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Veola, Ghana’s latest Afrofusion star, was just 19 when she put her fashion design studies on hold and moved to Accra. She knew nobody – but music was calling. She tells This is Africa about how she managed to persuade her mother to let her leave her hometown of Kumasi, and about how it felt to hear her debut Odometer being played everywhere in Ghana. She also explains how her latest track, Insomnia, was inspired by the plot of a Bollywood film.

AzureDé of South Africa is pushing the boundaries of Afrohouse and has been crowned the "3Step Queen". She tells TIA about the effect of growing up in a Durban neighbourhood plagued by drug abuse, discusses the vibe of the chants in her song Helele, and reveals why she’s addressing trauma and war in her track Land to Light.

Image: Veola (Credit: Boundless P Sean) and AzureDé (Credit: Siphephelo Ngwenya)