Chinaza born Nkechinyere Chinaza Ekpere Mbakwe did not start singing professionally before graduating from university. She grew up in Germany to refugees of the Biafran Civil War in Nigeria. After spending the year 2001 in New York she sang backups for people like Joy Denalane, Hattler, Della Miles, Katja Riemann, BANTU and Mo' Horizons. Up to today Chinaza is working together with Mike Cinnamon on her vocal technique. In 2006 she put out her first solo album CHANGES. It is definitely about time for something new. So, don't miss her second album called HOME. It will be out on February 18th 2011.
Today Chinaza is living in between Berlin and Lagos trying to blend both influences into her sound never totally deviating from her first love named Jazz.

Nkechinyere Mbakwe, Ph.D., is a Research Fellow at the Nollywood Studies Centre located at the School of Media and Communication (SMC). In 2011 she received her doctorate degree from the Technical University Berlin, Germany.The title of her dissertation is "Die Heilung des Wortes: Zur Bedeutung der Oralität in nigerianischen Homevideos" [translated: The Healing Word: The Significance of Orality in Nigerian Home Videos] linking post-colonial theories with Nigeria's video culture.

Born and bred in Germany she joined SMC in November 2011. She received the German Federal Scholarship (2007 - 2011) and worked in the areas of music, broadcasting and consulting, in Europe as well as the United States. Furthermore, Dr. Mbakwe released two Jazz albums.
Dr. phil. Nkechinyere Mbakwe deals with the healing of the word both as an academic and as a singer. She currently lives in Lagos (Nigeria) where she works as a research associate at the worldwide first Nollywood Research Centre of the Pan-African University, School of Media and Communication.
She is the author of the AfricAvenir publication "Nollywood - Trauma and Healing". Nkechinyere Mbakwe's thesis is that by creating and effectively distributing its own images Nollywood significantly contributes to healing the colonial trauma and to creating a Pan-African identity.

Source:
* Chinaza - www.facebook.com/chinazamusic
* AfricAvenir, 2012
* School of Media and Communication (SMC) - www.smc.edu.ng/media-enterprise-and-communication/Page-2
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Nkechinyere Mbakwe, Dr. phil., beschäftigt sich als Wissenschaftlerin und Sängerin mit der Heilung des Wortes. Sie lebt und arbeitet in Lagos und Berlin.