Ashionye Michelle Raccah
Ashionye Michelle Raccah tells Ademola Olonilua why she has been off the spotlight for a while and what she is up to
Long absence
I was away for two years intentionally. I
took a break because I got pregnant. Even when I had my son, I decided
to take time out to raise him. Now he is almost three years old but I
have been back to work for well over a year now.
Experience of motherhood
The experience has been fantastic. It
has been awesome so far. I have the best boy in the world and I thank
God for that. My son is pretty matured for his age, it is amazing. You
would have to sit with him for about five minutes to understand.
About my movie, Journey to self
A lot of people have actually asked me
if the movie was borne out of personal experience. I have not had any of
the experiences that the characters had in the movie. Basically, I have
had the opportunity to meet some women who have faced similar issues as
the characters in ‘Journey to Self’. If you have been following my
career from inception, you would know that I’m pro-women. I have been
against things like domestic violence; I have been basically supporting
women in my own capacity. I just felt the need to talk about the ills
that affect women. These ills don’t just affect women; they affect
people around women such as kids and men. So I decided to write a screen
play and talk about these issues because they affects our society.
My experience in marriage
I’ll say that my experience has been
amazing. I have known my husband for 12 years now and we have been
married for about four years. I must say that I am lucky enough to be
married to somebody I consider as my friend, someone who is my friend.
He understands me, I am lucky enough to have someone who is in the
industry and understands the industry. So in terms of my work, I don’t
have issues with him. Family-wise, he is the best dad a child can ask
for. When he has to be there, he is there; he dedicates time to his
family. He provides for his family, the usual things a man should do for
his family. He is my best friend.
Why it took long for us to get married
There are relationships that have lasted
for 10 years and they still did not get married. It depends on the
individuals in the relationship. Do you want to court forever or for 10
seconds and you get into the marriage and misunderstand each other? It
depends on the individual. Everything at the end of the day fell into
place. That is basically it and we are living happily ever after.
About being married to a non-Nigerian
Like I said earlier, it depends on the
individuals in the relationship. It all boils down to understanding,
communicating. I don’t know whether Nigerian men are less understanding
or whites are more understanding; but like I said, my husband is in the
industry. He has been doing music and entertainment generally since he
was 14. He understands the nitty-gritty of the industry, both
internationally and in Nigeria. I have been blessed with that, to have
someone who is in it. Then again like I said, it is just about
communicating and understanding. I don’t think there is a difference.
It’s all about understanding.
Best time of my life
I wish I was a kid again in some aspect
because you are not burdened by the worries of life. You are not
burdened by what you will provide for your child or where you will get
money to go on the next holiday. Whatever it is, you are not worried by
the stress of the world and life. As a kid, you are innocent. You have
your parents providing everything for you. You just go to school, study,
have fun in between, you come back home and it is the same thing. You
eat, sleep and wake up. I love my adult life, I would love to be a kid
again but I love my adult life. I love the fact that I’m a mother now
and I’m experiencing what my parents had when I was a kid.
My first heartbreak
I can’t remember but it happened. But I
can’t remember. It wasn’t with my husband though. I have only dated
three guys and I married the third. I can’t remember when but it has
been ages.
My singing career
I took a break. For me, I believe in
working in a comfortable environment. When I am passionate about
something, I push, I drive and go for it. I have an album recorded, 12
tracks that I know that I want to re-record because I know that music
has evolved. I recorded those tracks in 2008. Music has evolved in
Nigeria and around the world so I have to go back to the drawing board.
Presently, I’m passionate about screen writing and telling stories from
another angle, not music. I love producing movies and television
production. That is what I am focusing on at the moment. I do intend to
go back into the studio later in the year when I am done with this next
production I am working on.
Being a model
I was never a model. I was actually the brand ambassador for Pepsi. The very first in Nigeria, for Pepsi light.
Acting or posing nude
I cannot act or pose nude. I know the
picture you are talking about and I was not nude. I had a fur on. That
is not nude. What is your definition of nude? Nude is when you show your
entire self without anything on. I was not semi-nude, I was covered. I
know the picture, I sat for it. Kelechi Amadi-Obi took the picture in
2006. It was for my album of promotional pictures and I personally chose
those pictures. I wasn’t nude. I was covered up. It is the same thing
that you see on stage. Would you say Nicki Minaj wearing those bum
shorts that showed her behind and revealed a lot of cleavage, was nude? I
wasn’t nude; I was wearing a strapless mini-gown. You did not see
anything, did you?
My girl group
The group thing, Emete, actually set the
foundation for me. Being in a group helped me gain my confidence
because while on stage or doing interview, the attention is not 100 per
cent focused on you. For me, it was shared into three. Basically being
in a group just helped me lay the foundation and prepared me for my
career as a solo artiste. That is where the confidence comes from.
Why we split
I believe I was not the cause of the
group splitting. We all had our share of blame and I have said this like
a million times. We all had our share of blame and I am saying it now
that I had my share of blame but it had nothing to do with dating Carl
Raccah or anything of the sort. Anything that went wrong with the group,
I heard it first from him. People say a lot of rubbish but they are not
indoors to understand what is going on. That is why I’m explaining. I
think this is the last time I will talk about this in any interview.
While we were dating and I was in the group, anything that went wrong, I
heard it first. I got lambasted first before we had meetings. Imagine
how that made me feel, that I was lambasted twice as much as the girls
were. There are a lot of things that I really don’t want to get into
because we went our separate ways. I’m back to being friends with one of
the girls. Unfortunately the third girl, I have not seen her in ages. I
recently met one of the girls and she is a doctor. She apparently
worked at Cool FM where I was a radio presenter years back. We met and
we are back to being friends. She is a mother, she is a wife and we are
good.
Why we did not keep in touch
You lose contact, people change numbers.
I have changed my number many times. Same thing with them. We were
fortunate to bump into each other last at Cool FM. Like I said, she
worked there. It was not like I set out not to be friends with them. We
did have our differences. We were upset with each other for different
things. A lot of people say Ashionye was the cause; I also believe that
if this other girl in the group did not do certain things in the group,
we would have been together and probably been international because we
had international gigs lined up the month we actually split.
The reason we split
A lot of things I really don’t want to
go into. We were not matured, that is one thing. We were young. Imagine
girls between the ages of 19 and 21 coming into an environment they
weren’t quite used to and getting a lot of media attention. Of course,
we were the pioneer pop female group in Nigeria, there was another
female group but they were gospel inspirational, Kush. We were the first
afro-pop female group in Nigeria. There was a lot of pressure and a lot
of things we did not know because we were young. But along the line,
over the years, I have learnt a lot of things. I have learnt that
certain things should be overlooked to continue with work. I am older
and wiser and things that I took for granted then, I don’t take for
granted now. There are a lot of factors; I don’t want to go into stories
at this point. Like I said, I am back to being friends and I don’t want
to offend anybody.
Me as a jack-of-all-trades
Before the influx of female artistes,
there was an Ashionye. Before all these girls you see today, there was
me and I know that a lot of them drew inspiration from me one way or the
other – in their style, their clothing, their hair, their stage craft.
So, there is no way you’ll say I did not make an impact or I did not
master my craft as a singer. Back then, it was a lot harder because
musicians were not paid as much as they are being paid today. The money
back then seemed much but it wasn’t. Then, women faced more pressure
than men and women in the industry today. There was a lot of sexual
harassment. There was a lot of rubbish back then and that is why I came
up with the Girl Power initiative. That was the whole idea, to help the
female artiste come out. I know that through Girl Power, a lot of
artistes have come out. If you look at the names in Girl Power, there
are women who over the years have made an impact in the music industry
as female singers. There is no way you’ll say I did not master my craft
as a singer and of course I also took some time off music.
If I ever faced sexual harassment
Fortunately not; I’m thankful for that. I
have not faced that, whether in the movies or music. I’ll say I’m sort
of fresh in the movie industry but I took the bold step to go into
producing but I have not faced any form of sexual harassment.
PUNCH
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