John Q: An Unstoppable 1-Man Music Powerhouse of Love
Even though John Q admired the job of a serviceman, music gradually took over is heart, making him resolve to one day pursue music as a career.
John Q had this to say…“I was however inspired at the age of 12 when I heard Bob Marley’s “One Drop”, but the truth established now is that music is the closest thing to God for me”.
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Early Life of John Q.
Every now and then Ghana becomes a centre of attention – mainly because some sons and daughters of this great nation are making massive inroads into all sectors of the world economy especially showbiz and academia. It is therefore noteworthy to officially introduce to you one such fine personality currently makes waves with his brand of reggae music in New York and Jamaica.
Born John Kwesi Quansah in Accra – Ghana, John Q was sent to Rev. John Teye Memorial Institute at age 4; a school noted for producing excellent musicians like Kwame Yeboah. As a pupil of Rev. John Teye Memorial Institute, one was obliged to learn to play the piano, write poetry and sing Mathematics. Even though John Q admired the job of a serviceman, music gradually took over is heart, making him resolve to one day pursue music as a career.
After his basic school education at Rev. John Teye Memorial Institute, he proceeded to Accra High Senior School and migrated to the United States of America to join his mother – this happened just after completing his senior high school education.
Typical of an African in America, he first bagged a bachelor’s degree in biology and food science.
Life in America
The “hassle and bustle” of New York eventually led John Q to meet with the late Gersham Nembhard of Jamaica a great lead guitarist, and also Jerry Anokuma Hanson another great lead guitarist who worked with legendary AB Crentsil Ahenfo band. These two individuals taught John Q to play the guitar.
With the ability to play the piano and guitar, one would assume John Q was gearing to take up music with ease, the realities of life as an emerging artiste taught him to be diligent, patient and also be willing to team up with other musicians. This led to the formation of a band in the Bronx with his two guitar teachers.
As young as John Q was, he had so much to look forward to as his two other band mates where very optimistic of his success as a musician. With the band, they performed at almost every opportunity and young John Q was picking up all the attitude and demeanour that characterizes a successful artistes persona. Unfortunately, he needed a new approach when both his band mates passed away untimely.
At this point John Q decided to write and compose more original songs whilst serving as an executive producer for Jamaican gospel singer Mellow Wayne.
While John’s mother battled Cancer, John Q would help his mother deal with the crisis by talking about music and sometimes sing to her. The pain of an early divorce also forced John Q to take a consolation in music.
“Music has always been my consolation when I encounter challenges in life. My mother Rev. Juliana Solomon Sackey was a schoolteacher and a devoted pastor in Ghana for 30 years, and 20 years in New York; so, her words of encouragement regarding patience and hard work in his pursuit of a successful music career stayed with me every step of the way”…John Q.
A Musical Turn Around
In early 2016 John Q encountered Mr. Sidney Mills, the keyboardist for Steel Pulse Reggae band; Sidney Mills encouraged John Q to visit Jamaica with him, this trip proved extremely beneficial because it provided an opportunity to record John Q’s “Feel Good Reggae” album at Bob Marley’s Tuff Gong studio.
“Recording at Bob Marley’s Tuff Gong studio was a dream come through… Jamaica is the Mecca of Reggae Music and the enormity of what I seek to unleash musically came to bare during my visit, especially my first day at Tuff Gong which coincided with Martin Luther King’s birthday. The various artistes I met whilst in Jamaica took the business of Reggae so serious – I realized I had big shoes to fill in if I want to be a Reggae Star.” …He said.
Being a Reggae music aficionado, John Q puts in a lot of live instrumentation to give his music the grit needed to haunt the conscience of reggae lovers into the “Feel Good” mood.
Notable amongst musicians John Q has worked with are Dean Fraseron a saxophonist, Flabba Holt a Bass guitarist, Squidly Cole and C sharp both drummers, Mike Chung a guitarist, Alvin Smith a percussionist, as well as Bubbler and Sidney Mills both keyboardists.
John Q’s influences come from Reggae music greats like Peter Tosh, Joseph Hill of Culture, Burning Spear, Black Uhuru, MutaBaruka, Jacob Miller, John Holt and many others. For him, the African ancestry of Jamaicans make it easy to fill up the shoes of the above listed artistes with a seamless integration of music as an art form and his Ghanaian culture especially the element of language.
“What makes my reggae unique is that it is a mixture of African and Jamaican vibes sung in 4 languages – Twi, Ga, English and Spanish.”… John Q said.
New Music from John Q
His recent music video was filmed in Portland inside Jamaica and according to John Q, the director/producer of the video Ariff Buttler decided to choose the venue to show the world some of the beautiful scenes that adorn Jamaica. The song is titled “Give Me Love”.
John believes Reggae music is superior to other music genres due to its reliance on positivity and consciousness; giving it the ability to uplift the spirit of many in difficult situations especially the downtrodden.
“Reggae stands as a sign of hope to the poor and weak.” He added.
His latest album titled “Feel Good Reggae”, was released by VP Records in New York who also act as distributors and is currently doing very well. He remains one of the most focused representatives of Ghana Music in the Diaspora. Likened to Dr Pushkin of Isolirium Entertainment, winning is the formula.
John Q’s Discography
Story By Atigsi-Badek Afoko/thesavannaonline
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What is Khaya AI nhyAImu Conference all about?
nhyAImu is a conference that AI enthusiasts in Ghana and West Africa must attend. It is the brainchild of NLP-Ghana, Algorine Inc., and Academic City University College of Ghana. The objective is to interact with the general public on several topics centered on artificial intelligence and innovative Khaya AI.
The exceptional AI App and capabilities
If you desire AI that facilitates language translation and speech recognition with Africa as a priority, Khaya AI is your solution. Aside from the personal use of the impressive product created by Algorine Inc. and NLP-Ghana, Khaya AI allows integration into other web-based applications. This feat has set it ahead of its contemporaries, including Google Language Translator.
Khaya AI prioritizes recognition, speech translation, and text-to-speech translation between African languages and English. The application currently has 10 African languages as it strives to add more. The languages currently on the App are Twi, Dagbani, Ewe, Fante, Ga, Gurune, Kikuyu, Kimeru, Luo, and Yoruba.
Practical usage is based on the right prompts as an artificially intelligent product. While it is an easy-to-use application, accuracy, being the desire of users, requires more knowledge of how it works. Also, people with other web-based products who want to integrate Khaya AI require knowledge of how to do so.
All in all, the application is a simple tool that doesn’t require any knowledge of coding or anything very technical.
What to Expect at the Conference
NLP-Ghana, one of the leading forces behind the application, has teamed up with Academic City University College on a seminar to expose the features and usage to all. The event is scheduled on the Academic City Campus around Haatso-Agbogba in Accra.
The lead developer of the App, Dr. Paul Azunre, aka Dr. Pushkin, will be the main speaker for the day.
The nhyAImu conference will, therefore, cover topics that include the following:
Introduction to Ghana NLP and its mission
Overview of engineering pipelines emphasizing MLOps
Detailed demo and guidelines on using Khaya AI’s APIs
It is scheduled for Wednesday, June 12th, 2024, from 10 am to 12 pm; nhyAImu will focus on ‘Unveiling the future of African Languages with the Khaya AI.’
How to Register
You can register to participate via this link; https://bit.ly/nhyiamu
Registration is Free.
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Dr Paul Azunre’s Mission in Accra
Dr Paul Azunre will be in Ghana for the first edition of nhyAImu, an artificial intelligence conference. The event is a collaboration between NLP-Ghana and the Academic City University College in Accra. Scheduled to take place on Wednesday, June 12th, 2024, from 10 am to 12 pm, nhyAImu will focus on ‘Unveiling the future of African Languages with the Khaya AI.’ As the name implies, it will be an event that prioritizes Africa’s foremost Language Translation and Speech Recognition AI tool, Khaya.
About NLP-Ghana & nhyAImu
While NLP-Ghana has been around for some time, many do not know enough about their scope of work. That includes the useability of Khaya AI and how to integrate its API into other technology products.
This conference will therefore cover topics that include the following:
- Introduction to Ghana NLP and its mission
- Overview of engineering pipelines emphasizing MLOps
- Detailed demo and guidelines on using Khaya AI’s APIs
There will also be a Q&A session.
Understanding the vision behind the creation of the Language App
Khaya AI has proven to be an amazing tool created and built by Dr Paul Azunre and his team at Algorine Inc. and NLP-Ghana. The artificial intelligence tool is capable of translating African languages to others and has speech recognition capabilities. These two features and the deliberate emphasis on African Language make the tool unique.
Currently, some of the African Languages Khaya can effectively translate and recognize include Twi, Dagbani, Ewe, Fante, Ga, Gurune, Kikuyu, Kimeru, Luo, and Yoruba. The Algorine team is still working with partners across Africa to ensure that African languages are an integral part of the digital and technology space.
In contemporary times, artificial intelligence is facilitating many things. From improving timelines for task execution to offering alternative ways to execute tasks, AI continues to make strides. Thus, Khaya AI as a tool for African languages makes it easier to preserve, learn, understand, and integrate African languages on platforms to make them user-friendly.
Even though Khaya AI has been around for the past few years, the creators have yet to give a massive demonstration of how it works. They have done a lot online, but with this conference, they intend to bring to the fore its actual usage—not only the usage but also to introduce the App to AI enthusiasts and people building products that can benefit from this app’s integration.
Twi is a language used in the Khaya AI App. nhyAImu is a Twi word that means “a gathering of people.” Thus, this event is a gathering of AI enthusiasts, including students, lecturers, business owners, tech entrepreneurs, and a host of others.
Dr Paul Azunre is a Tech entrepreneur and rapper who goes by name Dr Pushkin.
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Nautyca’s ‘Nautyfication’ story
Widely known for his heart-piercing croon tunes, Nautyca, the acclaimed Ghanaian artiste, releases his inaugural 16-track masterpiece, “Nautyfication” which showcases a stellar lineup of industry luminaries, including Sarkodie, Khapital, Kelvyn Boy, Larruso, and more.
The album offers an immersive journey through 16 tracks, seamlessly blending Afrobeat and Highlife influences. The album, available on all major online platforms, promises a captivating musical experience that transcends boundaries.
What to expect on the album
Within Nautyca’s highly anticipated debut album, “Nautyfication,” there are standout tracks that demand attention and resonate with listeners. “Bum Bum,” featuring the stellar collaboration of Sarkodie and Khapital and produced by Pee Wizzle, kicks off the album with infectious energy and rhythm.
The track “Wiggle,” featuring Larruso and produced by Cycoxxx, adds a dynamic Reggae/Afro-Dancehall flair with its captivating beats and seamless fusion of styles. “Bomber,” produced by Skybeat, introduces a unique sonic landscape, showcasing Nautyca’s versatility.
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The compelling “Badman,” also produced by Cycoxxx, further solidifies the album’s impact, providing a glimpse into Nautyca’s prowess in crafting diverse and engaging musical experiences. These highlighted tracks not only showcase the artist’s collaborative spirit but also affirm “Nautyfication” as a must-listen album for those seeking a rich blend of Afrobeat and Highlife and even Reggae/Dancehall influences.
“Nautyfication” is not just an album; it’s a testament to Nautyca’s evolution as an artist and his dedication to pushing the boundaries of Ghanaian music.
Nautyca is a rising star in the Ghanaian music scene, celebrated for his musical versatility and cultural influence. His debut album, “Nautyfication,” stands as a testament to his evolution as an artist and commitment to pushing musical boundaries.
Who made Nautyca?
Hailing from Anloga in the Volta Region of Ghana, Nautyca’s musical journey started in the vibrant city of Tema. His transition from rapper to Highlife artist has introduced fans to a spectrum of musical versatility. Nautyca’s debut single, “Social Media,” featuring Sarkodie, set the stage for his meteoric rise.
Crowned the Rising Artist of the Year in 2019 at the Youth Excellence Awards, Nautyca draws inspiration from Davido and Shatta Wale. As the visionary behind his record label, he is not only a musical trailblazer but also a cultural influence, renowned for the annual flagship event, the Harbour City Concert.
Stream “Nautyfication” now: https://pitchdistro.bfan.link/nautyfication
Get interactive with Nautyca across his socials below:
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/nautycagh
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/nautycagh
Twitter – https://twitter.com/nautycagh
