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Akosua's Melodies Unravel the Healing art in Music
By Linda A. Annan
A short hair cut on a black woman, they say, is redolent of her strength, natural beauty and confidence. Such an appearance, to some, is indicative of anything but placidness. Like most stereotypes, however, this flawed judgment is fallacious. Akosua's music effortlessly moves one into a place of serenity, something most artists have attempted but failed to accomplish. The pacifying rhythms of this San Francisco-based Ghanaian/American are representative of a fresh kind of tone.
With her debut album in the works, Akosua has been working with producers and engineers of the industry in the Bay area to bring it to life and hopes to start recording this September.
“It's going to be amazing, of course,” she laughs as she speaks of her album. “I'm really excited just because I'm gonna be collaborating with a lot of musicians.” This time her work will be managed by well-experienced industry experts.
As a young girl Akosua nurtured her voice and talent by singing in her school choir and church; the last four years have witnessed an aggressive pursuit of her professional music career.
“I just really feel like it was a gift that I was put on this earth to do cos ever since I was a kid I loved music, you know,” she says of her talent.
While piano lessons may have aided in the experimental stages of her interest, they did little to appease her musical spirit. By age 13, Akosua had developed a keen interest in guitar playing. “I got my first guitar when I was 14, and after that I knew that I was in love with music and that's what I wanted to do,” she recalls. “I really wanted to do it and I just had to kind of jump in there.”
Like most ardent students of the Arts, she encountered some objections from family at the nascent phases of her passion.
“You know, my parents, they wanted me to study study study, and so they weren't really interested in getting me guitar lessons although they did buy me a guitar for Christmas. I don't think they realized how serious I was because I just decided that I was going to teach myself and anytime I saw someone with a guitar I would be like, ‘ok show me this!' and I would go online and try to find all the songs that I love and try to learn them,” she elaborates.
Her music style, she asserts, has been inspired by various sources. “I know that my identity as a Ghanaian woman is essential to the style of music that I play. And maybe even being more so a first generation Ghanaian, just because of all the different identities that I have, and I think that those really speak to my songwriting.
“I was influenced early on by all of the women with guitars that were around when I was growing up, which weren't many,” she says, with Tracy Chapman being one of her greatest influences, Akosua admits to having been impacted by her passion for writing, specifically poetry.
“At first my songs were really driven by lyrics. And then in terms of the musical inspiration, it comes from so many different things. It comes from being raised on high life; it comes from my interest in folk music, in jazz, Nina Simone, Lauren Hill and then Fiona Apple,” says the artistic soft-spoken singer.
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