Uwechue Emmanuel

» In 2006, Uwechue Emmanuel, a Nigerian engineer, stepped onto the stage of the most popular talent show in China, overwhelming the audience with his excellent performance of Chinese songs. Over six years, the Nigerian man has made his stage name "Haoge" well known around the whole country. He opened up about his successful new career with ChinAfrica:

Your fans say that they love you because they feel so moved when they listen to your Chinese songs. How do you achieve that?

First of all, I love music. For every song that I get to sing, I have to put myself into the song, to feel the song and to express how I feel through the song. When I sing in Chinese, it just has to be the same way. I'm so honored that people are moved by it.

You choose many folk songs rather than pop music. Is it hard for you to understand what these songs say?

The contexts are very complicated for a foreigner to understand, but honestly, there's something that I can relate to. I can relate to the pain of losing something, or to joy and passion for one's country and home. Like in the song Miss My Comrade, I can relate to love and sacrifice for love's sake or for country's sake. I think this really helps me to sing songs in a manner that move people. And also, a lot of Chinese friends helped me. Otherwise, I would not have been able to understand and express myself so well in those songs.

You said in an interview that you want to do more than just sing Chinese songs. What do you mean by that?

Now we work to add rhythm and melody in my style and in the that I learned in childhood. Because we all know that Chinese music is more melodic, while as Africans, we like to put rhythm into melody. So right now what we do is merge and fuse the two. And not only that, the pentatonic style of China omits the fourth and the seventh. We're trying to implement that style into Chinese songs. Because this is music, having a style you are used to does not mean you cannot try another style. Music is a universal language. We can use it to speak to people's hearts. 

What're your future plans?

I'm hoping that in the future I will be able to do more music in Chinese that will affect this generation positively. I hope that I can start a new style. Right now people are used to simply listening; they do not get into it. For instance, when a Chinese is listening to a song, if he does not understand the lyrics, he is less interested. I hope they can accept the music itself. When I began to sing Chinese songs, I couldn't understand many lyrics but I love it, because music is spiritual. It's not a physical thing. It's the thing that speaks to your heart. I can listen to a song that I don't even know what it means, but I can be in the same atmosphere as that person. So I am going to change that concept and tell people: Listen first, then get into it.

What's the best part about being a star in China?

I never thought [my success] would be like this. Honestly, I never dreamed about it. It's more than my dreams come true, more than what I have planned for and expected. It gives me so many opportunities to be of positive use in life to many people. Now people get to know you more, and they are interested in what you have to say and what you have to offer. That's one of the opportunities that is priceless. And it also brought me in the middle of two countries.