Music has always been an important part of Emmanuel Songsore’s life, seeing him realize his visions and creativity through over 15 albums, various musical collaborations and performances.
Songsore, who was born and grew up in Ghana and eventually moved to Brantford with his young family close to three years ago, talked about his early life and becoming exposed to a vast array of musical genres through his father.
“Growing up in Ghana…my parents listened to a wide variety of music…from all over the world. My dad was a professor who traveled the world and that really gave me the opportunity to be exposed to so much music. I remember him bringing music from Norway when he went there. And he brought home all these different kinds of music like classical as well as local reggae, and a Ghanaian musical style that we call high life. My dad often listened to obscure, niche music from all over the world which really helped me develop my interest in music,” he said. “As a kid, I would often like bang tables and chairs when music was playing. Of course, my parents were not too happy about that, because I was scratching their furniture and all of that….also didn’t understand because we didn’t have any musicians in my family. So, to them, they really didn’t see was an indicator of a certain interest or a certain gift.”
Eventually, Songsore, would explore his musical capabilities, but not before doing piano lessons, which he didn’t enjoy.
“After I graduated from secondary school, some of my friends were taking piano lessons, and at that time, my dad was abroad. There were lots of young guys getting into trouble and there was a bit of a tension between me and my parents when it came to music. Because a lot of musicians back home are extremely poor…and they weren’t able to make a good living…I wouldn’t say it was something that was necessarily encouraged. I would convince my dad that doing piano lessons would keep me out of trouble, and he relented,” Songsore said. “But after a few weeks, I lost interest because the lessons were overly structured. And throughout my life, I’ve been more of an innovative person. I don’t really like constraints and structure. When the teacher told me to do something, I always thought that there was a possibility of doing it another way. After two or three weeks, I quit and I just started doing my own thing and learning by myself…like listening to radio [and] trying to mimic the music. If there was a band playing in the neighborhood, I would stand behind the piano player and see what he was doing. If I saw random people play, I would ask them to teach me a few things. I would also go to internet cafes…and would end up finding a few American musicians who had started online piano lessons. They had a few of the videos that were free and I would learn from them.”
However, the budding musician, who plays multiple instruments including piano, synthesizers and the bass guitar, would find inspiration with several artists early on.
“I have always loved classical, but there were a lot of reggae artists who inspired me including Lucky Dube. He was a South African reggae singer who my dad listened to a lot. He really inspired me and my music. I also listened to a lot of gospel music. I grew up playing in church back home, so I was also exposed to a lot of gospel and Christian music, and I was influenced by gospel artists like CeCe Winans. And then there was also a Christian group from Australia called Hillsong. Their music is more rock, and I got a lot of inspiration from their music. But there were many local Ghanaian artists that also influenced me too.”
While Songsore would pursue an undergraduate degree at the University of Ghana, studying geography economics, and philosophy, he still fit in a music course in his final year.
“I came across a course on music recording, and the professor was the late Professor Willie Anku. He was an [famous] African musicologist, and did a lot of work abroad and got a lot of funding for the recording program at the university. I did the studio two course which was the more advanced program…but I begged Dr. Anku to let me part of it even if I wasn’t a music student. I told him I was passionate about music, and did my own recordings. He relented and I was allowed to take the course,” he noted. “I ended up being the top student and really enjoyed the experience. The emphasis of course, was only to record MIDI…so, digital audio recordings which really started my love of recording.”
After graduating, he went forward in building a recording studio, and eventually launching his YouTube channel in 2009, with over 600 videos posted, and gaining over 16 million total views.
“I decided my career going forward was to run a music studio. I did that for a while, and it didn’t go too well. I then decided to go back to school, which was when I applied to graduate school in Canada, and made my way here. I was very bored and lonely my first year in Canada, so I started to record my music and put it on YouTube. The channel has over 68,000 subscribers now. It really has been out of genuine interest to share my music,” he stated. “I have had a lot of viewers from all around the world and have gotten some good feedback with what I have shared including a lot of contemporary Christian songs which I do my own interpretations of. The songs I cover are usually played with a full band in the original recording…and I usually do a solo piano version and I try to preserve the structure of a song, [while] trying not to mimic it. There were a few other videos where I play the bass guitar as well. And for that, my goal is usually to help other musicians out…and then the other streams I have done include instrumental like ambient music, neoclassical and music for meditation, reading, or quiet reflection. A lot of comments have been about how the music has given listeners’ peace, or has calmed them, or has helped them through very difficult times. I truly believe music is healing and therapeutic, and I am very blessed to hear such positive feedback.”
After many years, Songsore would share his music on other platforms.
“The first release was a Christmas instrumental that I had recorded [but], honestly, I had been recording for so long and just keeping all the music in my archives because I was very self-conscious and didn’t want anyone to listen to my music. Eventually, encouraged by my wife, I decided to put some of my music on Bandcamp around 2020. I ended up putting it out on all streaming platforms with no expectations…I was surprised when people connected with me and talked about how much they enjoyed my music. Some people event bought the album which was very encouraging,” he said.
After releasing Rest, his first album of original material in 2021, Songsore would release nine more including personal favourites Lullaby Baby and Blessed Ambience.
“The inspiration behind Rest was wanting to build an atmospheric album…that would bring peace and calmness for listeners. I didn’t really have a budget so I recorded all by myself including piano. I had all of these songs sitting on my hard drive and then decided to put these 19 tracks together for the album. I think a lot of creative people are just hard on themselves when it comes to what they create. But it was something that had to do,” he explained. “One of my favorite albums that I recorded was Lullaby Baby because it stems from the time when our first child was having trouble sleeping. We tried rocking her, and other ways of getting her to sleep, but it didn’t work. I then started playing an improvisational piano piece, and to our surprise she fell asleep within a minute. After that I was inspired to create this album…I recorded 12 tracks in all. My wife would play it quite a bit when we had our second child as well. And another favourite album was Blessed Ambience, because I kind of stepped out of my creative box to just do stuff that was a lot more innovative and quite different then what I usually do. I’m actually planning to do a follow up with another ambient record in the future.”
While Songsore has been mainly a solo artist, he has also enjoyed collaborating with other artists over the year.
“I’ve worked with a musician by the name of called Emanuel Pavon who hails from Croatia. And that’s why I love the internet as I get a chance to connect and collaborate with many people all over the world. And then there’s Dana Miller, who is from the United States. He’s actually one of the bigger producers in Christian music today, who also sings. He actually came across my music a few years ago and messaged me asking if I wanted to collaborate. So, since then, we’ve wrote and recorded three songs together, and one of the them, has already been streamed four million times on Spotify,” he noted. “I have also worked with Jamie Marquez Arteaga who also reached out with a desire to collaborated. He is a musician based in Mexico and we released a song together in 2025 which is approaching a million streams. And until recently, I have continued to contribute to music back home too. I have worked with a blind producer in Ghana by the name of Albert Oparrah Mensa for about 13 years. We were working on a few projects, when he passed last year, [however], I will still be contributing on playing on some of these records he had been working on.”
And throughout the years, the composer has made efforts to support various communities, while using music to help others.
“I used to play at a church in London, Ontario called Agape Fellowships led by Pastor Lynne Williams. It was more of a church/community support center. A lot of the people who came there…from low-income housing. Pastor Williams would run a church service, but also did a lot of programming with kids, where she mentored them and helped them. She did a lot of soup kitchen events and mentored and helped parent because some of them were dealing with significant mental health issues or addictions,” Songsore said. “I also had a very good friend by the name of Steve Rolfe who has since passed. He was like a father figure to me. And we played music together at Agape. I would then meet Marcel, an elementary school janitor, and we would play together at retirement communities and people’s homes, and it was something I thoroughly enjoyed doing. There was also a friend, Al Montroy, where we would go down to the reservation to go play at soup kitchens and help out.”
Nevertheless, even with his growing family, Songsore still records and is also passing along his passion for music to his children.
“It’s been going slow and steady. Obviously, I can’t stay up till two in the morning like I used to, but I am blessed to have such a supportive family….I have still been recording, just not at the rate I used to. But I have found that slowing down has actually made the process more meaningful to me. When it comes to my kids and music, my daughter, who is in senior kindergarten now, has been taking piano lessons,” he stated. “When I was researching for a place that offered piano lessons, I didn’t want a very traditional music curriculum. So, I found MYC…Music for Young Children. During this time, as much as I have resisted learning to read music, I am learning it now. I don’t know if she recognizes that I’m learning as she’s also learning too. But music has morphed into something else for me as I am now enjoying it with my kids. And I also have my son who really likes to drum…and I will sit with them sometimes, and we will just play together…so right now, I’m into making music more of a family affair and finding ways in which everyone of us can enjoy it.”
