BAWAH performed during Sled Island on Thursday, 9pm at Commonwealth (Main Floor).
Interview conducted in collaboration with Reverie Magazine.
TRANSCRIPT:
Kaamil (CJSW)
Thank you so much for joining me today. My name is Kaamil here with CJSW doing an interview with Bawah for Sled Island 2025-
Bawah
Let’s go.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Here at Sled Village. First question is kind of, you know, probably the first thing that you expect me to ask is the transition from Mauvey to Bawah, and kind of, could you walk us through that transformation? And not just the name, but in the purpose and the identity that you’re kind of presenting now?
Bawah
Totally, I’ve been really trying to whittle this down, because it’s such a long story, but yeah, my mom’s Ghanian name—we’re from Ghana—is Esi Bawah, and I just wanted to change my name to something that honored my parents and where I’m from. I think that I would say people, our generation and younger, from Indigenous countries, we don’t know our languages, we don’t know our names, we don’t know the trades, and I think our parents and grandparents try to do a good job of teaching us stuff, but you know, the gift and the curse of living in the West is we just try to make ourselves so Western, we actually don’t know where we’re from, and these beautiful places and these beautiful people. And I actually just wanted to lead with that, with my artistry, like I was doing alternative pop, electronic pop, before, and, but I grew up listening to Afro-based music, Afropop, high life, Afrobeat and, and I just thought that’s what I need to be honoring. That’s what I need to be, and that’s who I am. That’s what I listened to growing up. And you know, now I’m making music that would be more palatable for a particular label that I was on, or particular audience or particular festival that I wanted to get into. So yeah, so I changed my name for a whole kind of host of reasons, but mainly just to kind of grow and settle into who I actually am and where I’m from.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Fair enough, was there a particular moment that kind of sparked that decision?
Bawah
Yeah. Great question. Yeah. My dad, who he had thyroid cancer before, and then it went away, and then came back in his lung and some other areas. And it was just in chats with him and my mom and realizing, like, ‘Man, my parents aren’t going to be around forever.’ And also, just like, you know, in that moment, I wish I could have spoken to him in our language. You know, I understand the language, but I can’t speak it. And then I just started that got me down this path of like, ‘Wow, I get this platform with my music. I get to play in all these amazing places around the world. And, you know, you would have to really, really know me to know that I’m from Ghana,’ you know? But I thought if my music speaks that I’m from Africa, if my name speaks I’m from Africa, it kind of just, it opens up the it highlights who I am in a much clearer way. And so just in conversations with him and my mom and my sisters, I was just like, okay, this is the turning point. And that was like, last year.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Okay, fair, very fair. So you’ve said that I’m not the same anymore, and my music is not the same anymore. What exactly, and you kind of touched on a little bit there has changed for you personally, artistically or both. And we talked about the kind of connection to Afrobeats, I’m curious about the kind of visual side of that as well?
Bawah
Yeah, I’m not the same in that. You know, I was doing a lot of stuff to please a lot of people, and I don’t even know if I was succeeding in doing that. So the first change is that I’m just genuinely doing what I actually want to do. And in my opinion, it happens to be the best, the best my artistry has ever been, because I just feel like it’s the more the most real. And secondly, as well, like I am a musician, I’m a filmmaker, I’m a fashion designer, a writer, and being able to lean into all of these art forms is that’s natural for me. That’s not a stretch. And, you know, depriving myself of of a few of them to pursue one, that’s not natural. So yeah, just kind of leaning more into the fullness of who I am as an artist.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Yeah, that expression of self, yes, totally fair enough. Fair enough. So, with that expression in mind in an interview with The Block last May, you describe Mauvey as a mask, what does it mean now to perform as Bawah?
Bawah
Yeah, it’s another great question. I performed at Juno Fest a couple months before that, and it was the first time properly performing as Bawah. And I said to somebody after that, I always perform with a freedom, even as Mauvey like, I perform with a freedom just because that’s just who I am. But the expressions that I’m really trying to get out, whether it’s like anger or grief or love or excitement, or gratitude, all these things that are like, just right there. And so I didn’t feel like I was fully able to express those in the confines of electronic pop music. And so through this music that I’m like, I’m making now, you know, man, I feel so free that the performance doesn’t feel like a performance like Mauvey. It felt performative with Bawah. I’m just, it’s just me. I’m just existing on stage, and that’s the real difference. I’m just, I feel a huge sense of freedom, which is it’s making my performance harder to describe for me, which I can’t describe because I don’t fully know exactly what’s going on, but that’s where I want to be.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Yeah, and it’s still very planned out, because you do like you mentioned, and even this middle of this project that you now kind of undertaking and started off in Mauvey into Bawah, which includes not just music, but film, writing, fashion, all sorts of those things. So I guess my question is, what drove you to take on something that expansive with this kind of this move?
Bawah
Yeah, first, it’s just who I am, you know, and actually I wanted to. It was a big thank you as well to people who have discovered Mauvey from the beginning. Really followed Mauvey. You know that sometimes, as artists like I mean, I’m sure it happens from the biggest artists in the world, but certainly people who are like developing you don’t know exactly who the your fan base is. You don’t know that you’ve touched someone or that they resonated with one song, because you don’t see like 100 million streams, but they might. They are in that few 1000 streams, and they absolutely love this particular song. So removing things, changing things, can be hard for the fans that you know are that you do impact. And so I wanted to have a project that was, yeah, honored them a bit by actually, just, you’re not just being like, my name is not about that’s it. It’s like, okay, this is, we’re going to create a project that you get to, kind of, you get to be a part of as well. You get to, and it’s going to happen over a few, over months. So you’re going to have time to adjust, time to see if you even like the new music. Yeah. And so it was, it was for the people who’ve supported and followed me and and, and also challenge like, you know, as a human, you know, I want to be challenged. I want to, you know, I’m not an actor. I’m pushing myself to be an actor, because I’m obsessed with with acting, I’m obsessed with with filmmaking and directing and producing. So like being able to, kind ofdrown, but in a good way, myself with the fullness of art. And in also, as well, it provided a pretty good distraction, because, again, I’m sure, from the top down, artists are impatient. They’re thinking all the time, comparing themselves all the time. And with this project, I don’t have time to compare myself. I don’t have time to be like, ‘Oh my gosh. What? How many streams did it get?’ Like, it’s a true—I am only focused if— if I don’t focus on the art, this project is not a thing. So I can’t think about all what else is, what is so and so doing, or how am I what I just, I’m just focused on it. It’s constant. It’s like, you know, I’m writing a chapter of a book series, making a film episode, which is all the that that would entail to make a film, and then also writing and producing music. So it’s, it’s a lot, which just keeps me completely occupied.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Fair enough, is there anything that you do to kind of like separate yourself from that or get yourself back into that groove? If you’re feeling kind of at a stopping point?
Bawah
Yeah, I would say, for now, at least I’m conscious of that for now, my life is that—my life. I’m saying, you know, when people ask me, and I ask myself, like, who am I? What am I doing? Like, I am an artist. That’s what. That’s my job, that’s my free time, that’s my joy. But I’m conscious of fatigue and burnout and things like that. Just trying to, really trying to monitor it. But first and foremost, just being in the moment is all I can do now. Now I’m loving it, and that’s what I’m doing now.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Getting it down. Yeah, that makes that makes a lot of sense. So you’ve released the first 13, and in this first part one, I guess we can call it, we see you touch on everyday moments, playing basketball, driving, going to the barber, working through a deeply creative, emotional and often surreal lens, yeah, what drew you to explore these kinds of themes in this way, in that specific way?
Bawah
Yeah, with season one, I wanted to lay the groundwork, you know, I wanted to, you know, show the humanity and, you know, the highs and lows in a cinematic way of what it’s like when you know you’ve been working so hard for a particular moment, and then all the things that are around that could derail it, and then also with the day to day things that you do on the way and the real like, what, what? What am I like when I’m at dinner? You know, I do a lot of solo dinners. That’s what it’s like. You know, I go to the cinema a lot, and I experienced that. I experience, I imagine myself in films that I’m watching. I go to the studio like, and then, you know, I have to, you do have to also grapple with, like reality, like some people in this world don’t like me and like, you know, and so I’m, you know, having to deal with, do I listen to this person and quit this dream, or do I bypass their opinions and move forward? So it’s kind of laying the groundwork to, you know, season two, and also just to the like the a couple of days in the life of, you know, not just an artist, but a person, you know, yeah, yeah. And trying to get the humanity beyond the surreal, you know, yeah.
Kaamil (CJSW)
No, that makes sense. And you talked a little, a lot. And a lot of the responses you’ve had to kind of how audiences respond to the music and the art that you’re creating, is there a particular response from a fan that you were like, ‘Okay, this is resonating the way I want it to resonate.’
Bawah
Yeah, I did a few. I did a few premieres of the first 13 before it all came out, like I did one in Vancouver and one in a city called Chilliwack, because we shot it in Chilliwack. So, and I did Q&A’s after and, man, it was so it was amazing seeing people like, you know, express like, uh, emotions of whether it’s like people who knew me, so they were expressing, like, just the pride, like, man, I was so proud of you that you’re, you’re doing that. People crying, people who have, like, felt that sadness. You know, it seemed funny, but like a show getting canceled, you know, a show where you supposed to be in front of hundreds or 1000s of people, and then the very next day, you were at karaoke with seven people, and no one cares that you’re there. Like, that’s real for a lot of people that were in the a lot of the audience were artists who’ve played in front of nobody, and also maybe played in front of 1000s of people. And the next day were H&M working like, you know, I mean, so, yeah, just them having that kind of nod of, like, oh, you know, understanding it was, was awesome. And had a lot of people, like, a lot of people who were like, I’m literally going home right now to get in the studio. Like, this has inspired me to what am I doing right now? I need to go and record something you know, or make this. And that’s, you know, I’ve always wanted to be about and been about community. It’s hard traveling so many different places to actually really find like, ‘Oh, my community is here,’ because I go to a lot of different places, but starting to kind of build that in, like, the few places that I live. And I’ve been like, ‘Okay, well, unfortunately, you are from three places or four places, so you’re just gonna have to do serve these places more than you don’t just live in one city.’ So you’re gonna have to serve this city, serve the city, and serve this community. And so that’s kind of what I try to do. And seeing that be, seeing that work is awesome.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Amazing. You’ve described the move from Mauvey to Bawah as a way to be more honest with your audience with a project of this scale, what is it that you want people to understand about who Bawah is? Is there anything in particular that you want them to understand, or is it just everything about your life?
Bawah
Yeah, I think I want people to and again, and people probably do understand this, and I’m not trying to disrespect anybody here, but, like, I want people to see a human. Yes, I’m really, really ambitious. I work really, really hard. I have the loftiest goals ever and an insane work ethic, but I’m just really a human. And my the point of what I’m doing is trying to distribute love in humanity. So that is like. So I want people to see, okay, this is someone who, through the work ethic, through the the output, I want people to see one main thing, and that is that I care like. If you see everything that I do, you you have to be able to see that I care like. And I, you know, might be that care about what just care. Just care in general, having so many people don’t care, and also so many people they might look at, you know, an artist, or look at me, and you know, may look at the different intentions or motives of doing things, but you can tell when I think. You can tell when someone cares about the art form itself, cares about getting better, cares about giving their best, yeah, and serving humanity the best the way they can. So that, I think that’s the main thing I want people to gain from is that man, like this person cares, and I think a lot of the a lot of the time, and the reason I won’t try to push that so much is because a lot of the time I feel like I’ve been like, penalized / held back for caring, you know. And I don’t know why we live in this world where the less you care, the more you get, you know. And if I continue to get less, which I’m not saying I’m grateful for everything I have. But if I continue getting less, because, like, I am not like, oh, it’s cool. I’m fine with that. Like I’m I’m someone who cares. That’s what you get when you get me. I’m someone who’s gonna, I’m very, very keen. I’m gonna be the first in line. I’m gonna have my hand up, like I that is who I am. And I think this project, one of the is that it’s just embracing that, embracing that about myself.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense, that makes sense, and it definitely translates that you care a lot about it with all the, all the different sources and things that you approach, and one of those is the fashion. And, you know, let’s talk a little bit more about the project. Is there a kind of favorite look or style moment from this project that you have so far?
Bawah
Yeah, probably episode 12. Yeah. I mean, episode 12 is a cool moment. Episode 10, I believe I’m wearing tonight. I think I’m wearing the outfit from episode 10. You know, all these looks were designed and made by my wife, Brie, who is a exceptional fashion designer, like she’s has a brand called Briefed, and it’s something that, like I’m I feel very grateful and and proud to have helped design and put together So it’s like a cool, like, project that we I wanted every single item of clothing in the film series to be a Briefed look, just a different way of being, a different way of launching a clothing brand via, you know, our runway is the screen time from each of the films. So, so, yeah, that’s kind of it.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Nice, very nice. One of, I guess, kind of the last question before I close out, is a little bit, you know, we’ve been talking pretty high level and talking about all these things. And one of the things that you mentioned is that you said you’re the best basketball playing musician on the planet.
Bawah
Yeah. And, okay, it was weird. I said it, yeah. And then I thought to myself, like, I thought it through, and I thought, ‘Do you know what? Like, I couldn’t mean anything more than I mean that statement.’ Like, I was really trying to think, like, who can guard me? I don’t think anyone can. And I’m with, look, I know the two.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Are you? Like, what is it? Are you? Like, a one for are you more five?
Bawah
No point guard for sure. Like, okay, this is a really crazy thing to say out loud to people. But, like, I have confidence as a human being, because I know that you can’t leave me open on the basketball court like I walk around thinking that at any given moment, like you’re gonna you’re gonna have to have a hand up, you’re gonna have to foul me, like you can’t just leave me open. And with that, I walk through the world thinking, ‘You know what? It’s going to be a good day. You know, you got to guard me.’ Like, yeah.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Awesome. I do relate to that in some ways, in terms of just, you know, that that feeling of growing up playing sports and having that is, like, a very big part of my confidence.
Bawah
Totally, yeah, totally. And this is like, you know, people, most, I mean people listening, probably, some of them probably don’t care about sports, but you don’t even have to care about sports. Like, I, I say it to my I say it to my friends all the time, like anything could be going wrong, but bro, like you’re gonna have to guard me, like you can’t leave me open, so I could have the worst day in the world. But just knowing that I’m the person, like, if we’ve all played basketball right now, you would, you’re gonna have to put someone on me, like, and it better be the best defender out there.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Who do you think that person is in music? Yeah, do you know of anybody else in music who, like, may be able to or, like, some of you, like, you know what? Let’s do it one v. one right now, lets go.
Bawah
I have some I don’t want to say anything out loud here, but I’ve there are some higher profile people who people think are good literally, just because they’re famous and they do celebrity stuff, so that just because you’re in a celebrity game doesn’t mean you’re better at basketball than me. I’m not gonna name any names, but, like, hopefully the music pops off, and then we can get, we can be on those celebrity games too.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Maybe you got to organize your own celebrity games. Totally.
Bawah
Hey, exactly.
Kaamil (CJSW)
You’re organizing everything else. Yeah, I think it’d be cool. Put together the jerseys and everything totally that would be amazing. Yeah. Is there anything else you want people to know about Bawah before you know the show tonight, but also just kind of going forward as people read these, yeah?
Bawah
An important thing is that I’ve just kind of recently, like, announced in a little way, and I’m going to be pushing more as, like the there’s going to be a color change, you know. And you know, with the branding, especially, you know, what defined movie more than anything else was mauve. Was the shades of purple that I wore and the different colors. And tonight is actually going to be the last time I ever wear mauve on stage as Bawah. Like the new color is powder blue. We’ve been working hard for the last couple of months making the new outfits I’m playing performing at Glastonbury, which will be the first sets of shows that I debut the color live. But yeah, no more mauve for Bawah. But the other announcement is that, like Mauvey isn’t dead, like I am going to be releasing music via Mauvey from July onwards, and some other things as well. So new, new Mauvey music. But yeah, Bawah has got his own color and mauve is staying with, mauve is staying with Mauvey.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Is there a reason for the powder blue in particular?
Bawah
Yes, I you know what that it’s coming in as part of the film, so I won’t say.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Fair. No spoilers here. Yeah, awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you Mauvey for chatting with me or sorry, Bawah, jeez. I just said Mauvey and, Bawah, you said you’re gonna be releasing more stuff. So thank you so much for chatting with me today.
Bawah
Appreciate it. Thank you so much.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Appreciate it, and looking forward to the next chapters.
Bawah
Me too. Thank you so much.