Another berlin story

Growing up With War, Finding Freedom in Music

Natia Todua

Photo: Natia Todua © Nancho Dolidze

Natia Todua is a Berlin-based singer-songwriter from Georgia. A winner of The Voice of Germany, she creates soul- and jazz-influenced music rooted in personal history, resilience, and the search for freedom.

I am originally from Georgia, but I grew up in Abkhazia, a region of Georgia shaped by conflict. Although I was born after the war had ended, my family returned to a burned and destroyed home. My childhood took shape among ruins, where loss and survival were part of everyday life. Stability felt fragile, and silence often spoke louder than words.

Music became my refuge early on. Before I understood it as art, it was the only place where I felt safe. Singing gave me a voice when words were not enough, and a sense of freedom in a world that felt uncertain. Music was not an escape; it was how I survived emotionally.

Years later, that voice carried me far from where I started. I came to Germany as an au pair, without knowing that this step would change my life completely. I arrived with limited language skills, no network, and only a quiet belief that music might help me belong. Berlin felt overwhelming at first loud, distant, and demanding, but it was also honest. Here, I was not asked to explain my past. I was allowed to become who I was still discovering.

Music followed me everywhere. I sang wherever I could, in small rooms, in moments of doubt and courage. Winning The Voice of Germany suddenly placed my voice in front of millions. What mattered most was not visibility, but validation - the feeling that my story, my sound, and my language of emotion had a place.

Living in Germany as an immigrant artist has not been easy. Building a career in English-language soul and jazz-inspired music, without a label or management, while raising a small child, often feels like another quiet battle. Being an Ausländer means constantly proving your presence, your value, and your right to be heard. Still, I continue performing at festivals, teaching music, and creating spaces where music becomes connection rather than competition.

Today, I work in Berlin as a singer, songwriter, and music teacher. I work closely with children and families, often in socially accessible spaces. This is deeply personal to me. As a child, I had no financial or structural access to music education, only the desire to learn and the dream to express myself. Now, offering that space to others feels like closing a circle.

Berlin has become more than a city. It is where my voice stopped being only a survival tool and became a conscious choice. A place where freedom is not the absence of struggle, but the courage to keep creating despite it. Music remains my freedom and my bridge between past and present, between who I was and who I am becoming.

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