From Nogokpo to Ashaiman, Wakayna is the new sprouting seed

Francis Dogbey is what he is known by in private life. But this young and energetic who hails from Nogokpo, a very powerful village in the Volta Region of Ghana is the new face of Afrobeats the world needs to watch out for. The new sprouting seed honing his craft from Ashaiman, where he is currently resident will soon register as a household name to reckon with in Ghana and beyond.

My very first encounter with him was about 5 years ago when I visited popular Ashaiman-based Ghanaian Producer, Beatz Dakay’s Too Easy Studios — then I spotted this calm and collected guy sitting in one corner of the studio, quite observing yet hardly said a thing. That time I was handling a PR job for Jah Phinga, one of the very vibrant music talents from Ashaiman too — and I was supposed to come listen to some of his works done in the studio (Too Easy Studio). Playing both finished and unfinished records from the Jah Phinga’s catalogue, I heard one awesome tune played and I was told the guy sitting in the corner was the one who worked on the production. I turned to look and he smirked back at me. That was it! That’s how I got to know about Wakayna for the very first time, as a Producer/Beat Maker.

3 years on, Wakayna would spark his mainstream career and raise eyebrows. In 2018, Freedom Cry Records, an Ashaiman based music label run by Mr. Karl Gidiglo (Karl Tinga) and his team announce him as a resident producer for their newly signed Act, Eye Judah. Perfect decision it was, he churned very great works for Eye Judah within then period.

Just when I was about to get more into Wakayna’s groove, that’s when he accelerated and got signed as an artiste and even dropped a debut single with a video! Not many newly signed acts would get that quick rise and push but Freedom Cry Records know what they had so they had to put in all arsenals and exploit this amazing music talent — Wakayna.

Explaining The Secret Behind his Moniker – “Wakayna”
Wakayna is a Hausa word which means “who is that” “I grew up in Ashaiman – Tulaku, a highly populated Hausa community. During my early days of production, I had the opportunity of producing music for some community artistes, anytime the song is played in a community gathering people will ask in amazement Wakayna (who is that). This is because I have a unique style of production which moves them. There after some friends started calling me by Wakayna and it became a household name. Artistically I decided to stick by that name because it is African and will let people know who I actually am”, he narrated.

“Africa Nice”, his debut cut released in 2019 was just the perfect sound and visuals to compliment the season of the “Year Of Return” with very colourful but organic Afrocentric vibes and picturesque. “Africa Nice” made me give this young chap a standing ovation after listening and watching how confident and flawlessly he delivered on the record and in front of the cameras that shot the video. Before you continue reading, kindly pause and watch “Africa Nice” video below here:

Wakayna wouldn’t stop surprising me in 2020! About 2 months ago, I got another client coming through for a PR job meant for a top and rising Nigerian artiste called “Wurld”. Wurld’s assets for promo were sent to me and I was listening and the very first record I heard was a song produced by Wakayna. I jumped out of my work desk and went ‘wow’ with a clap as if Wakayna was right there in front of me!

“Birthday Song, Palmwine Riddim” is the title of the song produced by Wakayna for Wurld on his 7-tracked EP titled “AfroSoul”. The song featured Ghana’s Legendary Hiplife Singer, Zeal, of VVIP fame.

To have such breakthroughs in a very competitive and complex Ghanaian music scene in these times doesn’t come easy like a finger snap! But the divine energies directed towards Wakayna’s way is unexplainable to me I can’t even find the words. This quick rise but yet SILENT BIG MOVES by Freedom Cry Records and their artiste, Wakayna, pushes me to pen these words further to highlight him.

In my further probe with Wakayna, I got to found out that he has even worked with very iconic and mainstream global artistes like Anthony B (from Jamaica), Mugeez of R2Bees as well as Tic (formerly Tic Tac) from Ghana, just to name a few. His other unreleased records and upcoming jobs with notable names that hasn’t come up yet, I would save those for a later exclusive.

Some where in June, Wakayna added his voice to the global concerns about African/Black Freedom with a song titled “Black Lives Matter”. One would think this is a revolutionary song with very hard hitting lyrics but the cool looking gentleman would rather find a ‘sober’ angle to the song and promote peace and tranquility among the human race by calling for more love and unity for racial coexistence and peace. The song was so nice that it caught the attention of one of the known Jamaican artistes called Don Husky who jumped on a remix of “Black Lives Matter”.

Shockingly, Wakayna told me doing music (an artiste and performer) was his very first calling but ironically he started producing music first about 7 years ago (professionally 5 years ago — perhaps the time I first met him); before he later got signed as an artiste in 2019 by Freedom Cry Records where his music career sparked professionally only a year ago, in 2019!

Wakayna has been able to release 4 visuals to his songs which now come at a count of 5 song releases. “Africa Nice“, “Never Give Up”, “Slow Down“, “Black Lives Matter“ (Original) and “Black Lives Matter” (Remix ft. Don Husky).

Let me pause here and kindly ask you to follow the next top Ghanaian Artiste/Producer, Wakayna on social media. Follow him on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter @iamWakayna

(Story: Elorm Beenie)

HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS SENT FROM HIS TEAM, IMAGES FROM ONE OF HIS VIDEO SHOOT SETS.