Attih Soul
Interview
When did it all start?
As stated earlier, Attih’s love for music started from childhood. Being born into a Christian family, his mother loved to sing hymns a lot. This became a family tradition as he and his siblings would often join their mother to sing different hymns. Attih’s melodious voice often stood out from the lot and his mother would make him sing the verses to these hymns in order to boost his confidence. Attih’s confidence grew so fast that he soon started singing special renditions in Church and also joined the choir at school. Another big influence in Attih’s love for music as he grew was his elder brother, who often played albums from: Boys 2 Men, Kci & Jojo, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Dido, Rob Thomas, R Kelly, Vanessa Carlton, The Corrs and many others. Attih’s good taste in music was already defined by passively listening to his brother play these classics and it’s no surprise as these influences clearly show in his choice of genre. As of today, he has been able to build a promising and constantly evolving music career for himself.
What is your main motivation or inspiration?
My inspiration comes from “relatable realities”, as I love to write and sing about things people can easily relate to. When I write a song, I love listeners to be able to have a mental picture of my thought process and emotions when I wrote or recorded the song.
My motivation comes from giving people long-lasting impressions whenever I share my gift through singing. I have sang in more concerts than I can remember and each time I get to sing to people, I feel more motivated to do it a lot more. In my perspective, singing isn’t a job. It is a calling and each time I see that my singing brings happiness and ignites genuine emotions in people, I am greatly motivated to do even more. I am motivated by the energy I get to share with people when I sing and by the good energy I receive in return. Fame, money and status are all secondary when compared to my desire to communicate through my singing/music.
Define yourself in less than 10 words
“A Purpose-Driven Man With an Unwavering Resolve to Succeed”
Tell us about your career. Your best experience? And the worst?
My career has been amazing so far. Between 2015 when I started doing music professionally and now, I have achieved some remarkable strides, especially as an independent artist.
My best experience was getting invited to write and perform the theme song for Nigeria’s Democracy Day in 2017. I remember I was in Johannesburg for some music-related activities when I received that call. I obliged without questions, as it was a great honour. Imagine the way an American singer would feel when invited to write a song and perform on the 4th of July (in front of the President). That was exactly the kind of honour I felt upon receiving that invitation.
The second most memorable experience of my life was performing with a massive orchestra in Russia in the presence of 43,000 people. At the time, I was the first African to have performed at that festival and to think I was given an award and dubbed “Golden Voice from Africa” by one one of Russia’s most renowned singers? Now that’s something that gives me chills all the time.
My worst experience was actually the first singing competition I participated in. It was the semi finals of the singing competition. There was a technical issue with the sound and I couldn’t really hear myself from the feedback monitors. It turned out that I was singing on the wrong key. It was so embarrassing because I had lots of friends who came to cheer me. I was eventually evicted from the singing competition but I learned a lot from that experience and my career has gotten better with each passing day.
Any idol or reference?
Hmmmmm! This is a tricky one. I have been influenced by different singers at different times. However, some of the musical influences that have left the greatest marks on me are:
Mariah Carey: I learned to sing those high falsetto notes by listening to her and imitating her.
Neyo: He greatly influenced the storytelling part of my songwriting and my love for hats.
Jacob Banks: He’s one singer I admire so much and I learned to be more emotionally expressive by listening to him. Sam Smith and James Arthur also fall into this category.
What are your next projects?
I am currently working on my debut studio album. It has taken longer than I expected, but I know it will be worth the wait. I have a great team and we are doing our best to make sure we get the best out of this.
How do you see yourself in 5 years? and in 15 years?
In the next 5 years, I see myself as a globally known artist, collaborating and singing with the biggest names in the industry and sharing my gift on the biggest stages the world has to offer. I also see myself in the Grammy scene (Yes I’m that much of a big dreamer).
In 15 years, I see myself as a fully accomplished artist, mentoring, coaching and guiding up and coming artists. I hope to have my own singing show and a talent development academy for young and aspiring musicians, producers and performers. I plan to give back to society through these ways.
Projects
About
Attih Soul is a Nigerian born singer, songwriter and guitarist based in Barcelona Spain. He first studied in The University if Calabar Nigeria, where he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Medical Biochemistry. He also has a double Masters Degree in Talent Management and Leadership from Catholic University of Murcia and Barcelona Executive Business School. Attih loved music, acting, dancing and many performance art related activities from childhood. It is also reported that he was actively involved in music-related activities all through high school, as he was part of the school band where he played drums, participated in the weekly social night activities, where he danced and performed to school mates. His love for singing was rekindled in 2010 and he decided to slowly follow that path. In 2015. Attih thought it was best to take music to a more professional level, then adopted the stage name “Attih Soul”. He has since consistently followed this path and has achieved quite a number of remarkable strides like: Writing and performing the theme song for Nigeria’s Democracy Day celebration in 2017 (in the presence of Nigeria’s President), Performing to 43,000 people in Russia and winning awards, Having original songs featured in Movies and concerts in different countries.