HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO WIYAALA

Today is the birthday of Noella Wiyaala, a Ghanaian Dance Hall artiste, who hails from the Upper West region. Wiyaala fuses strong passion in to her art as she sings, plays the instruments and dances with so much energy. She does a lot of international performances with her fans always showing much love to her as she performs on stage.

As you celebrate your special day today, www.ghanacelebrations.com wishes you a day full of bliss and many more.

Noella Wiyaala (known under the stage name Wiyaala; born 22 December 1986) is a Ghanaian Afro-pop singer-songwriter who sings in her native language Sissala and Waala dialects and English, often combining all three languages within her songs.[citation needed] Wiyaala means “the doer” in the Sissala dialect. She has attained public renown with her single “Make Me Dance” and her androgynous image.[5] After making her name in reality shows in Accra, she established a solo career in 2013 with the hit single “Rock My Body”, which won her two awards at the 2014 first edition of the All Africa Music Awards, the Most Promising Artiste in Africa and Revelation of The African Continent. Wiyaala is also associated with UNICEF Ghana and the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection of Ghana in campaigns against child marriage, child poverty, health and sanitation. She headlined the 15th London African Music Festival in London. In March 2021, she was among the Top 30 Most Influential Women in Music by the 3Music Awards Women’s Brunch.

Background information;

Birth name: Noella Wiyaala

Also known as

Wiyaala

Born

22 December 1986 (age 35)

Wa, Upper West Ghana, Ghana

Origin: Tema, Ghana

Genres: Dance, pop, Afro pop

Occupation(s): Singer-songwriter, designer, actress, model, athlete

Instruments

vocals, guitar

Years active

2011–present

Labels

Djimba World Records, JTV Digital

Associated acts

Jupitar, Black N Peach, The Djimba World Band

Website

wiyaala.com

Early life

Noella Wiyaala was born in Wa, Upper West Ghana as one of four sisters and grew up in Funsi and Tumu. She got first singing lessons from her mother, a choir singer in the local church, and she has performed ever since she was 5 years old. Her surname, which she picked for a stage name, means “the doer” in her native Sisaala language. During her late teenage years, she played football as a midfielder. She attended Kanton Secondary School and later Kanton Secondary High in Tumu, where she acquired a reputation for being a tom-boy, playing football and was in demand as a dancer and entertainer in school productions. She also attended Takoradi Polytechnic on an art and design course.

Musical career

From early childhood in the Upper West Region of Ghana, Wiyaala was active as an entertainer, earning her first income as a performer in a local bar in Tamale. After attending Kansec Secondary High School, Wiyaala’s musical career began in earnest when she joined the local music scene in Wa which centred around Echo Soundz Recording Studios. She performed at local events and recorded as a usually unpaid session singer for artists in the Upper West Region.

In 2009, she recorded her first album Tuma (“Work”) in the Sissala language at Echo Soundz Studios in Wa. Songs like “Dannu” and “Dirik…” soon became local hits.

She left the Black N Peach band during April 2013, after having released one single (“Wonkoa”), to pursue a solo career with Djimba World Records. Her first release was “Make Me Dance” which featured Ghana’s first-ever underwater scenes in a music video, and soon afterwards the single “Rock My Body”, which quickly became a hit and won her two awards at the 2014 edition of the All Africa Music Awards. Wiyaala won two of the coveted 23.9-carat gold-plated trophies for The Most Promising Artist in Africa and The Revelation of the African Continent.

Musical style

Wiyaala sings both in English and her native language Sisaala. She writes her songs herself. She has earned praise for her bold and powerful voice and distinguished timbre. Given Madonna, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Tina Turner as role models and inspiration. She had often been called “man-woman” by the boys in grade school and nowadays she cultivates an androgynous image of herself, for which she had been compared to Grace Jones. Also, she has expressed admiration for African artists like Angelique Kidjo, Miriam Makeba and Brenda Fassie. Her song “Africa” has been inspired by Sherifa Gunu.

Her music style has been described as Afro-pop or Afro-rock with elements of tribal folk music while the latest single “Rock My Body”, released in June 2013 together with Ghanaian reggae singer Jupitar leans more towards reggae and dancehall. Wiyaala cited as inspiration the 1969 song “Wreck A Buddy” by Nora Dean and The Soul Sisters. She did also perform in the opening of the 2014 Stanbic Ghana jazz festival.

Wiyaala got nominated as Best Sporting Artist in Ghana Sports Excellence Awards 2014.

Discography

Wiyaala’s first release after the breakup with Black N Peach was the single “Make Me Dance”. Originally produced by “Genius Selection” in Ghana, it has been remixed in Los Angeles by “Bill Delia” for the international market. “Make Me Dance”, along with an acoustic

Wiyaala (right) performing with her band

version, will be distributed on the “Djimba World Records” label under exclusive license to Paris-based “JTV Digital”. The single has been released internationally on 7 October 2013, and it is available on iTunes.

The music video “Make Me Dance” was shot in the studio and on location at Prampram. It features Wiyaala in scenes shot underwater and dancers from the Henokami Culture Troupe from New Ningo. Wiyaala had to take swimming lessons for the best performance while on camera.

“Make Me Dance” got released also in remixed form in Nu-disco, Breakbeat, Drum and bass and Trance styles on 9 December 2013. The “Make Me Dance” Remix EP was mastered in the Paris-based La Source Mastering Studio and released worldwide through Djimba World Records. On 8 December 2013, Wiyaala and Plug.dj held an online-only listening party of the “Make Me Dance” Remixes EP before the official release.

On 28 February 2014, Wiyaala released a new single, “You Got The Power”, again distributed on the “Djimba World Records” label. The single is also available on iTunes.

During the first edition of the All Africa Music Awards held on 27 December 2014 in Lagos, Wiyaala won two of the coveted 23.9-carat gold-plated trophies for “The Most Promising Artiste in Africa” and “The Revelation of the African Continent”. She has been commended by Vodafone for her achievements and hailed as a youth icon and an inspiration for young Ghanaians to strive for success.

In 2015, Wiyaala received six nominations for the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards winning Best Songwriter and Best Female Vocal. At the second edition of the All African Music Awards 2015, Wiyaala won the best Video for “Africa” directed by Stanley Ajjetey. 2015 saw features on AJ Nelson’s “Power to The People” and Dark Suburb’s “Mama”.

In December 2018, Wiyaala released her second album Sissala Goddess, preceded by the singles “Village Sex” and “When the Lord Get Us Ready”. She released music videos for both, as well as one for the fourteenth track on the album Feeling Free.

Films and television

Fashion

Recognized for her sense of fashion, stage dressing and style, Wiyaala is influential throughout the world with Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post citing her as a role model.