OBY ONYIOHA / AFIA MALA / EKO - A7 EDITS VOLUME 5

It all started with two royal families from Togo and Benin. A princess was born on the banks of the river Mono, her name was Afiwavi Mawaulana Missohou, who later became to be known as Afia Mala. When she was small she often accompanied her mother to the traditional singing lessons of the Habobo women. Following this early influence she soon started singing at village functions where the young Afia stunned elders with her fantastic voice. This was during the time of the great Bella Bellow, the Togolese Lady of the blues, who sadly died at the height of her fame. Bella Bellow was an inspiration to an entire generation of African singers, including the young Afia Mala. In 1974 Afia Mala’s music career was launched thanks to her winning the Best Togolese singer of the year. However, this promising career was nearly cut short following a near fatal traffic accident. After spending over six months in hospital, her Father decided that music was not to be young Afia’s future… but destiny decided otherwise! In 1984 ‘Ten Homte’ (Black Earth) was selected by Radio France International listeners as their favourite song during their talent competition ‘Discovery’. Much success and some eight albums later, the Princess from Vogan has a repertoire that places her firmly amongst the great African Diva’s. When you first meet Afia, you have the impression that she is a bit delicate, infact almost fragile… don’t be fooled! Behind this beautiful, smiling alluring face hides a dedicated professional driven to perfection, whilst still being able to enjoy life to the full! After being nominated ‘Best African Female Vocalist’ in 1992, Afia took some time off to spend with her family and refocus her career. She believes strongly that music and politics make bad bedmates. Despite this fact her song titled ‘Tout le monde est coupable’ (Everybody is guilty) resulted in much personal criticism as it was perceived as a political statement by many. Her strength of character carried her through this difficult period, and she has calmed even her worst critics. Afia believes ‘a song must always carry a message, that’s important, and cannot be faked’. The album ‘Prophetie’ won her the Nelson Mandela Prize in Nairobi, Kenya, where she was also honoured with the role of Ambassador for Cultural Affairs for URTNA (Union des Radios et Television Nationales Africaines). She sings in several languages: Lingala, Ewe, French, Adja, English, Spanish, Douala and Swahili. Afia Mala has recorded 8 albums to date. The eighth album is an exciting blend of African and Carribean rhythm and was recorded in Cuba with the famous Aragon Orchestra. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

There are three artists that go by the name Eko: 1) A reggaeton artist from the reggaeton duo Eko Y Jamil. Eko, born as Xavier Perez on December 17, 1987 in the capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, now lives in the state of Georgia. He is the singer and co-writer of Eko Y Jamil and more recently has crossed over into being a solo artist. Known also as "El Romantiko", it is no surprise that he often brings a sensitive side to the mix of the styles that "Loz Titanez" are known for and he often writes about the subject of love. 2) The music of EKO comes from the creative mind of John O'Connor. The composer/guitarist put out five albums under the EKO name -- which means "one" in Sanskrit -- through new age label Higher Octave, beginning with Future Primitive in 1974. The album was well received and landed a slot among Billboard's Top Ten on the new age charts. Following the release of Celtica in 1996, O'Connor became a composer for King of the Hill, Fox's award-winning cartoon series. O'Connor, whose family is Irish, left London in 1987 to settle in California. Before leaving the U.K., he owned and operated Bark Studios, where he cut songwriters' demos. Putting in long days at work left little time for O'Connor's own music. With the addition of a new manager to take some of the workload off his own shoulders, O'Connor turned his attention to writing his own music. He also played guitar for other artists, including Bucks Fizz, Rick Kemp, and Maddy Prior. His songwriting took off in a big way when he and Graham Lister came up with a novelty tune, "Arthur Daley," that climbed the British charts to the Top Ten. The songwriting team also produced "Star Trekkin," a song that garnered very little interest at first. After O'Connor pressed 500 copies on his own and radio stations began to play it, "Star Trekkin" hit the top of the charts in his homeland, as well as in Japan, Australia, and Europe. The total number of copies sold topped the million mark. 3) EKO is an alias of Chris Howell probably most famous for the Hardcore track "Renegade Rewind". The track uses a rap sample from Wildchild - Renegade Master and was released in 1996. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.