Singer Enam has revealed that her musical journey began far from recording studios, tracing it instead to a childhood spent in isolation in the forests of Ghana’s Volta Region—an experience she says ultimately shaped her sound and artistic identity.
Speaking in an interview with broadcaster Kafui Dey, monitored by MyNewsGh, the singer recounted growing up largely without companionship, describing nature as her only source of friendship and comfort.
“The only friends I had was the forest and the birds,” she said.
Enam explained that her early life was marked by social exclusion, saying many parents discouraged their children from playing with her because she was born with 12 toes, a condition that made her stand out in her community.
“Obviously nobody wants their child to play with me,” she recalled.
With limited human interaction, she said she turned to the natural environment for companionship, spending long hours observing trees and listening to birds. Over time, she developed a deep familiarity with bird calls and their patterns.
“I knew their sounds from the mild ones to the wild ones,” she said, adding that she could identify different birds and the times they appeared in the forest.
According to Enam, those experiences unintentionally trained her ear and influenced her musical expression, helping to shape her vocal style.
“Nature gave me my sound trainers. Those were the birds,” she said. “They were my voice coaches.”
She added that her return to her hometown years later was emotionally difficult, after discovering that much of the forest she once relied on had been cleared for development.
“When I saw it, my heart was broken,” she said, reflecting on the loss of the natural environment that played a central role in her upbringing and artistic journey.
