African landscape strikes a chord
VICTOR DEY jr’s first-choice instrument was the piano.
It was always readily available in his home for him to listen to – and be taught how to perfect it by his pianoplaying father. Though he tried his hand at other musical instruments like the guitar, he found that to be much too “complex and messy”.
“So I gave it up pretty easily. I’m the youngest of four boys and all my brothers played the piano. In the very beginning, I was always attempting to show them I was just as good as they could be,” he says.
Perfecting his craft over the years, he was aided by his teachers, musical friends, a stint at Berklee College of Music and his own curiosity.
“I always knew that I liked the sound of music, and making it; but initially I wanted to be a pilot and, when I got older, I wanted to be a lawyer.”
It wasn’t until he was 19 that he realised that neither of those professions would truly make him happy.
“I was happiest playing music. My father had musical instruments in the house and there was always some music playing and my mom loved it. She loved to sing.”
After studying psychology and English, he chose a professional musical career.
He received the title “Musician of the Year 2014” at the Ghana Vodafone Music Awards and, recognising his unique style, CNN featured him in the programme African Voices in 2016, with his debut album Makola.
Dey features at the Standard Bank Jazz Festival taking place during the National Arts Festival from June 28 to July 7.
The African landscape is a big inspiration for him.
“The rich rhythms, the sense of where I am from, the sense of joy and happiness and merrymaking, call and response… that’s very inspiring for me; and, in my music when I am writing and performing, I don’t like genres to get in the way. So I will go with my own music, whatever I feel.
“And, invariably, what I’m feeling is inspired from home. It ends up with elements of joy and happy music.”
For his audience at the festival he will do a cross between Ghanaian high life and jazz.
“I pretty much know what I want to do for the audience – I have songs that employ Ghanaian rhythms from different tribes, I have ballads, I have songs that are jazz, fused with funk and groove stuff, so it is going to be pretty diverse.”
Dey will also be opening himself up to performances with other artists.
“I will be performing with some SA artists. I’m looking forward to performing some of their music as well.”
Before his stopover in Mzansi, Dey will be heading to Togo and Lagos for other music festivals.
“I prefer to play for intimate crowds, where everybody is close and personal, and then I can immediately feed off the energy. I don’t mind playing for big crowds, it’s also cool, but my preference is smaller audiences.”
His album Makola, which was released in September, is named after a popular market in Accra, he explains.
“The album embodies the spirit of the market, which is diversity, movement and business. I’ll be performing that music and also working on new material.”
His love for the sound of good music inspires him on a daily basis.
“I know that I could always be much better than I am today; it drives me to write good music,” he says
“The love for it and the fact that I am honest enough to recognise that I and my music could be much better every day.” music,