Jangbala, which means unity. What does unity mean to you as a Nigerian-born uh artist making music here in the Bay Area?

SPEAKER_00 13:04

When we come together, we can speak with one voice. When I got invited to Unity Festival, and I said they said that when I said, Oh, Unity Festival, I said the first song that comes in there is Jangbala, which talks about unity because I know uh that festival was made to be because that song was written. And more people need to hear that song. And that's one of the favorite songs that people go on with singing it.

Teaching Through Music

Ana 13:27

Is all of your music on Spotify? Can people find it on Spotify or Apple? You can YouTube and see her performances. Um, but nothing will be seeing you live. No, nothing will be live.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

You can't compare the you can compare the energy of the real life with what you see. So if you can feel that way where you watch my videos, so imagine what you're gonna feel live performances.

Ana 13:52

Right. And you said that you'd like to teach during your performances. What are you gonna teach us?

SPEAKER_00 13:58

Um, like I said, uncom will always build uncom. Uh we don't know what uncom might come up with without on that day. She's just uh she's just who she is. So our energy is different. Our energy is something else when it comes to stage performances. So we don't know. Let's keep our finger crossed and see what comes up on that day. Uh, I'm an educator, I entertain and I educate. I always call it educatement. Entertainment. I love that. Entertainment. Entertainment. Yeah. I always say edutainment because I love because I sing in different uh language that some people do not understand. So and when I do that, I try to teach, I try to explain, and I try to make them sing along with me. I try to make them understand that hey, it might be a different language. If he can speak Spanish, he can speak any language. If he can speak English, he can speak any language. So that's the way I see it.

Ana 14:53

And you sing in Yoruba English and pigeon. Yes. Do you do you do just one language per song or do you mix it all? Uh, how do you decide?

SPEAKER_00 15:04

It depends on the inspiration and the direction of a song, you know. I express myself with the Yoruba proverbs.

Ana 15:12

Yeah, I noticed that.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Yeah, I love it. Yoruba proverbs because I always want to enrich my music with a proverb, because proverbs in Nigeria, in Yoruba culture, carries a lot of weight. That's where I love to teach. I want people to go make a research when they listen to my song. Uh, somebody said, uh, go listen to my song as a song of the moment, and somebody said, No, it's a song of everlasting, it's an everlasting song because thus your kind of music will never fade off. Anytime anybody listens to it, it's not going to expire. It's a song that inspired people.

Giving Orphaned Children Hope

Ana 15:48

So earlier you said that you uh dedicated your life, 10 years, I believe, of helping raise your nephew after your sister passed away. And you also do a lot of work with orphans. Tell our listeners about that and how they can help. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

Thank you for asking that question. Um I grew up as an orphan. I lost my mom when I was about to be six, and I loved my I lost my dad when I was about to be 12. I knew how life taught me so many lessons. I knew how I had to learn from wrong and right. I see this as uh a way of helping only children that have lost either their father or their mother. Then I'll be able to come into the picture. I have a couple of children that I'm uh that have been paying their school fees uh for over eight years. And today I'm proud to say I'm able to send three children right now in university. So it's not like I joined together with an organization, but this is just what we do as an individual, as a voice, as UNCON, and that's why I started UNCON.world. So if you want to support this, uh support this course that I'm doing, I hope to expand this in my community where I am right now. I know there are a lot of um, there's a lot of uh opportunities here in the US, but where some countries where there's no opportunity, like Nigeria, there's no government support from nobody that wants to expand to other parts of Africa where they don't have this opportunity. And also as an orphan, so I know how the shoe pains the feet, so I know how this is. So that's why I open any other person, any other child to lose their opportunity. I wonder, I wonder what would have happened to those three kids if I didn't pick them up. That must feel so good to you to give back. Yes, yes, it feels good to me, and that's why a lot of people don't understand about my career and my music. People think I'm doing it just um because I haven't made millions yet or billions yet in music. Because yeah, yeah, yes, I said that correctly. And people are like, oh, she should have given up about music, but they don't know that I have a focus and I have a goal. As an old friend, I want to give back to my community, and that's what I'm doing. Individually, I've been doing this on my home. Follow me on all my social media platforms. On Instagram is uh Uncon Official, on Facebook is Uncon Eledua, on uh YouTube is Uncon Music, on TikTok is Uncon. On X is Uncon. Yes, I'm everywhere. All over

Where to Find Nkan

SPEAKER_00 18:30

the place.

Ana 18:30

Thank you so much for joining me. I really appreciate it. I'm looking forward to meeting you in person too. Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

I look forward to seeing you in person too as well.

Ana 18:39

All right. I got Miley House. Go to rehearse, go rehearse. Thank you. Bye-bye. Thanks for listening to Tradition Cafe. Tradition Cafe is produced and hosted by Anna Xavier Camagno with editing by Lena Torrey. Special thanks to our sponsors, Digifly and ArtPush, for helping make these conversations possible. For today's guest links, the video version, audio platforms, socials, and support options, visit TraditionCafe.com or check the show notes. If this version moved you, made you think, or reminded you of someone, please share it with them. Tradition Cafe, many voices, one table.