An Interview: Betina Quest

betina quest is a Burundian by origin who was born and raised in Germany. In her quest for what it means to exist in and consist of many different cultures she’s spent 15 years exploring the world, living, working and creating in five countries on four different continents before finally settling in Ghana. My first conversation with her was about abantu+, a project that ‘provides access to rehearsal and studio space in Accra, aiming to tackle the challenges and lack of opportunities caused by Ghana’s poor music infrastructure’. This recent follow-up off the back of her recent album, room in a room, touches on her passion for music, her love for Ghana, and her debut album.

Hi Betina, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and where you grew up?

Hi James. Thank you for having me. So my name is betina quest. I’m a singer. A songwriter. A producer. And a mutli instrumentalist. I am originally from Burundi, but I was born and raised in Germany where I spent most of my life. That’s where I went to school and to college and did most of my growing up, but I have also lived in other countries like the US and France for example.

Can you tell us a bit about some of your favourite music and bands growing up?

Growing up I did everything my big sister did. And I liked everything she liked. So the first favourite that comes to mind HAS to be Lauryn Hill. We totally obsessed over her in Sister Act. Our first CD which we got from our parents one Christmas was a Best of Boney M which was on repeat probably until we finally got our second CD a year later 🙂 Because of my sister I also listened to MC Lyte, Macy Gray, Ms Dynamite, people like that, although I didn’t quite understand. Personally I cared more for people like Aaron Carter, 4 The Cause and Loona 🙂 And of course this German casting band called No Angels. I guess because watching their process on TV made becoming a singer seemingly so much more tangible for me. A little later, though, I went crazy over Busta Rhymes’ Genesis, Missy Elliott, Kanye West, Erykah Badu, The Black Eyed Peas and of course Destiny’s Child.

Your background is Burundian, and you grew up in Germany, living in 5 countries on 4 different continents before settling in Ghana. To someone who has never visited, what about Ghana made you feel you want to make Ghana home?

The people ! Truly. Although coming to Ghana made me realize how much I actually miss Burundi and my people, Ghana feels like home away from home in a way. I fell in love with the people. There was something very familiar about them. Like a distant auntie to whom I can never be a stranger no matter how long it’s been. I don’t know, it’s difficult to explain, but there is a level of hospitality and genuine joy that just won me over.

What was your inspiration for creating the album – what creative process did you use to write and produce the songs?

My inspiration for the album was capturing my journey both artistically and personally up until that point. Because I had moved to and been to so many places looking for what exactly I didn’t really know. And even though Ghana is not Burundi I knew coming here was necessary. So that I could become. Musically was a similar journey of trying different things before slowly but surely finding home. But still I had to come to Ghana to better explore and express this Afro influence I was craving. Some of the songs are actually older compositions that I revisited and looked at with this new lens of different shades of Afro. And I don’t mean just Afrobeats but rather all the nuances of even traditional rhythm and melody and colour and this feeling our culture is filled with, you know. That’s what I was trying to capture. Generally though I am inspired by life and aaall it entails.

How did you select the musicians to create the album?

It wasn’t an easy process, because I had worked with two friends from Germany for the longest time and it was difficult to acknowledge and then accept that we would not be able to sustain this collaboration. But it wasn’t easy to fully let go let alone open up to something new. When I was ready though all I knew was I wanted to work with artists in Accra and Subsaharan Africa at large. Eventually it “simply” took patience, trusting myself and trusting the process, some more patience and an open mind. That’s how the right people eventually stood out from the crowd.

What challenges did you encounter along the way?

A creative process always comes with challenges. For me, patience was one of them. I thought I would be done a year ago and it wasn’t always easy to accept it would take longer than that. It actually took a back injury and a year of sabbatical to get me to understand. And again working with new people can be difficult, especially if it doesn’t quite fit. I had been performing and working solo for a few years, because I was moving around so much and it just became easier that way. So working with others I had to now figure out how much of my vision I had to insist on and how much I would have to allow to be flexible. That was hard. But the further along I progressed the clearer the vision became and the easier it was to identify the kind of collaborations I wanted and needed.

Can you tell us about the reasons behind your decision to host your music exclusively on your own platform?

Ultimately to maximize the listener’s experience as well as our revenue. I am extremely interested and curious about the process of becoming a sustainable, independent artist. I love to observe, to inform myself and to understand the dynamics of this industry I navigate in. Amanda Palmer was a major influence on that journey. She has a book where she talks about the art of asking, her process of relating to her audience and building a genuine connection leading to a sustainable, independent career. I love doing what I do. Wholeheartedly ! But I have to be sustainable in order to be able to keep doing it. I can’t really waste my time being mad at what the industry has become, but rather study and use those tools it provides. As best I can anyway. So the way I see it is streaming platforms are to make noise about the music. That’s where you will find all the singles of room in a room. To gain sustainability from the music, though, there is no place like my own shop to reward us with almost 100% of the earnings. Music fans don’t necessarily know how we artists suffer from most of these platforms and the tiny pay they generate, especially for us upcoming artists with a smaller reach. But that’s why I keep talking about it. Because I discovered it’s just like Amanda Palmer says: if you let people see you, they want to help you.

I previously covered your venture, abantu+ in a feature a few months ago. Can you update us how it is going, and how it may have been affected by COVID-19?

Since Ghana was on lockdown in March we have paused all operations. It was quite devastating. We had just graduated our first resident and were preparing to receive another one. Our open jam sessions were beginning to pick up and introduce more and more new faces to our circle and we had just finished an open songwriting session that had everyone, including ourselves, buzzing ! So we were startled at first and didn’t quite know how to proceed without that face to face interaction everything we had done to date relied upon. We did a series of conversations on Instagram Lives with creatives from different places in the world, but since then we basically waited it out. And we’re excited to come back soon. Because most of our programs happen outdoors already anyway we just have to introduce an added caution of distancing and are good to go. We’re also preparing to expand our programming so everyone should be on the look out. It’s going to be great!

What plans do you have for the remainder of 2020?

I am looking forward to release the upcoming singles and of course share the whole of room in a room with the world. Since I can’t go on a release tour quite yet we have decided to launch the project in a virtual gallery, because we created a photograph to each song and allow for the lyrics to be appreciated as the poems they are. So it’s not really your average album, but more like a cross-media art piece. We want to invite people to visit the gallery, slow it down and truly take their time to explore the room in a room. And well also allow them to find out what their own room in a room is. It’s something that usually happens organically at my live shows and I’m very curious to see if we are able to transmit something similar in this digital space we’ve created. Every week following the release date we will open the gallery in another language honoring the people and culture that have impacted my journey. There’ll be 6 in total so that will keep me busy until December 🙂 We’re also working on a physical exhibition in Accra though and well we’ll be back in action with abantu+ soon as well. But around Christmas I will definitely go and FINALLY visit my family. I plan to rest and recharge and catch up on all the hugs I’ve missed out on 🙂 And of course get ready to do it all over again in 2021!

Interview By: James Acquaye Nortey-Glover