When it comes to music and entertainment generally, Togo as a country cannot be pushed aside as a result of top celebrities that have contributed to the growth of the country, both in the past and present era. This article will shed more light on top 5 celebrities from Togo
Bella Bellow
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Bella Bellow was a Togolese singer who died in infancy in the United States. When she was 23, she went to a music festival in Dakar, Senegal, where she was discovered and went on to record a number of popular albums.
Their love of ballads and deep singing won them success, including performances at the Olympia in Paris and collaborations with Manu Dibango.
Bella was tragically killed in an automobile accident in 1973 when she was just 27 years old.
The “chanson togolaise” that she pioneered is still popular today, and many consider her to be the queen of the genre.
King Mensah
King Mensah, a Togo-born artist, with a diverse background in both personal and professional endeavors. Actor, dancer, and singer who grew up in the arts thanks to his parents’ influence is now one of Africa’s biggest talents and making waves around the world. Seen as far away as Africa and Europe, his music has become a worldwide hit in just fifteen years.
“The Golden Voice of Togo” is known for his music’s upbeat melodies and uplifting lyrics that convey themes of optimism, peace, and love.
During his 15-year career, King Mensah has won seven prizes for his work and released four albums as a result.
King Mensah’s songs and inventions are influenced by Togolese music traditions and are philosophical, poetic, and socially conscious. King Mensah performs Togo’s traditional music for audiences that share his passion for the country’s rich musical history. His music has a strong message of hope, especially for street children and oppressed groups. But it also has a message of hope for people from all over the world.
Togo’s King Mensah has plans to establish a multimodal arts town for street children that will feature dance, music, and theater as well as other forms of artistic expression.
When it comes to African music, King Mensah is without a doubt this third millennium’s greatest revelation. He seems destined to continue enthralling audiences for a long time to come.
Afia
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In the beginning, there were two royal families, one from Togo, and one from Benin. A princess named Afia Mala was born on the banks of the Mono River. Her real name was Afiwavi Mawaulana Missohou. She used to go with her mother to the Habobo women’s singing lessons when she was a kid. As a result of this early exposure, little Afia soon began performing for village gatherings, wowing the elders with her incredible voice. During this time, the legendary Togolese Lady of the Blues, Bella Bellow, was active. Bella Bellow tragically died at the height of her fame. Many young African singers, notably Afia Mala, looked up to Bella Bellow as an inspiration.
Afia Mala’s career as a singer took off after she won the Best Togolese Singer of the Year award in 1974. In the wake of a near-fatal road accident, this promising professional path was all but ruined. Afia’s father believed that music was not her future after she spent almost six months in the hospital, but fate had other plans! During the talent competition ‘Discovery,’ Radio France International listeners chose “Ten Homte” (Black Earth) as their favorite song.
Having achieved a great deal of fame and releasing eight studio albums, the Princess of Vogan now has a discography that ranks her right up there with the greatest African Diva’s.
Afia gives the impression of being delicate, almost fragile when you first meet her… but don’t be fooled! Behind this lovely, tempting smile lies a hardworking professional who strives for perfection while also having fun! It took Afia some time to refocus her career after being nominated in 1992 for the ‘Best African Female Vocalist’ award. She firmly holds the opinion that music and politics are unsuitable bedfellows. Despite this, her song ‘Tout le monde est coupable’ (Everybody is guilty) drew a lot of personal criticism from people who took it to be a political message. Even her harshest critics have been impressed by her fortitude during this trying time.
Afia is of the opinion that “a music must always contain a message, that’s crucial, and cannot be faked.” ‘Prophetie,’ her debut album, earned her the Nelson Mandela Prize in Nairobi, Kenya, where she also served as URTNA’s Ambassador for Cultural Affairs (Union des Radios et Television Nationales Africaines). As well as Lingala, she sings in Ewe and French as well as Adja and Spanish as well as Douala.
Afia Mala has so far released eight studio albums. The Aragon Orchestra recorded the eighth album in Cuba, which features a fusion of African and Caribbean rhythms.
Kodjo Senyo
Kodjo Senyo, a musician from Togo’s western coast city of Lome, is self-taught. The Ewe (an ethnic group in southern Togo) traditional song has been an important part of Kodjo’s upbringing. From birth celebrations to traditional ceremonies or funerals, music was always present. Later, he forms a band with pals and performs in Togo and the neighboring nations. For him, blues and jazz aren’t new music; they’re just a different method to play the same classic music in different keys and styles. Kodjo is a singer who also composes music. In contrast to popular belief, his compositions are not a mash-up of many musical genres; rather, they are the outcome of a return to music’s fundamentals, which remain in perpetual flux. Friendship, love, tolerance, and optimism are all themes of Kodjo’s songs.
Yawo
Yawo hails from Togo, which is located in West Africa. While at Lome, he attended the “Ecole Experimentale de musique,” where he learned classical guitar and electric bass before embarking on his professional musical career.
Yawo Attivor, the leader of the band he and his siblings started in high school, discovered he had a gift for writing and arranging music that incorporated both Ewe tribal customs and western civilization influences. Due to political unrest in his own country, Yawo was forced to leave Togo in 1992 and found a new home in the MIMI-Togo (International Movement for Innovative Music-Togo branch).
As early as 1993, Yawo became a member of the worldwide group Up With People, which took him around the United States and Europe, where he advocated for world peace and understanding. Attivor (aka Ro Bezz), Yawo’s cousin, and Sarah Agbeto, together with guitarist Matt Hupton, formed Doliho, an afropop project that made waves in the midwest after their time with Up with People.
Yawo began his solo career in 2002 with the album “Celebrate” (Mia du agbe), which was followed in October 2004 by “Take Out the Fences,” a “refreshingly upbeat” (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) album that explodes musical barriers with an explosion of afrobeat, afrofunk, and reggae.