Efya — Musician with new identity, new direction

Saturday, May 22, 2010 (The Mirror Pg 46)

By Rebecca Kwei
She is simply Efya now. In the recent past she was Jane Awindor which then metamorphosed into Jane (as part of the duo, Irene and Jane) and later became Miss Jane.
To the young bubbly singer making ample waves on the scene now, the name change signifies maturity in vocal ability and lyrical content as well as a new identity and new direction in her music.
“The little Jane grew up to become Miss Jane and later to become Efya. I needed to be Jane, Miss Jane in order to grow to be Efya. I found myself. That’s my name — Efya because I was born on a Friday,” she told The Mirror
Note the peculiar way she spells her name — Efya (rather than Afia, Efua) and she explains that there are a lot of “Afias” but her unique spelling is to make her stand out so that “when you mention Efya, everyone would know who you are talking about.”
Efya who just completed the University of Ghana, Legon, majoring in Theatre Arts Directing is working on her first solo album.
Although she could not give a specific time (saying between June and August this year) when the album will be released, she said she was working hard on coming out with “something that will round up everything I want to say and a very good album.”
She describes her genre as Afro neo-soul which she said is a potpourri of Afro-beat, soul music and a little pop.
“Although it’s slow, you’ll want to groove with it” she says of her genre adding: “I find my genre a very good way to express myself and also it’s because of the kinds of songs I listened to while growing up — a lot of soul. I enjoy Erika Badu, Usher, Aretha Franklin.”
Already her hit singles, Blow Your Mind, Nothing and A Moment’s Notice are receiving great airplay.
Nothing and A Moment’s Notice were some of the sound tracks on Shirley Frimpong-Manso’s movie, Perfect Picture.
Interestingly, Efya writes most of her songs and she says she loves to write songs and sing but finds writing more challenging.
"You are writing for a lot of people and you’ll need to express yourself in such a way that someone else listening to you understands what you mean and make the right impression you want,” she said.
Her inspiration comes from everything around her, nature, friends and experiences.
For instance, her song Nothing is based on her and three friends — four friends who love, how much they love and how much they will do for the people they love.
Most musicians started at a very tender age and it was the same for Efya (real name Jane Fara Fauzziea Awindor) who started singing at six in church and by the age of nine was leading the Missionette Choir of the Assemblies of God Church as its director.
“I was brought up in the church. I come from a family of singers and my dad also plays the guitar. At a young age, I knew I wanted to be a singer. It was fun singing at church and I looked forward to going to church always,” she told The Mirror.
While in secondary school at Yaa Asantewaa in Kumasi, Efya continued to develop her singing abilities by being in the choir, and performing at entertainment shows.
She says she was also active in sports in secondary school and participated in the 100m, 200m and 400m relay disciplines.
Nana Adwoa Awindor (Efya’s mom), host of the TV programme Greetings From Abroad (the show that linked Ghanaians abroad with those at home) had an influence on her daughter who was always with her on location to try her hands at editing and production at her mom’s firm, Premier Productions.
“After secondary school, I learnt how to edit, enabling me to edit my mom’s programme for about two years before I started university,” she said.
Although she was singing in church, she didn’t take it so serious till she auditioned for Stars of the Future, a music talent hunt organised by Charterhouse.
Although Irene Logan won the competition and Jane placed third, the two decided to come together under the stage name Irene and Jane.
The duo’s album titled Irene and Jane Unveiled featured Wutah, Amandzeba and Blu 3, a trio from Uganda.
Within a short period, the duo were one of the ‘hottest’ musicians in the country and they performed at various platforms in Ghana and other countries.
The duo split in 2008. According to Efya, the Stars of the Future prize was a three-year contract deal as ‘Irene and Jane’, and after three years they decided to go their separate ways because that was what they had agreed on before coming together.
She said they do different genres of music and they wanted to explore themselves and so were better off going solo.
Efya insists she and Irene are still very good friends and there was no bad blood between them as was being speculated.
Recently, there has been talk about lyrics on women which mostly portray them as sex objects. Efya shares the concern and observed that it was just a strategy for people to market their stuff adding: “This is not nice. I don’t like girls being portrayed as sex objects.”
She says she concentrates on positive lyrics and those that will empower young women.
In the next five years, the 23-year-old Efya envisions her name being “all over the place” and would have won more than 10 Ghana Music Awards in various categories.