Onyeka Onwenu is easily remembered for her music and activism. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s when she began singing commercially with her rich, innocuous vocals, exploring a melange of heartwarming themes across different genres—soul, disco, highlife, gospel, etc., she won the hearts of people at home and abroad, rose to the status of superstardom and […]
4 months ago
Onyeka Onwenu is easily remembered for her music and activism. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s when she began singing commercially with her rich, innocuous vocals, exploring a melange of heartwarming themes across different genres—soul, disco, highlife, gospel, etc., she won the hearts of people at home and abroad, rose to the status of superstardom and earned the sobriquet “Elegant Stallion”.
In 1989, she collaborated with Juju virtuoso King Sunny Ade on Choices, a duet that centers on consent and birth control. It was a bold artistic move at that time in the country when public enlightenment about such issues was sparse. Her activism also involved agitation for the release of her contemporary and revolutionary musician, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti who was jailed by the military government in 1984.
Best known for her evergreen song One Love, Onyeka Onwenu’s debut in Nollywood, the world’s second most prolific film industry, was in the 1999 film, Nightmare, where she played Joke, starring alongside Pete Edochie and Franca Brown. The same year, she appeared in a couple of other productions, including Conspiracy, a film which had her hit You and I as soundtrack.
If Onyeka tested the waters with film in the 90s, she gained more cinematic exposure in the twenty-first century, inscribing her name in the annals of modern Nollywood history. She graced over a dozen movies and harnessed her star power on productions like Dickson Iroegbu’s Widows Cot (2005), Andy Nwakalor’s Rising Moon (2005), Biyi Bandele’s Half Of A Yellow Sun (2013), Genevieve Nnaji’s Lionheart (2018), BB Sasore’s God Calling (2018), Emeka Ojukwu’s Ije Awele (2022), and Kayode Kasum’s Obara’M (2022). While she may not have particularly been a Nollywood favorite, she injected in her roles motherliness, feminine strength and a refreshing sense of self-assuredness—traits that define her in real life as a successful single mother and multifaceted personality.
Widows Cot
The family drama also stars Joke Silva, Zack Orji, Rita Edochie, Bimbo Manuel and Bukky Ajayi. It borders on the cultural practice that prevents a woman from inheriting the properties of their late husband, leaving them at the mercy of the man’s kinsmen. An overzealous women’s group rises to combat this tradition, but goes morally rogue. Onwenu plays Adanma, an overly confident socialite and stakeholder in the powerful widows’ cult who offers advice and support to a troubled senator’s widow. The film earned four nominations at the second edition of the Africa Movie Academy Awards in 2006, with Joke Silva winning the Best Actress award for her performance.
Rising Moon
In the Andy Nwakalor film, Onwenu stars as Ulomma, appearing alongside Emeka Nwabueze, Justus Esiri and Maureen Solomon, among others. The film received twelve nominations, six of which it won at the 2006 AMAA. For her performance, Onwenu bagged an AMAA nomination as Best Actress in a Leading Role.
Half Of A Yellow Sun
An adaptation of Chimamanda Adichie’s novel of the same title, Half Of A Yellow Sun tells a love story of Odenigbo and Olanna against the backdrop of the political upheaval that characterized the historical Nigeria-Biafra Civil War (1967-1960). Onwenu embodies the character of Mama, Odenigbo’s village mother who visits her son in the city and disapproves of his romantic relationship with Olanna. The loving but overbearing mother sets her son up with Amala, a village girl, in an attempt to destroy his relationship with Olanna.
Lionheart
This film, which marks Genevieve Nnaji’s directorial debut and the first Netflix Original film produced in Nigeria, addresses workplace sexism and family drama. Pushing the agenda of the strong, independent woman, it unveils Adaeze Obiagu’s (Genevieve Nnaji) attempt to unveil to confront systemic gender discrimination on her journey to the leadership of her father’s company. Onwenu plays the mother to Adaeze and wife to the ailing business magnate, Chief Ernest Obiagu.
God Calling
In this Christian drama film, written and directed by BB Sasore, Onwenu is presented as the mother to Francis (Karibi Fubara) and wife to Papa Francis (Nkem Owoh). Since marrying into a wealthy family, Francis hardly visits home—which causes resentment from his parents, particularly his father. A story of love, redemption and faith, the film navigates the struggles of the young couple, particularly the wife Sade, against depression and trauma following the loss of their only child.
Ije Awele
The drama, directed by Emeka Ojukwu, captures the girl child ordeal through the story of Awele, a victim of abuse on the path to healing and self-discovery. Onwenu stars as Ijeoma Okpara, alongside an exciting cast that includes Keppy Ekpeyong-Bassey, Ngozi Nwosu, Ejike Asiegbu, Jideofor Kenechukwu Achufusi, Seun Ajayi, and Victoria Nwogu.
