Award-winning duo Keche, made up of Joshua Ampah and Andrew Cudjoe, is one of the groups in Ghana’s music industry that have managed to stand the test of time than many had thought.
The group has made its mark in releasing at least a hit song almost every year and has been one of the adorable groups of our time. That’s why they are worth celebrating.
In this interview with NEWS-ONE’s Francis Addo, the duo spoke about their 10-year career, management and their reason for not replying fellow musician Asem, who made a mockery of their hit song, ‘Aluguntugui’.
According to the duo, they decided to ignore Asem rather than waste precious time on him and his opinion on their song.
“We don’t have time for Asem,” they said.
What is the meaning of Keche?
It means skills. As a duo coming into the game, we needed a beautiful name that could compete on the market and stick in the minds of people. We proposed so many other names but finally settled on ‘Keche’.
We realised we have something unique and the skills we portray when it comes to our songs and everything. We’ve got skills so we settled on ‘Keche’, an Akan word which means skills.
How did you come together?
We knew each other way back in Takoradi but we were not that close until we both met again after we moved to Tema. I [Joshua] was a solo artiste then, and featured Andrew on my song. He also featured me on his song. That was how it all started. Then we started working as a group subsequently and it’s been 10 years now.
If you look back 10 years ago till now, what will you say?
We have learnt so much. We’ve learnt from our seniors. We were ready way back, although financially we had no one supporting us. We knew where we were going. We knew our dream and we didn’t give chances to stuff that would draw us back. We were focused on our dreams; and you can see the difference we have made as a group over the years. From our first single that blew up till now, you can see the difference. It has been a great journey. All I want to say is, God has been great to us and we give Him all the glory.
If you have the opportunity to change something from the past, what will that be?
We will be mindful of the kind of management we sign to…We are in no way condemning our past managements. They were good because they pushed us a lot and made the name Keche outstanding. But as a family we had our low points too. We would have listened and watched carefully before picking any management. But as it is now, we are with George Britton management; and so far so beautiful. We thank God.
What will you consider as your biggest challenge as a group?
We have always competed ourselves in our songs. We brag about outshining each other. That always poses a challenge to us to work extra hard. But we are happy the fans enjoy our products. Sometimes we go on some stages and the fans show us love. Sometimes too you go on stage and nobody recognises your art. It is a big challenge but because we know the dream, we keep pushing and now here we are. There were a lot of other challenges but we didn’t allow them to bring us down.
Misunderstanding over money has split many groups. How do you deal with it?
We don’t have problems. We are a family. We love what we are doing. We are not thinking about the money so much. But it is important that everyone gets paid after working. We want enough money to…build brands for our beautiful fans out there but we don’t allow money to come between us. Money is not our problem now.
What is the secret keeping Keche together?
The love for each other. We are also God-fearing and we understand each other. We do fight but we resolve our differences and move on.
What is your opinion on Ghanaian artistes hooking up with foreign artistes?
The industry is growing bigger and better because way back our senior artistes were only concentrating on Ghana, whereas some other Africa countries’ artistes were focusing on foreign talents. It helps artistes to tap into each others’ following. So we are not limited to Ghana or Africa. It’s a good thing to collaborate.
Any future plans to hook up with a foreign musician?
We can’t wait to work with P -Square because they have been our role models from day one. Outside Africa, we love Kendrick Lamar. We love Ludacris. All we can say now is, our management is working things out.
Ludacris’ lady sang your song on social media. How did you take it?
We had a call from DJ Armani of Citi FM and he broke the news to us that the fiancée of Ludacris sang our song on social media. We were surprised. Definitely Ghana is growing big. All we need is good promotion or push from our DJs and all others.
What are your current plans?
We are now working with George Britton records. We have a new song out there titled, Shame On You, and the subsequent album release is within the year.
Take us through some of your hit songs?
Sokode, Aluguntugui, Slow Motion, Go Go Ga Go Ga, Diabetes, etc.
In one of Asem’s Fylla songs, he talked about you. Why didn’t you reply?
When people talk about you then you are relevant. So if we have Asem listening to our song and singing our song in his lines to tease or mock us, then it means we are doing great. Some fans praised him for it; others were against it. But at the end of the day, they were talking about Keche. We find no reason to reply Asem. We just ignored him because we know what we want to achieve. We’re just doing songs for the masses to love them and dance with them. Our songs are not to mock anybody. We don’t think about that at all. We don’t have time for that at all.
<<Print>>