Young Artiste Afaya Pollack Looks To Shenseea And Jahvillani For Motivation
In July 2019 Afaya Pollack topped the first ever Rita Marley Foundation’s Song Writing Competition. Pollack who is now a student of St Catherine High in Spanish Town was awarded the winning prize of JMD $50,000. The prize also came with the prestigious opportunity to collaborate with Grub Cooper who composed music to go with the winning entry.
The finished product, ‘Strong Black Women Our Destiny’ was posted on YouTube in December, 2019. Pollack recently spoke with the Jamaica Gleaner about her need for support in the industry as well as what she hopes to achieve.
She said that she wants to be at the top of industry and that she was hoping to be an “overqualified” artiste. She also revealed that she identified with the topic, strong black women, which given for the competition and did not have trouble writing the song though she does admit it took a bit of prodding from her mother to get her to complete the song.
“So far, I learnt music doesn’t just happen at the snap of the fingers, it is a step-by-step process; though the writing process is easy for me, I had to grasp recording,” she said.
She also said that she enjoyed working with Cooper but admitted that she needs a current industry mentor to help her shape her path.
“The overall studio experience was wonderful and Mr Cooper was a nice person, very patient. However, I would love a mentor who can go in-depth with the dancehall genre to command the attention of listeners.”
Since she has gravitated towards Dancehall she called on Jahvillani and Shenseea to help her better understand the industry.
“I know they are what people view as hard-core and people may open their eyes at that idea, but my favourite artist is Shenseea. I met her [walking through PriceSmart on Red Hills Road] before the songwriting competition and I cried the entire time, my mom had to speak for me. She took my mom’s number after learning of my interest in music.”
She has already been getting advice from Jahvillani and said he usually communicates with her through social media. She said he sometimes he helps her to develop her freestyles a bit more and learn more about riding a rhythm.
She definitely intends to seriously pursue the genre as she also revealed that she has about five 100-sheet exercise books worth of songs including both reggae and dancehall. Even though her music is her passion she hopes to one day become a doctor and be a mainstream artiste.