Lynn Siri Martinussen aka Lioness Oyinbo is a visually impaired Norwegian singer and blogger who relocated to Nigeria because of the love she has for the entertainment industry. She's the first white singer signed to a Nigerian label.
In a recent chat with Saturday Beats, she spoke about some challenges she has faced in the entertainment industry. See excerpts after the cut...
Talking about your name, what does Lioness Oyinbo mean?
My name is Lynn. I got the Lioness from my hair because it is golden and curly like a lioness. I don’t know exactly how but somehow, few of my friends call me lioness in London, but for the oyinbo part, that was Oritsefemi when we did a recording session, he was to do the introduction and he was messing around, calling me Lioness Oyinbo, and since then, it just kind of stuck. Ever since then, my friends here in Nigeria call me Lioness Oyinbo.
What exactly attracted you to Nigeria?
Although I am from Norway, I really love Nigeria. I don’t think I actually chose Nigeria, I think Nigeria chose me. It’s a very interesting country. I love Nigerian literature, I love the music. Honestly, I initially wanted to do Reggae/Dancehall in London but that didn’t work out so I thought about giving up music and focus on my journalism. Then I published something on Soundcloud that was picked up by my former manager who convinced me to come to Nigeria. Of course I was initially scared because of the bad press Nigeria received in the West. Eventually I got a lot of positive response from some Nigerians I knew and decided to come over here and I have not regretted my decision. Right now I have fully relocated to Nigeria and I am signed to Sweetlife Records.
Why do you describe yourself as the first white singer signed to a Nigerian label?
I believe I am because I haven’t heard of any white woman who signed in Nigeria. Also, I have not really met anyone who is as crazy about Afrobeat as I am.
What led to your visual impairment?
I’m blind from birth due to a detached optic nerve and I’m surprised at how little regular people know about the world of the blind. It’s really quite similar to the world of the sighted. I’ve never seen, but that’s why I imagine. And I think it’s important that people learn that we are fully independent and can participate at all levels of the society. And that we’re just as capable as anyone else. I am also a journalist, fiction writer and singer. In fact, I’m the first white female artiste signed to a Nigerian label. My blog talks about all these aspects of my life, as well as whatever else I may feel like discussing. The blog unintentionally started out as a blog about various issues related to blindness.
But how do you type on your blog?
I use a normal computer but I have a software installed that speaks to me so I know what I’m writing. I do everything regular people do; the only difference is that I hear instead of seeing on the screen.
How has it been blogging about your visual impairment, don’t you feel downcast when you do so?
I’ve had this blog for years and every time I want to close it, I get new followers. I just have to blog about blindness because the world has so many misconceptions about it and I see it as blind people having a duty to educate the world that it’s just the eyes that aren’t working, not the brain. Blindness is not any imperfection, it’s nothing like that.
You really believe visual impairment is not an imperfection?
It really hurts me that some people think that I’m less perfect than someone else because I’m blind. I mean we all have imperfections as people but I don’t think blindness is my imperfection. It’s a challenge for sure and there are some days I really wish I could see because it could be frustrating. But I am sure that you wake up and you look at one thing in your life and say this is my imperfection. That’s why I don’t want people to look at my blindness and say it’s an imperfection. If I have any imperfection, it might be something in my character or something else but it is nothing physical about me.
How challenging was it shooting the video especially because of your visual impairment?
Shooting a video when you can’t see is hard because you need to know what’s going on. It was difficult because I kept receiving two different types of instructions. I had one person telling me one thing and another person telling me something else and they were all shouting. Next time I’m shooting a video that’s not going to happen. I would need to know the choreography beforehand.
