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14.11.2007 Author

Addisa Yankey - The Girl With The Velvet Voice

14.11.2007 LISTEN
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She was born a sighted baby. However, six months into her life, Addisa Yankey lost her sight. She could only feel things, listen and then act accordingly.

That impairment, though a big challenge in her life, did not dampen her vivacious spirit. She decided to make it into the limelight, instead of staying on the streets and begging as some visually-impaired persons did.

In order to realise that dream, she started collecting the tapes of seasoned musicians, listened to their songs and practised how to sing them.

Blessed with a sleek voice, Addisa has warmed the hearts of Ghana's music maestro, Kojo Antwi (Mr Music Man) and today she joins him to sing at big events.

That was after she had forced her way through a thick crowd in Takoradi where Kojo Antwi was billed to perform to meet him. She persuaded the organisers to allow her to meet the Music Man but no one listened to her.

Dejected, she decided to hang around the venue for the show. When Kojo finally pulled up, she managed to catch his eyes and she then told him how much she loved his songs and asked for the opportunity to demonstrate it to him.

Touched by her words, the Music Man gave her a special invitation to the show. It was there that she was invited to perform on the dais and she did some of his songs flawlessly.

As a result of her sterling showmanship, she performed at the National Theatre during Kojo Antwi's December 24th Bash and received unending applause from the audience.

And during the recent fund-raising concert in aid of the flood victims in the three northern regions, she appeared on stage and this time did some of Lucky Dube's popular tunes excellently.

Addisa, who is full of humour, told the Junior Graphic in a chat that she loved to do a rendition of Kojo Antwi's and Lucky Dube's songs and tunes by some famous gospel artistes.

According to her, she started singing when she was at the School for the Blind at Akropong-Akwapim in the Eastern Region.

“At the school, my friends enjoyed being with me because I always made them happy. There, because we were all visually impaired, we understood one another very well and were always happy,” she said.

As a result of her singing and dancing, she was made the Entertainment Prefect and every weekend she ensured that there were musical and dancing activities for her mates.

Young Addisa said everyone in the school knew she was splendid when it came to music. However, when she went to Okuapeman Secondary School (OKUASS), she decided to join the school choir but later changed her mind when she learnt that blind choristers were only allowed to sing in school but never taken outside for external programmes.

“I felt that was not fair and, as a result, I decided to save my voice for the future. So, I concentrated more on academic work,” she said laughing.

At that point, easy-going Addisa decided to divert a bit from her music career due to some of the challenges blind students faced in secondary school.

She explained that OKUASS was not like the School for the Blind where all their books were in braille.

Therefore, after buying the books, she got some of her mates to read them as well as her notes, so that she could either record them or transcribe into braille with her machine for easy academic work.

“My sister, you won't believe it but these services by my friends came with fees. I either had to pay them with gari or cash, else they would not do it. Somewhow, they ended up keeping my textbooks. And if I complained it meant there would be no more services rendered me,” she added.

Addisa lamented that no challenge in life equalled being blind, explaining, “When you need someone to run an errand for you, the person may be busy and there is nothing you can do about it.

For instance, in school when I needed friends to read to me during siesta, they would tell me to sleep so that they could study and read to me in the evening. When evening came, they would again tell me they were tired or had other things to do. You see why our sight is very important?” she queried.

Addisa, who is the fourth of seven children, hails from Isiakuro, a town near Axim in the Western Region.

According to her, she pursued a programme in General Arts but unfortunately did not do well in English. However, she re-wrote the paper and was able to secure a pass.

Although Addisa wants to concentrate on her music career, she intends going to the university to study a course in special education so that she can become a resource person to other visually-impaired persons.

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