How Summertime in Abuja inspired Ogranya’s “Festival of the Sun” EP

Although Nigerian singer Ogranya, born Ogranya Jable Osai, was born into a music family, he did not take up the profession until the year 2016.

The afro-soul singer, who has professional roots in Architecture, tells Ameyaw TV’s Zeinat in this exclusive interview how he made the switch from Architecture to music.

According to Orgranya, who had his university education in Ghana’s famous Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), he made his first song in the year 2012.

“I made my first song in 2012, then I just kept recording music till after then, but officially, I didn’t decide to be an artist till 2016,” he tells Zeinat.

After completing his Degree at KNUST, which he says came highly recommended, Ogranya says the transition to music was “seamless.”

Where I schooled, did my A-level, KNUST came highly recommended. It was either that or Canada but the Canada move fell through so I jumped at this.

“It was my first boarding experience. I was a day student during secondary school. I found myself during my time at KNUST. I studied Architecture. Music has always been in the family, my dad is a musician, but the tradition was not too difficult because they’re both art. It was seamless,” he states.

Despite officially putting his music out there as an Artiste in the year 2016, Orgranya reveals he had been writing music for a really long time.

“I had been writing songs prior. I had been writing for a really long time and I wasn’t sure about it, but between 2012-2016, I had started to make songs and I started enjoying the process and the feedback I was getting was really good so it just made sense that I should take it up,” he states.

Since the release of his first song to now releasing three major projects so far, Ogranya describes the reception of his work as “encouraging.”

“Its been very encouraging. I’ve had 3 major projects of mine, 3 producer projects, worked on a few films, and a bunch of collaborations,” he adds.

Ogranya does not like to be put in box when it comes to music genres. According to him, music for him is an experiment.

“My music is experimental. I like to experiment a lot but at the core of my music is RnB and Soul but generally, I like to experiment with sounds and  I like to reference real like situations both mine and stories of people that I come across,” he explains.

Although Africa and the world has jumped unto Afro-beats, and many music lovers are drawn to upbeat kind of music, Ogranya says he’s still able to find his audience.

“It is tricky, and surprisingly I do find them from time to time. But yeah it is a bit of a challenge and it is interesting too because like you said the prevalence down here is very upbeat but I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he states.

Ogranya’s list of music inspirations is a long and tricky one. He mentions Elvis, Sinatra, Duncan Mighty, 2 Face, Neyo, Kanye West, Justin Timberlake e.t.c., amongst others as people who inspires his sound.

With some roots in Ghana, it is no surprise that Ogranya has worked with some Ghanaian musicians.

“Efya was really graceful to go on my first EP, I’ve worked with sister Derby, Ria Boss, producer, Guilty Beatz,” he lists.

Meanwhile, he’s currently vibing  to the likes of Kelvynboy and Camidoh.

“I like Kelvynboy’s Down Flat a lot. I also like Camidoh,” he confesses.

Ogranya’s latest project, “Festival of the Sun” which he released about a couple of weeks ago is a celebratory project. According to him it was inspired by Summertime in Abuja.

“It was Summertime in Abuja in 2016, it’s that time of the year where there’s parties, people coming in from the UK and the US, so the festivities, all of that inspired it and I got the name randomly when I was in the midst of all of that,” he reveals.

“Festival of the Sun” is now out on all music streaming platforms and you should check it out.

Watch full interview below;