It felt like a guardian angel had guided his steps towards a blessed path when a contact in Dubai confirmed to Jacob Gonami Kordzo Agbenuvor, better known as JJ Gonami that he had managed to get him to be part of the premiere edition of the African Music Revolution (AMR) Tour in Dakar, Senegal.

It was an event that brought contemporary, talented and young African artistes together on February 11, 2023 for a memorable concert at Dakar’s famous African Renaissance Monument. JJ Gonami, the Accra-based composer, performer and recording engineer who hails from Tegbi Agbedrafor, near Keta in the Volta Region, was there for Ghana.

Other acts at the programme included Iba One (Mali), RJ the DJ and DJ Ylb (Tanzania), Ntosh Gazi (South Africa), Paco Briz and Mohammed VJ (Senegal), Kayawoto (Burkina Faso) and others from across the continent.

The music on offer embraced Amapiano, Hip Hop, AfroPop, R&B, Afrobeats and more. JJ Gonami, who has thrived on versatility since hitting the Ghanaian music scene in 2014 with his Dzidzorkporkpor (Happiness) debut single, was in fine form as he performed some of his current best-known tracks, including Abi (Injection) Gbekui (Herbs).

He scored well with the enthusiastic Dakar audience who, though didn’t understand the Ewe lyrics in Abi and Gbekui, cheered and danced to the catchy melodies in the songs.

“There are many, many different genres out there and many different tastes regarding music that people love to listen to,” says JJ Gonami. “My music explores life. No human is exempt from the realities of life such as heartbreak, love, failure, success and hard times. I like my music to convey a sense of reality all the time.”

According to JJ Gonami, he loved Dakar because the people were easy-going and friendly. More importantly, he was touched by the positive bonding between all the artistes on the show and has already started working on some collaborations with some of the acts since his return to Accra.

JJ Gonami contends that everyone has something that God has blessed them with and is happy music has always been an important part of his life and integral to his well-being. He has two albums to his credit: The Ewe Dictionary and The Solo Project which contains 50 tracks. His EP, Volta Religion, has seven songs and was released in 2022.

JJ Gonami is a household name in the Volta Region. He is glad his fan base is gradually spreading out and can proudly say he is fast getting recognized in other parts of Ghana. To him, building an audience could be a slow process but what matters is the ability to hold on to them when one captures them.

His observation of the music industry is that it is capital intensive and people who have the resources should not hesitate to get into business ventures with the creative acts to produce great works to make people happy. His dream, he says, is to see his music go places and he knows he has the ability to achieve that.

Senegal was a sort of testing ground to see how his music would be received in other domains. He smiles at the fact that it is getting a fair amount of rotation on radio and television stations there after the African Music Revolution (AMR) Tour event.

After all, Gonami in Ewe means ‘give way’ and he trusts the hard work he keeps putting into his music career is beginning to open doors for him.