SOUNDTRACK OF MYLIFE
Ghanaian singer and performer Esi Acquaah-Harrison is one of 46 musicians and acrobats featured in Cirque du Soleil’s latest touring show, TOTEM. ALTHOUGH I
was born in Accra in Ghana, I spent my earliest childhood years in St Albans, in the UK, where I was influenced by British pop music, especially Lulu, Sandy Shaw, Cilla Black and the Beatles.
My mum says I would sing every song that I could learn. From the age of six onwards, I was back in my native Ghana where my father played classical music every Sunday by pretty much all the classical prodigies. I would also listen to Ghanaian high-life and cultural music. But by the time I was 12, I was really getting into soul music from America. This music registered with me more than any other I had listened to, and I began to sing a lot of the songs by Stevie Wonder, the Commodores, Earth Wind and Fire, Ashford and Simpson, and Natalie Cole.
On returning to the UK for further study at the age of 19, I continued to get into a lot of soul music and smooth jazz and then also started to hear contemporary gospel music on the radio. It felt like soul fused with elements of smooth jazz, but with a strong
Proclaimed ‘‘thrilling’’ by the New York Times, Cirque du Soleil’s new production TOTEM opens in their trademark blue-and-yellow big top at Auckland’s Alexandra Park on August 22 and runs for a five week season.
message of hope. My early gospel experiences were of Bebe and Cece Winans, Milton Brunson and the Thompson Community Singers, Edwin Hawkins and The Hawkins Singers, and the Bay Area Gospel Choir.
I fell in love with gospel music, appreciating its message of hope inspite of life’s difficulties. I was to join three gospel choirs later, between 1988 and 2003, including the UK’s well-established London Community Gospel Choir. This led to many exciting on-stage performances, and eventually to a fulltime singing career.
I remain grateful for all the music that has shaped my life, and especially for gospel music.