Feminist Artivists — Voice

For centuries, African women have used their voices and talents to lead and influence change in their communities. Art remains a powerful tool for social justice, and across the African continent and the diaspora, artists continue to contribute to our movements for justice and liberation.

Wiyaala, the Lionness of Africa, is from Funsi in the Upper West Region of Ghana. A global icon, she stands out with her distinct voice, her unique style and her dedicated engagement to support girls in her community to achieve their dreams.

In this conversation with Jama Jack, she opens up about her childhood and her earliest influences, and her journey as an artist, including bold choices about her music and stage persona (Part 2). She also talks about feminism and the work she does to combat child marriage and support girls and women in her community (Part 3). In the final part, Wiyaala shares her insights on life, freedom, and the impact she is influencing (Part 4).

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Wiyaala, it's almost surreal that we are on a group call with a global icon like yourself. Let’s start by having you tell us who you are. How do you like to introduce yourself?

My name is Wiyaala, the lioness of Africa. Because wherever I go, we roar! I'm a singer, songwriter, and dancer. And I do a little bit of acting.

Let’s get into the world of Wiyaala the lion cub. Where did you grow up and what was that experience like? What did you remember from your childhood?

I'm from a typical African home. My father is married to more than one wife. More than two, even. So you can imagine what the family system will be like. It's an extended family, where your father is also still responsible for his brother's children. And his brother is also kind of responsible for his children, in case he’s not around. That’s the system I grew up in: where a sister looks out for the sister’s children, and a neighbor looks out for the neighbor’s children. So, sometimes you are left with your neighbors when your parents go to work.

As a child, I was running wild, playing, doing the usual things a typical African child will do. Sometimes we would go out and get into fun wrestling. You come back home and you are scolded a bit. I was in an environment where almost every parent took their child to school. It was like a competition on whose child was doing better. No one wanted their child to not be intelligent in the classroom. We would come home with our results, and if you did well, you would get treats. However, some of us were doing well, but not on the academic side. So childhood was a bit troublesome for me.

In what ways?

I was seen to be a bit troublesome because I didn't want to write. I would rather be singing or dancing, which was good for me. However, they would tell me it was too much, and if I really wanted to go forward, I would have to like books and learn how to read and write. So that's childhood for me. I am the second born. We are eight girls and my mother is the first wife. And life has been up and down, up and down. I've lived in the village for a good amount of time to know how village life is. It’s either tough or fun, or very traditional. And I've also lived in a small town where life got much better. It also had a tough side, and then a really good side. Yes, I've grown in the village and in the town. But I still keep the balance. But now I'm back in the village.

You mentioned school and trying to find a balance between doing well with academics but also doing the things that you loved - the singing, the dancing. Where did the singing come from? What do you remember as the first time you started singing and thought: this is what I want to do?

Church! The first place was the church. Even though I had started singing, I didn't know it was a talent. I thought everybody was singing and so, I was also just singing. At the funerals in the village they would sing, and we all sang along. During wedding ceremonies, they would sing and then we all sang along. We used to have Jazz Night, too.

But when I started singing, it just seemed to a lot of people that I was singing with a style that stood out. I was singing, dancing and drumming, and the excitement on my face made people laugh. For example, they could tell all of us, “okay, you're all going to move like this.” Everybody would move that way, but I’d put a bit of style into my movement. At that time, I didn't know it was even a talent until people started saying “she always does it extra. She's really good. You are very good at singing”. So that encouraged me.

When I got the chance, I would go into the church, where they actually had a place just for singing after you pray. I just went straight to that section. That was also because my mother is a Catholic. And she used to take us to the church. And as she sang in the choir, I would babysit my sister. So every time they sang songs, I loved it. And I loved the piano they used to play. As time went on, I joined the choir. That was when I realised that I really liked to sing. And this was the only fun part of the church for me. Any other thing they are saying, I would always wait for the priest to turn around and say “now we're going to have something from the choir.” You would see me excited… then my voice would be there. So church was the first place.

So you started nurturing it from childhood, then? At what point did you say, “I can make something bigger out of this?” Beyond just enjoying it as a child singing with everyone else in church, what was the click?

I saw people singing on TV and they were extra special for me, because they were wearing different costumes. They were singing, and there was one person singing and almost doing things I only do in my head. However, I was in an environment where nobody was telling me these other things that you can do when you are a good singer. Or teaching me things like “this is a stage and this person singing is a musician, a star, and then they dress up.” So in my head, I'm like “I've always been thinking about something like this.” But I was a bit worried that if I did that, they might not like it.

Once I saw somebody singing, especially if it was a woman, I didn't care whether that was the best singer in the world. I saw someone singing for the first time and the music was so nice to my ears. People played musical instruments, and my brain went “poof”. This was what I wanted to be like when I grew up. I started imitating the singer, and the costumes were just amazing. She was almost everything I wanted to be, but I was just a kid growing up. When I tried to do that in real life, it was a challenge. People were like, “Are you crazy?”

How old were you at the time?

I was just becoming a teenager. I think between thirteen and fifteen years. That's the age where you sometimes think you’ve conquered the world, and dominated it.

And this singer who you connected to so much… Do you remember who it was?

It was Madonna! I remember it because it was the only tape that I found in my father's house in the next town. They had electricity, so whenever we went to spend holidays with him and my stepmom, his second wife, we got to watch television. So I just stumbled upon this tape, and it had “Madonna” written on it. I thought it was an action movie, and maybe the woman was the hero there. Then I saw this lady singing, and that was it.

I can remember all the people around me at the time and what they said to me. I had just come from the village. I saw these things on the TV and as a teenager, still discovering myself, I would come out and reproduce the costumes in my own style. Then, I would start singing and some people would say, “you're making noise. Keep quiet! Seriously, this will not go anywhere.” Others would say “don’t mind her. You know she’s a bush girl, a village girl. She came here and she saw a TV for the first time. She’ll grow out of it. You know she's young, she doesn't know what she's doing.”

How did that make you feel?

I don't know how, but there are some things that happen to you, and it doesn't matter how old you get, those words get to you. They stay with you. For me, I think they motivated me even though some of the words were very horrible. For some reason, I didn't get angry. I just used the anger in a positive light and I said, “I will show you that you are wrong about me.” It's like I was really trying to impress Madonna so much.

These were supposed to be bullying words, insults, or just innocent jokes they would laugh at me for. And I say they are bullies because nobody even said to me, “okay, this thing you like, maybe we should pay attention to it.” Nobody saw anything in music. All they saw was that music was only done in Europe. And it was done by women who were half naked and didn't wear clothes. So those people felt that they knew the distraction I was about to get myself involved in.

In the next part of our conversation, Wiyaala talks about her choice to sing in her language, the reception to her music in different parts of Ghana and the rest of the world, and some of the challenges she has faced. Click here to read the second part.