From a Princess, New Rhythm for the Continent

Princess Cynthia Africa has produced a new generation of talented female artistes who are holding their own in the international arena. One of them is the Ghanaian artiste who goes by the name Princess whose extraordinary vocal artistry is already attracting international attention.

Growing up as a kid, she had always shown great passion for the arts, especially music. But very few among those around her ever thought she was going to make a career of it. This had to do with the peculiarity of her environment and the kind of parents she had; not many people think that a serious person would decide to be a musician. Even up till that time, the general thinking was that only school drop-outs thought of music as a career.

Princess Cynthia Aacht never became a drop-out yet her passion for the arts never wavered. Her father who was a Marine Engineer, in a way encouraged her by bringing home music from different parts of the world. So she grew up surrounded by what she calls rhythms of the world. During her days in school, she displayed an uncommon precocity in the arts, especially music, and this was noticed by those around her.

In the process, she won many awards during the inter-school pop chain competition that was then popular in her native country, Ghana. She was not just a singer, she was and all round performer and model of some sort. Still a kid, she played all the tantrums associated with her age but what was most obvious was her love for the performing arts.

What probably made her fully realize her dream today had to do with the fact that she made sure that her education never suffered. She made it to the Takoradi Polytechnic where she obtained a degree in Business Studies. But as it is with people of her ilk, it did not take long before she realized that in spite of her training, her heart was somewhere else. According to her, she never intended to be a secretary. She had loved music from infancy and this could not be the time to let it go. "I had been singing and composing songs even in secondary school, but the family felt differently."

From the Polytechnic, she went to the University of Ghana where she studied Performing Arts. She was an important member of the popular Abibigroma Theatre Company. ?Even then, I still felt I was born a musician so I was all along looking for the opportunity to give expression to my God-given talent while I worked with Abibigromma." And the experience has paid off handsomely even now that she has become an international music star.

She is celebrated not only as a good singer but a performer and an actress. She has also been a part of the production of "Beyond Suspicion", produced in Ghana and "Cobra Verde" produced in Germany among other film and theatre productions.

In the early 80's, she joined her first group, the Marriot International Band then led by George Amissah. She made inquiries and simply walked to the proprietor of the band, Osei Akoto. "I wanted to join the band as a singer... At the first session, I performed Lionel Richie's Hello and it was the first time I was going to perform with a big band at a big dance gathering. The crowd liked it and this encouraged me a lot.." That was the beginning of her foray into a serious music career.

When Princess Cynthia mounts the stage anywhere in the world, she carries not only the flag of her native country, Ghana, but that of the entire continent of Africa because for her, all of those artificial colonial boundaries have to be broken for the world to see the real stuff the African is made of. According to her, more than ever before, Africans have to use whatever talents they have to project the enormous potentials on the continent.

And so, like an ancient African enchantress, Princess Cynthia unleashes on her various audiences across the world, a captivating magical feeling that is characteristically African. For her, music is more than a form of entertainment, it is an expression of a people's culture and way of life. Her ambition has always been to excel as an individual and also to be her continent's pride, following in the steps of those before her. And she readily mentions the likes of Miriam Makeba and Angelique Kidjou.

She did not have to get to Europe for her to be discovered. Her outstanding talent as a singer and composer actually burst open in the early 1990s with the hit tune, "Akoma Edwe" (Cool Heart) which went on to win the prestigious Entertainment Critics and Reviewers Association of Ghana Award in 1991-92. But that was just the beginning.

Having grown up in Takoradi, the port city in Western Region, Cynthia was exposed not only to the transitional music of her West African heritage but also to Jazz, Blues, Soul and all kinds of music from around the world.

Gradually, Cynthia's ability to fuse her African roots with other forms of music led to the development of her World Afro Pop, a style blazing new trails with every recording. Cynthia has come this far having experimented with different items to create a rhythm. In her childhood days when Cynthia was not listening to recordings, she created tunes out of playing empty bottles, using the different tones to compose melodies as she sang along.

After three recordings and several concerts with the Marriott?s International Band, Cynthia stepped out to record her first solo album Rhythm of Africa, which marked the beginning of a new musical journey.

Cynthia continued with her exploits with her music fusion, combining the best of Western soul with African Soul, while continuing a tradition of excellence in song writing. The result was her second release Okra Oteasefo, which captured the attention of the international music world with the first fusion of traditional soul (Ebibindwom) with pop. Her third album, Esi Ano, further portrays a different side of her artistic abilities.

Twenty years on, Ghanaian musical diva Princess Cynthia is still causing a stir in the musical scene with her latest album titled Esi Ano.

For now, the Princess wishes to make greater impact not only on the international scene but also the continent. Her wish is that African artistes must continue to seek relevance on the continent because that is where their services are most needed. She does not think though that in spite of her successes both at home and the international scene, she has arrived.

She said that she is still learning the ropes. "For me, the sky is still the limit. I am not satisfied yet with the level I have attained in music. As a result, I am still learning and working hard. ... I am learning so many things to improve my talent and acquire new skills... I will always want to be the kind of musician with an international touch that my country, Ghana, will be proud of."