ASA Narrates How She Waited 10hrs To Sign Her First International Recording Deal 11years Ago

Thousands of music lovers came out to show support for Asa along with her band and 30-piece orchestra for her second ever concert in Nigeria, which took place at the Eko Convention Centre.

During her performances, she took a break to explain how she got her first global recording deal.

‘11 years ago I was in Paris, I was a student and I have my guitar with me, I was looking for any opportunity to play.

‘So one day someone told me about a successful group, the Grammy Awards winners, ‘you may go audition they might like you’.

‘So I went, it was outside Paris, cold, I just got into France, I didn’t know the language, I didn’t understand the food.

‘I got there early, they told me to wait and then they were rehearsing for their show, and I waited 10 hours. I was hungry, I was mad, I was asking; ‘what are you doing here, why don’t you just (get) up and go.

‘That finished and they were packing up, then someone remembered, ‘oh, her, come over, come come’. Then I put all that emotions, sadness, pain and anger into the song.

‘And the next Thursday, the day of the show, they gave me two minutes to perform and then I got signed and my first album was released.’

That was how Asa got signed to Naïve Records and her debut album, Aṣa, was released under their imprint.

Since then, she’s released three more albums, Live in Paris (2009), Beautiful Imperfection (2010), and Bed of Stone which was released in 2014.