This interview was done in the presence of Kwame Karikari, Philipa's producer.

Museke: Can you tell us about your background, family and education?
Philipa: I was born in Kumasi to Mr. Fred and Mrs. Grace Baafi. I have 2 other siblings and come from Manhyia. I attended Kings International school and because I was brilliant, getting 1st positions and all, I ended up at St. Monica’s (Girls) Secondary School. I studied science there and from 1998-1999 was the head prefect. I released my first album in 1999 shortly after I finished Monica’s.

Museke: Talking about music, how did you get into it and what was your first break?
Philipa: I released Nyame honhom sane (God’s spirit come down) in 1999. One Father Manu at St. Monica’s produced the album. I had been leading the praise and worship team in school. I was the SU president as well as science club president.
My second album, Mogya no akasa (the blood has spoken), came out in 2002.

Museke: What had you been doing between 1999 and 2002?
Philipa: I enrolled in FC Beauty Clinic to offer physiology and anatomy of the skin. I recorded Okyeso Nyame (The Great Provider) in the latter part of 2003. I had had some problems with the production. I also write my own songs.
Just after 6 months, I released a 4th album under the Frimprince label. It was called Yesu ye me last stop (Jesus is my last stop) which also had the song Ma m’atamfo nte nhwe (Let my enemy fall down). The name Philipa was everywhere. My former songs had been popular but this particular album brought the fame. Through this song, I got the chance to tour European countries.

Museke: How did that tour come about and how were the shows?
Philipa: Sony Italy heard about my music and they duplicated some of my CDs. There was a very big festival in Italy but I missed it at the time. However, I toured various places.
A lot of the people who came to the shows were Ghanaians, as well as Africans and whites. The non-Ghanaians did not understand the music but they are touched by the way the singing goes (went). I sang Nhyira ba which was in Pidgin English and was received well.

Museke: Which church do you worship at and is there any support to that effect?
Philipa: At first I was at Lighthouse but after marriage, I am now at Calvary Baptist. I did not emerge from a choir, so it is a different story. A lot of the musicians who come from choirs and so on are pushed into the limelight by their churches as projects.

Museke: Which African musicians did you listen to growing up? Or foreign?
Philipa: Rebecca Malope, and I also like Amy Newman. I also like Whitney Houston for how she sings.

Museke: Which African musicians do you idolize or admire (presently)?
Philipa: Still Rebecca Malope, and I will also add Whitney Houston (who is coming back)

Museke: Have you featured any other musicians on your albums or you featured on others?
Philipa: I featured Elder Agyare for Meyi m’akyea and Nhyira ba. Oware Ampomah Sakyi is also featured, he does a lot of the backups. I also featured Celestine aka Gospel soldier on Go high.
I will like to feature Rebecca one day. I also like those who dress African attires. I think once I’m an African, I like to portray my culture.

Museke: Have you considered collaborating with hiplife or highlife artistes?
(with input from Kwame)
Philipa: Ghanaians are a bit controversial, especially Christians. Unlike foreign countries, Christians in Ghana are some way and if you dare feature a secular artiste, people will not say kind things about it. If the secular artiste is ready to change forever (to gospel music) then it may work. Some of them are wonderful but how can u feature them? Maybe, as time goes on, people’s perspectives may change.
Also, some musicians changed to gospel and came back to do profane songs.

Look at Azigiza Jnr, he has changed into Christianity. He changed to gospel and people didn’t patronize his music. (He’s trying to be Kirk Franklin) He does most of his stuff in the US.

Museke: What is the inspiration for the songs you write?
Philipa: The Bible declares that God created everything in this world by His word, so all inspiration comes from the word of God. How the inspiration comes is different from others. When I stand in front of my mirror, I get my songs (ideas). When I begin to praise God, that’s where my songs come.

Museke: Let me be specific about a couple of songs. Where did the inspiration for Meyi M’akyea (I go dance o) come?
Philipa: Meyi m’akyea, I had it in secondary school. I didn’t pay much attention to it. I actually finished all the other songs on the album before I chose this one. I was doing praises in high school and it came.

Museke: Interesting. So did you promote Meyi m’akyea as the major single because the public loved it more or you chose it as such?
Philipa: (Kwame) She wanted us to promote Agye Nyame and I insisted on Meyi m’akyea. So we promoted them both.

Museke: Okay, about Go high. I had seen the video on TV but the first time I heard the song being played was at the Ghana–Morocco match at the recent African Cup of Nations. During the halftime break, when Ghana was leading 2-0, they played Go high at the stadium and the atmosphere was charged. Where did you get the inspiration for that marvelous song?
Philipa: I got it after my marriage and honeymoon. One day I was down and alone, as my husband wasn’t in. After praying, I realized that I should not be discouraged. I saw that with determination, I could do it. God gave me ‘go high’.

Museke: When did you get married?
Philipa: 27th august 2006, I am married to Kwame Karikari.

Museke: I heard you gave birth to triplets, tell us a little about them. Is there a song you made about them?
Philipa: I wasn’t expecting it, I thought it would be two. It was a great miracle. There is a song, called Wayeyie bEdoso (your praises would be a lot). I never thought it would be done, and what I didn’t think of, that’s what God has done.
They are called Nhyira mma and were born on a Monday- Nana Kwadwo Nhyira, Kwadwo Nhyira ba, and Nana Adwoa Nhyira.

Museke: Have you been approached by foreign labels?
Philipa: After the European tour in 2005, I was approached by a few. Also EMI in South Africa. I was supposed to go to South Africa to talk to them, Orak, the EMI boss.

Museke: Have you performed in the sub-region before?
Philipa: I will be spending 2 weeks in Nigeria and would be performing there. We’ll be in Togo before.

Museke: What challenges do you face in the Ghanaian music industry?
Philipa: We don’t have solid distribution or recording companies, like exists especially in the US. One person calls himself a producer and has one shop. This makes the artistes suffer, the person will be your producer, manager, and then everything would be in his hands. They also work in circles. If you get a misunderstanding with one, they badmouth you to others.
The songs from my first albums were better than these later ones. If you are a bit beautiful, you’ll have problems with men. Some want to take advantage, and then when it happens, your name also goes down.
There were some rumours about me before I got married - because I was beautiful. People will talk about me exposing myself, through what I wear (in music videos, etc). According to them, as gospel artistes, you shouldn’t even put on makeup. Most of these problems are gone though.
Some people will take pictures with you, and then go around circulating bad news about you.

Museke: What is your take on piracy and payola?
(with input from Kwame)
Philipa: We don’t have proper distribution. You do an album, and then for the 2/3 months before the CD comes out, people demand the music but can’t find it and then the piracy sets in.
You go to the radio station and register the song for promotion. We spent about 250 million for just the promotion for the Go high album. All the stations want you to give them money and you can imagine the number of stations in Accra alone. We have been from Tamale to Axim, moving from town to town promoting.

Museke: What about TV promotion?
Philipa: It is better. Once the song is registered, they can’t do anything but to play the video. You are assured that they will play it. For radio, airplay is at the discretion of the deejay or presenter. Go high is in its 5th month (from November 2007).
We also do some radio promotion where we’ve bought airtime. We are on Gold FM on Saturday from 7:30 to 8pm and then Adom FM from 8:30 to 9pm. and Gold FM. The programme is called ‘Time with Philipa’. We also have similar programs in Kumasi at Otec, Light, Angel FM stations.

Museke: How is the programme structured?
Philipa: It is for 30 minutes. Listeners call in, we choose songs for them to sing and if they can sing the song, one or two get prizes. We choose the songs to make sure they have bought the album and know all the songs.
(Kwame) -Nkwa has been doing very well. She has been getting any text messages from fans saying that they love it.
I got the song from South Africa and I was inspired by how they sang.

Museke: What is in the future of your (Ghanaian) music?
Philipa: I am produced by Kariphil Productions (Karikari and Philipa). We want to help society. A lot of people can sing and sing very well as we have realized from the radio show. We want to have a whole production company that has its own recording studio, cassette and CD duplication, as well as train artistes. It would employ a lot of people. We will also establish a music institute.
Personally, I want to upgrade myself. A lot of albums will come out that will be better. I wish for the day that I will perform with Cece Winans on the same platform.

Museke: Go high has some Ewe verses. Do you speak Ewe (Ayigbe)?
Philipa: No, I don’t speak Ayigbe. There is a lot of tribalism going on here in Ghana, especially between Ewes and Ashanti. It’s happening. Fantes and Ewes are cool though. The song Go high has been a healthy development. A lot of Ewes have congratulated me for the song and they never even believed Ashantis respected them. I did the song to bring the two tribes together.

Museke: What about Ewe songs and Ewe musicians? Do you know if Ewe music is popular in the Volta Region and why don’t we hear more Ewe music?
Philipa: A lot of Ewe musicians sing in Twi. Celestine is an Ewe but sings all her songs in Twi. Look at Chicago of Daavi medekuku fame. Even in the Volta Region, it’s Twi songs they listen to most, and the same is happening in the north.

Museke: How can Ghanaian gospel music expand and sell outside?
(input from Kwame)
Philipa: We should forget about mediocre works. We need quality sound, and we need quality videos. The (gospel) videos are very bad. We have to make them as well as the hiplife and highlife musicians do theirs. They (gospel musicians) don’t want to spend money.

Museke: That’s true. It is believed that a lot of gospel videos involve people standing in front of nice flowers and singing. Your new videos are very great. Who did your videos?
Philipa: Ohene Media (Abraham Ohene Djan) did Nkwa and Go high. When I was with Frimprince, Castro Destroyer (also on that label) did his video and the charge was 7 million while mine was 2.5 million. I spend a lot of time shooting videos. We shot a video recently at La Palm Royal Hotel and they would charge for using the premises. A gospel artiste asked about one of my videos and was surprised as to how expensive it was. She told me to come to Kumasi and see, she had done 10 music videos with 10 million (1000 Ghana cedis). A DVD is coming out later for her videos.

Museke: Do you have any present engagements and works other than music?
Philipa: I am a beauty therapist and have a shop in Kumasi. It is called Philibells health and beauty clinic.

Museke: Give us your Parthian shot.
Philipa: Greetings to all my fans.