Award Winning Vocalist/Composer, Anna Nana Ama Dadzie professionally known as Nana Ama has said that backing vocalists in Ghana must be recognized.
She made this known during an interview on an Accra based radio station
The legendary artist lamented that, because backing vocalist are not being recognized, artists of today do not see the need of having a backing vocalist when recording a song.
She went on to question backing vocalists are only invited for live band sessions but are disregarded during studio recording sessions.
“We are not being recognized and so they don’t see that still background vocalists are important in the industry. It is very important that we are recognized, because, as everyone is commenting that I am a legend and all that; there used to be other legends too, but they were not celebrated enough. So, it is when we are recognized that they will know that indeed, there are background vocalists working. Because, when we pick up a live band we have backing vocalists but why is it that in the studios you don’t go in for backing vocalists?”
Citing an example of a Benin backing vocalist who helped in the advocacy of ‘Girl-child education’, but was never recognized for her efforts, Nana Ama urged the organizers of VGMAs to have a category for backing vocalists and that they should carefully look into it as it will help make the unsung vocalists known.
“There is this lady that I always mention, Lady Zuzu, she was part of the advocacy of Girl-child schooling in this country. She is not a Ghanaian but lived in Ghana as a backing vocalist. She is from Benin. She was never recognized, and so for the backing vocalist category, VGMA should look into it and make it a thing”.
Recently, Nana Ama officially announced on her social media platforms that she was going solo with the release of her debut single.
This new single follows 22 years of backing the greater number of top Ghanaian musicians who readily come to minds, both locally and internationally.
In her announcement, Nana Ama stated: “I would like to thank all my fans, friends, family and loved ones on this platform for their support, and also [for] being part of my success story as a Background vocalist, and the brand Nana Ama for twenty-two years. I’m very delighted to announce my debut single which will be released by the end of the year. So, kindly watch out for the release date sooner than you think. Thank You Very Much for Your Patience, God bless us All…”
According to the singer, she is still in the background singing despite her going solo, because, it is a big career. However, she insisted it’s unfortunate that the profession is not being appreciated in the country.
This she says is her major motivation for championing the course to bring background vocalists to the limelight.
She is known for her silky choruses and performances on songs like Okomfour Kwaadee’s ‘Abro Ne Bayie’ / ‘Ahwedee Abena’ , Lord Kenya’s ‘Medo’ which earned him 4 Ghana Music Awards that night including the prestigious song of the year in 2002, same with the hip life musical group Buk Bak’s ‘Klu Blofo’ popularly known as ‘I’m Going To Come’ also earned them the same category the following year.
