For those who do not know I spent five years in South Africa pursuing degrees. On that journey I acquired a love for spoken word poetry of which I was eager to pursue seriously once I got back to Ghana.
It’s been over five years since I left South Africa. Through work I was fortunate to return and extended my stay to explore performance opportunities in Johannesburg.
A friend blessed mewith the opportunity to perform on one of the biggest poetry platforms in the country, Word n Sound poetry league.
I have learnt a lot over the years regarding performance. From delivery, eye contact, improv etc every opportunity to be on stage is a lesson. The applause that comes with a good performance is humbling and interaction with members of the audience who were touched by my words always encourages me to do what I love doing.
I was happy to connect with the organizers and learn from them also. The more you perform the more you understand the statement “no man is an island”. I need all the help I can get to be successful as an artist. Networking is so important.
The poetry I experienced during the show was beautiful. We have some work to do in Ghana to get to the level of what is happening in South Africa and Kenya.
I performed two poems of my album WTF? “BNS” and “Africa Sent Me A WhatsApp Message” and it was magical. The crowd reaction was awesome and humbling. Even after the show I got compliments and love from both poets and members of the audience. It’s always inspiring to get such feedback. It serves as a testament to your work.
I have had a beautiful time in South Africa and will be heading to Kenya for another performance. I look forward to more blessings, experience and connections to aid in my success as an artist.
Keep it One Hondred!
Last Sunday I was the guest artist at Ehalakasa’s TalkPARTY at Nubuke Foundation in East Legon, Ghana. It’s my second performance in Ghana this year.
My performance was interactive and entertaining with an agenda to win over fans and get people excited about my upcoming album.
Whilst performing there were two lovely members of the audience that caught my eye. Their facial expressions and cheerful expressions spurred my performance on.
After the show I had the honor of meeting these beautiful people and it was quite the chat we had. One later sent me a testimonial that I want to share with you today. Here it is:
Hondred Percent aka Paul aka Mr. Forjoe is a firebrand. His art is carefully curated. Through his delivery, any audience is left spellbound, switching facial expressions as he evokes multiple emotions. Outside of his art, Paul is truly a warm-hearted person, the kind you’d want your art-obsessed children to meet, the kind you’d want to expose the next generation to. I see Paul now and I have no doubt that he’ll be one of the few people who’s light the world would acknowledge in time to come. Who knows? He may be the next Nobel Peace Prize winner ??✌?.
Well I don’t know about the Nobel Peace Prize but I do know that my words and performance that night did more than I imagined. I had won myself a fan and that was a truly humbling experience.
Who would have thought that words scripted down privately, later performed publicly would cause such a reaction. This truly has inspired meto keep pushing. Who knows who I could be impacting next.
Keep it One HONDRED!
I am almost done with my album. One more track to record and some finishing touches and the sound engineer can do what he does best and get the tracks mastered.
It has indeed been a journey of learning but I am so glad I decided to pursue my dream. I however have to start thinking about distribution which is now digital and in some cases involves money.
I really wish Ghana and SoundCloud alone will do it in taking my art to the masses but I don’t think Ghana is there yet. SoundCloud is just a community of music lovers that doesn’t have digital distribution.
So I browse the web for options and I am bombarded with lots of choices. Tune Core, Cd Baby, Loudr, Ditto, Bandcamp and lots more.
(I am supposed to be studying for a paper the next day and here I am studying digital distribution)
My goal as an artist is to give out my first album for free. This is to get my art out there and build a loyal fan base. I want to grow as an artist and without people who love what you do there is no point.
Unfortunately, if I want my music to be available worldwide, I have to pay money.
(So much for charity)
I am still looking through what the best options are. Tune Core looks popular but they charge you an annua rate of $29.99 to upload an album the first year and $49.99 the following years.
I believe I have great stuff to offer the world but thats a lot coming from an independent artist trying to come out.
Bandcamp seems great. They allow you to put your stuff out and get people to listen for free and even contribute towards your album if they feel it is worth it. They however do not distribute globally.
In Ghana I am not even sure as to how to get my stuff to the popular digital music outlets. I pray God provides me with the strength to come out of this journey successful.
I will be settling on a release date soon and will let you know about it. Until then, always keep it One Hondred!
A confident Worlasi approached the stage strapped with what looked like safety belts for a parachute. He was prepared for the jump into stardom. Worlasi opening appearance at Nuse Concert
With the amazing Safoa band, Dj, wonderful guest artists, an audience who just couldn’t sit down and a consistently smoke filled stage that warranted the band members wearing gas masks, I guess his fashion statement was justified.
I sat right in the front and loved every minute of this concert. They say if you want to visit a good Chinese restaurant, go to the one the Chinese visit. The same can be said for music. If you want to see a good musician/artist go to the one that all the other artists are talking about.Artists from all walks of life came out to support Worlasi and contributed to making the night spectacular. Daniel Quist – Nuse Concert MC
Daniel Quist as the MC was perfect. He was the one that introduced me to Worlasi and champions his music passionately. No one else could do that job better than him in my opinion.
Worlasi was at home entertaining guests. He spoke about everything that came to mind like the confused state of fish when you buy Kenkey, his grandmother and the fact that everyone should grab a drink. It’s free but it can get finished, he said.
Each of the artists that graced the stage are a testament to how versatile the Nuse artist is. From Six Strings, Akan, Poetra, Cina Soul, Wanlov and Manifest, each artist held their own and proved to me that Ghana’s music scene is indeed diverse and evolving.
Cina Soul did something really creative to make the concert truly artistic. She made the audience, band and herself take part in the mannequin challenge. I thought that was really unique and bold. As a Ghanaian you would think people would not have participated, especially with all that Jameson around but she pulled it off. I can’t wait to see what that was like on video.
Alliance Francais was half filled by 8 PM before 11 PM it was filled beyond capacity with people forever glued to the front of the stage. There were so many hands in the air with the Worlasi hand gesture making a “W” that if Worlasi was to stand for election that day people will have voted twice for him. Worlasi Fans showing the “W”
As Hondred Percent, I was inspired to keep striving and believing in my art. Worlasi is an effective communicator on stage utilizing pidgin in a manner like no other to address social issues as well as add commentary on things we go through in life. It is difficult for a Ghanaian not to relate to his music.
The artist embraces his creativity head on and goes with the flow to create one of the best concerts I have been to. His fashion from harness belts to a northern attire and finally a red shirt and black pants give you a feel of the artists taste and style.
Manifest defined it right.
“Everything Nice For Worla”
On that night everything was good for him. I was proud and happy for him. As an artist one of most beautiful things is to perform and have people perform your track with you. When you penned down the lyrics to that song, no one was around. The impact those words will have was untested and now a crowd is jamming with you giving you back the very words you strung together. It’s a truly humbling experience that also has the capacity to giving you a big ego. I however feel with Worlasi we will be seeing more of the latter. Worlasi and Manifest performing
Indeed everything nice for Worla. If you don’t believe me you should have been there to witness it. There was so much love from his fans that he insulted his fans they insulted him back and they all had a laugh. It was that good.
Thank you Worlasi for keeping it One Hondred! PS: Gallery of images taken to follow soon
I first stumbled upon Worlasi’s unique sound earlier this year upon a video shoot at Francis Kokroko’s studio in Osu. Mawuli AKA Daniel Quist was bumping to tracks of Worlasi’s album “Nusē: The Strength Within” and raving about the artist.
At the time I had no idea of who he was. Track after track during conversations I found it difficult to point out error in his art and embarrassing that I did not know about this great artist.
It was official…….I was hooked.
As an artist there is only one phrase I can use to describe his music: beautiful envy. I envy his artistic prowess and yet inspired by it.
His style is unorthodox and cool. A complex yet simple medley of pidgin English and Ewe over beats he produced that evolves the Hiphop I know into something else.
I had to get more Worlasi in my ears. Luckily for me Soundcloud houses a number of his tracks. From earlier works to his albums, it’s all there. I soaked into each track until I stumbled on “One Life”.
As a Ghanaian, beautiful doesn’t begin to describe “One Life”. The instrumentals produced by Worlasi creates nostalgia and gets you bumping before his lyrics hit your ears.
Comprehension of my enthusiasm is difficult if Ewe doesn’t roll off your tongue as smoothly as Michael Jackson dance moves. The video for the song however is kind to provide subtitles to break the beautiful mystery of Ewe down for you.
The more I soak in Worlasi’s music the more I am encouraged that Ghana’s music has a future. We are a nation blessed with amazing artists that Ghanaians for lack of exposure struggle to understand. Thus music is more about empty lyrics and dancing. That’s great but doesn’t challenge the status quo.
Great art is a medley of entertainment and admiration merged with commentary on a social or political issue. Manifest is an artist that understands this concept and continues to lean on it. Worlasi as an artist and producer is taking that concept to the next level.
His recently released track, “Nukata” is the artists take on male obsession with women that lead them to empty their morals and cash. I call it the Pidgin and Ewe version of Gasmilla’s “Telemo”. The video is equally interesting portraying a man vommitting out dollars and later cedis and later coins just to satisfy his passion’s (embodied as a female) desire.
If you have not heard about Worlasi, search for him and listen to the future of our music. He is going places and I will be proud to see him raise Ghana’s flag higher.
(Don’t for a second however think my enthusiasm for his art is because he featured on Manifests track “100 percent“.)
