Efya

Efya is the real name of which Jane Awindor was born in Kumasi, which is the second-most populous city in Ghana. 

It is no secret that music plays a significant role in the culture of Africa. From an early age, people noticed the extraordinary potential of the girl and began to help develop her voice. To do this, voice training was conducted for her, which quickly helped her unleash potential. This talent could not be ignored, and therefore when choosing a specialty, Efya did not hesitate for a long time and chose Theater and Music’s direction. The university was given to the girl quite easily because of her extraordinary artistic talent and beautiful voice.  

After graduating from university, she had many opportunities because her parents, especially her father Nana Adwoa Awindor was well acquainted with show business. He worked as a TV presenter, in which position he gained popularity. Efya knew that she also wanted to connect her future with show business, be it cinema, theater or music. 

Her first significant popularity came at the age of 21, when in 2008 she took part in the TV show Stars of the future, in which she reached the finals. For young Efya, it was a real breakthrough. Now she was absolutely sure that she wanted to connect her future with music. Although she still lost to another participant in the final, namely Irene Logan, already recognized by the people of Efya, was given the opportunity to sign her first full-fledged agreement with the recording studio. Of course, she accepted this offer, and after a very short time, her real musical career began.  

A bit ironic and even pleasant was that even though in Stars of the future, Efya and Irene were rivals, immediately after the agreement was signed, they appeared to record their first collaborative album called "Unveiled.” This album became important for both singers not only because it was the first in their careers but also because each of them gained experience in recording the album and experimenting with style was able to understand in what style each of them wants to perform in the future. It is important to note that during the joint performances, her stage name was Miss Jane, and only after she decided to move to a solo career was it decided to change the name to Efya so that it was more in line with African culture.  

The start of her real solo career can be called 2013, when she released an album, or rather a mixtape called TINT or This Is Not The Album. Work on this mixtape took about two years and consisted of 13 tracks. Listening to these tracks, you can easily understand that the whole album’s common theme is love. It is the central feeling of every song, and it is clearly visible. The main track of the album is the single "Getaway.” The song is performed in a mixture of such styles Neo-Soul and Pop. The song is both fun and melodic, which makes it enjoyable for almost anyone to listen to. This mixtape only proved once again that the unique combined style consisting of traditional pop, catchy neo-soul, and inflammatory afro-soul was an excellent choice for Efya's melodic voice.  

After such a successful start to a solo career, the release of a full-fledged debut album was only a matter of time. It happened on April 22, 2016. Debut album, Janesis although stylistically reminiscent of the previous mixtape, showed an updated style that further combined traditional neo-soul, Afro-soul, and modern pop. Because of this characteristic, almost all the songs from this album became popular in their home country and abroad. The theme of the songs returned to love, but this time they were both full of positive emotions and full of pity songs. Listening to this album, it is not difficult to understand that each of these songs was written based on their own experience.  

Since 2013, Efya has been actively gaining experience performing in front of a live audience. Even earlier, in 2011, she performed at the Ghana Music Awards along with some other famous Ghanaian artists such as Ruff & Smooth, Asem, D3, Stonebwoy, Kojo Antwi, and others. Even then, the public liked her performance, and in the future, she will be invited to various media events and radio performances. Some artists (such as Richie Mensah) will also begin to invite Efya to their concerts as a guest artist, which only further consolidated her status as a new pop star.  

Even though Efya has been on stage for quite a short time, she has received many awards and nominations, most of them for her unusual and soulful music. For example, back in 2011, at the previously mentioned Ghana Music Awards, she received the Best Female Vocal Performance award for performing the song "Little Things.” 

Over the next four years, Efya consistently entered the Ghana Music Awards in various categories, such as Artiste of the Year, Best Female Vocal Artiste, Record of the Year, Afro Pop Song of the Year, and more. Later, much more often, other events began to nominate her for best songs, music videos, clothes, and as Best Female West Africa, the title of which she won in 2016. 

At the moment, Efya continues to improve her songs continually and tries to surpass herself with each new song. In addition to her music career, Efya is also involved in other arts such as cinema, and in 2019 she even opened her own clothing line under the native name The Native Chic. There is no doubt that as soon as the world’s situation improves, Efya will immediately start performing actively both at home and in different parts of the world, and who knows, maybe someday you will be lucky enough to attend her live concert.