Attih Ekpenyong, known professionally as Attih Soul, is a Nigeria-born singer, songwriter and musician currently based in Barcelona, Spain. He is also known for performing at events such as World Music Day at the French Institute in Nigeria, where he received the "Best Performing Group" award alongside The A-Team, and the Road to Yalta Music Festival, where he was awarded a Golden Microphone by Lev Leschchenko.

Early life and education

Ekpenyong was born in

Calabar Calabar (also referred to as Callabar, Calabari, Calbari and Kalabar) is the capital city of Cross River State, Nigeria. It was originally named Akwa Akpa, in the Efik language. The city is adjacent to the Calabar and Great Kwa rivers and c ...

, Cross River State, Nigeria. Ekpenyong graduated from the

University of Calabar The University of Calabar is a public university situated in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria. It is one of Nigeria's second generation federal universities. The University of Calabar was a campus of the University of Nigeria until 1975. Th ...

with a bachelor's degree in medical biochemistry. Ekpenyong also earned a dual master's degree in international talent management and leadership from

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Executive Business School and Catholic University of Murcia.

Career

Ekpenyong began his music career by singing at events such as open mics. He also competed on reality singing competitions like

Nigerian Idol ''Nigerian Idol'' is the local version of the Idol series franchise. It is the second Idol franchise for the country as it was already part of Idols West Africa which was also shot and produced in Stockholm, Sweden. The show started with its ...

, Voice Cross River, and

Project Fame West Africa ''Project Fame'', also known as ''Project Fame West Africa'' or ''MTN Project Fame West Africa'' (for sponsorship purposes), is a music talent TV reality show filmed in Lagos and aired in the West African subcontinent. It is a regional version of ...

. In 2017, Ekpenyong was chosen by the administration of President

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015. Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 A ...

to write and perform the theme song for Nigeria's Democracy Day. In the same year, Soul performed his first international concert in South Africa and released his first single, "Say You Love Me". In 2020, Ekpenyong performed alongside Yaroslav Sumishevskiy and the Otta Orchestra at the Road to Yalta Music Festival in

Yalta Yalta (: Я́лта) is a resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Cri ...

, Russia. After performing, he was awarded a cash prize, an award of excellence, and a Golden Microphone by Russian singer

Lev Leschenko Lev Valerianovich Leshchenko (russian: link=no, Лев Валерьянович Лещенко; born 1 February 1942), is a Russian singer, who is best known for his rendition of "Den Pobedy" and the 1980 Summer Olympics closing ceremony theme ...

, who served as the event's chairman of the jury. In February 2022, Ekpenyong released a titled "Friendzone". In the same year, he released a second single, titled "Someday I'll Find You". In June 2023, Ekpenyong signed a management deal with the French management company Talent and Skills. In the same month, he released the acoustic EP ''The Acoustic Experiment''. In September 2023, Ekpenyong performed a concert in

to promote his album ''Shades of Emotion'', which was released in November 2023.

Discography

Singles

Albums

EPs

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ekpenyong, Attih Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Nigerian singer-songwriters People from Calabar University of Calabar alumni Musicians from Cross River State Nigerian male singer-songwriters