While she is relatively known in Nigeria, Nigerian-born singer, Emoubo Juliet Obieh, aka, Booboosha, is quickly making a mark in New Zealand.
For people who like to have a feel of her talent, this month, she will be entertaining at the Newtown Festival in Wellington and the Africa Films Festival in Auckland.
She told The Point, “I feel honoured to be chosen to represent my country at these festivals. Anytime I go on stage to perform, I always have the entire continent on my mind.”
But growing up was not any bed of roses for her. At age 7, she said she would wake up as early as 5.00am to sell garri for her mom.
She added, “Then by 7.30am, I would sell my cosmetics at school and from school in the evening, I still had to go supply garri to my mom’s customers.
This continued all through my school days. And during the holidays too, we would go to the village for cassava planting and rooting.
“But I never forgot my musical calling. Every evening, I always wrote a song.” According to Booboosha, the tough moments she passed through in life was a big motivation and she felt sharing her story would also motivate other youths to live their dreams.
“Every time I visit an orphanage home, it reminds me of myself and how far I have come.
It was a long journey of suffering and hardship, rejection and disappointment, but all these made me who I am today.”
