Have you ever invited a plantain seller to your show? – Maame Ode to Delay

She loves her job to the core, so much that she would not opt for another in her next world. Maame Ode, a woman whose popularity has soared in Ghana following her decision to champion ‘nnwonkoro’, without hesitation told Deloris Frimpong Manso on The Delay Show that she is happy about what she does.

“Of course. Why not?” was Maame Ode’s initial response when asked if she would choose the same profession in her next world.

She asserted that she has been successful as a result of the path she chose and argued that she would not have been hosted on the popular programme but for the profession she chose.

“If not for music, would you have invited me to your show?” she asked. “Have you called anyone that deals in plantain to be on your show before? Have you invited a head porter before? I’m on your show because I do music so I’ll choose music in my next world.”

According to Maame Ode, she sees her craft as a gift because she has never received tuition in that regard.

‘Nnwonkoro’ is a genre of music by Akan-speaking women who are mostly in groups. Regularly performed at funerals and other social gatherings, the genre as described by author Kwasi Ampene has “become a hybrid musical form, incorporating songs and dance movements based on traditional practices alongside others reflecting Christian influence.”

In her interview with Delay monitored by GhanaWeb, Maame Ode recalled how she was recruited, stating that her decision to dance at her father’s funeral at age five was the beginning of her journey to fame.

She said: “I hadn’t danced before. I remember when they were dancing, I got up, jumped, and danced so well that it was even better than those who had been hired to dance at my father’s funeral. The woman who was handling the dance team later approached my mother and asked for permission to have me join her team. My mother agreed.

“I was not singing at the time. I started singing in class 6. It was time for ‘Open Day’ and they asked who would want to sing and dance. They were curious because I hadn’t done that before. But I sang and they liked it. I first recorded a song for Nick Abbeam Danso, a very wealthy man. His mother had died.”

Not only is Maame Ode a singer; she is a professional mourner, one who is paid to cry at funerals of persons they are not related to just to make the event more sorrowful and family and friends of the deceased grieve.