Raquel — The budding music talent

Saturday, April 24, 2010 (The Mirror Pg 3)

By Rebecca Kwei
WITH a smooth voice, impressive versatility and an elegant pose, Raquel Ammah, a budding music talent believes she has what it takes to bring a new revolution to the Ghanaian music industry.
Raquel presents an exotic style, yet in some of her tracks, she still succeeds in lacing her music with good local vibes.
“My music is evolving, expressive, full of sweet melodies and also talks about real life issues,” she remarked.
The young songbird grew up listening to all kinds of music from highlife, reggae to R&B; her versatility and taste for different music genres comes along with their own challenges. Interestingly, she finds it difficult to describe her genre of music, although admittedly, a soulful singer and writer.
“It is a mixture of everything. It’s hard to say which genre because I can venture into all kinds of genres,” she explained.
Get Wild, is the title of Raquel’s first record, produced in early 2009 and it featured local rap stars, Guru and Sarkodie. Although it was not officially released, a few DJs laid their hands on it and it received a fair amount of air play.
“I could not believe what was happening after the first record. It was really good and getting the right people to hear it opened many other doors for me,” she reminisced.
She is currently working on her single hit titled Odo and the music video which would be released in June. However, she has other hit songs such as Be in love featuring S Konti, This is Me, Minsumobo with JB and Pressure featuring Guru.
Asked how she got into music, Raquel with a smile said, “probably when you ask my mom, she will say I started when I came out of her womb”.
From an early age, Raquel, who says she is very shy, hid her musical talent but would rather write poems, songs and short stories, until one day she performed by singing at her grandparents home.
She wowed with her singing ability and her family, seeing her talent encouraged her which propelled her to perform at talent shows.
At the age of eight, Raquel formed a duo with her sister, Matilda, who was then 10 years.
“We were like a little Mel and Kim of the mid 80s with the hit record “Showing Out (Get fresh at the weekend) performing at various functions” she recalled.
Later on in life, her sister went into acting, while Raquel concentrated on her music.
Raquel, who is in her early twenties, was born to Mark and Dinah Asabea Ammah in London but said she came back home almost every other year for vacation.
She attended West Thames College where she obtained a diploma in Performing Arts and the first person to be awarded a triple distinction in the 2004/2005 academic year.
While in college, she won a talent show twice which was hosted by Richard Blackwood, a popular presenter and DJ of Choice FM in London.
Her first major gig in London was when she opened the 2005 Miss Ghana UK beauty pageant.
She took a little break from music to concentrate on her education when she gained admission to the University of Surrey, Roehampton to study Drama,Theatre and Performing Arts, graduating in 2008.
It was after her university education that she came back for vacation in Ghana again and then one thing led to another — she being invited to perform at shows and recording in the studios such that she decided to stay and concentrate on her music career.
She also competed in ‘Grab the Mic’ a show which sought to hunt for Star’s Brand Ambassador last year where she was the first runner up.
Raquel’s hit release ‘This is Me’ featured in Shirley Frimpong-Manso’s movie — A Sting in a Tale. She also featured on Obrafour’s current album with a track called Tell Me.
Since recording in Ghana, the songstress has been actively featured by a host of talented artist in the Ghana music industry. Raquel has worked with the likes of Quota, Trigmatic, DBlack, EL.., Guru, Saccade, JAB, Rakimilist, Squint (Anansedemz), Edem, Jazzy, Obibini, Jah Seed, BlackSheperd and many more.
Raquel, who is managed by Black Star SR Entertainment, is multi talented — a composer, choreographer, actress, script writer and a drawing artist.
Aside working on her hit single Odo, Raquel is also involved in two theatrical productions. She is a supporting actress in When the Music Stops, which is produced by Playhouse and will roll at the National Theatre on May 7 and 8, 2010.
She is also playing the lead role as Maria in Rogers and Hammerstein’s Sound of Music produced by Bana Rackor Consult, which will also be showing at the National Theatre later in the year.
Raquel is also a good dancer and says she can perform all kinds of dance from street dance to ballet and it is her desire to impact her knowledge of dance to young children in Ghana at a later stage through her own upcoming foundation.
“I wish to teach children the importance of art. There is more meaning to body movements, usage of voice, space, among other things when it comes to art. Every movement in dance is an expression. Every element of art leads to some kind of feeling, expression and emotion” she said.
Consequently, for her social responsibility, Raquel hopes to work with children in the areas of education, health, among others.
She gave a candle light inspirational performance at the Alliance Francaise in support of World AIDS Day 2009 concert.
She conceded that being a female in the music industry was not easy adding, “you have to be humble but firm, loyal and honest about your work. I will not trade my music for anything. Failure is an opportunity in disguise”.
Raquel, a very confident lady with a strong presence on stage in the next five years, is looking at having released at least two albums which will be making waves not only in Ghana but across the globe. She also hopes to travel and put Ghana music on the international scene.