Edem pours her Soul into the Music
Edem soul music
“Just because a fire burns a forest doesn't mean there isn't potential for beauty and growth.”
Leo Adam Biga
Everything about the artist known as Edem Soul Music is a reflection of her first-generation American experience. Twenty-eight-year-old Edem (Kegey) Garro was born to parents from the West African nation of Ghana. She grew up in Maryland amidst a large, tight-knit Ghanian community. “I had people who looked like me, spoke my language, who were affiliated with my culture surrounding me,” Garro says.
Music is an inheritance and immersion she’s absorbed and expressed from early childhood on.
“My family loves music. In our household, my mom sang all the time. I was always surrounded by music. When we pray, we sing. We pray all the time, so we sing all the time.”
Garro grew up singing tunes – at home, at school or wherever the spirit moved her – by popular artists across many styles. She’s always sung in both her people’s native tongue of Ga and in English. The music nearly stopped when, at age 9, her father died in a car accident.
“It was rough, it was really bad, we were in pain from that for a long time. Even though it’s going on 20 years, it’s still painful for me. It’s painful in the sense of a reminder of what used to be.”
After the tragedy, she, her siblings and mother moved to Omaha for a fresh start. Garro endured bullying at school, where she was singled out for being different. There was no Ghanian community here like the one she knew back East. In her despair, she temporarily rejected her Africanness.
“That culture shock for me was very difficult. I did have a lot of issues with the (suburban) communities I found myself in. There’s something called acculturative stress that happens with first-generation American children (of racial-ethnic minorities). They're battling with a culture at home while battling with a culture outside their home, and trying to balance the two. That stress occurs during a most formative part of life and it’s taken into adulthood.
Some people learn to cope and some people cannot.
“What I was trying to do was to make my life easier by rejecting one and absorbing the other. That is the trouble we find with a lot of these first-generation kids – they succumb to what is easier to be a part of versus what’s difficult to uphold.”
Music helped turn that crucible of middle childhood into a catharsis as she learned to lean back into her heritage. She says "the reinforcement of my mother, my family, my culture was a force I needed to keep me from pulling away – I’m so grateful.”
She learned, too, that new life can come from loss.
“Just because a fire burns a forest doesn't mean there isn't potential for beauty and growth,” she says. “The fire was devastating, which was my father’s death, but so much has been beautiful afterwards, including my husband (Anthony Garro).”
The mindfulness journey of “self-discovery” she embarked on continues today.
“I started looking into my own self-efficacy and the ways I improve upon myself.” Part of her mission, she says, is helping others “to improve on themselves” for “a positive pool of impact.”
Her evolution as an artist is reflected in her self-taught proficiency on the harp, piano, guitar, bass, conga, jaw harp, slide whistle and shakers. The only instrument she's taken lessons in is violin.
With her mother’s prodding, she became a songwriter. Family and friends praised her music, but it was only when she performed in school shows and posted YouTube videos the Millard South grad got the outside affirmation she needed. She continued developing her craft and confidence at Bemidji State University in Minnesota.
From busking on Old Market street corners to playing gigs on various Omaha stages, she’s grown into a performer of warmth, whimsy and wisdom. Her earthy yet ethereal voice and vibe reflect the deep dive she’s taken into her self and her culture. She firmly believes she’s “the sum” of all who went before her and who surround her now – and that she’s an expression of this seeding. Through concerts as well as motivational talks she gives, she hopes to inspire others to embrace their own roots and influences.
She works with youth through Omaha Girls Rock and as a Nebraska Arts Council teaching and touring artist.
“I want to foster the new generation of musicians, artists. A little girl who wants to be a creative shouldn't be told she can’t. As long as she puts in that work and has that love, she'll make it. I want youth to know there are adults making a living from what they love.”
In 2018 she completed a year-long fellowship at The Union for Contemporary Art, where she created an African Body, Soul and Movement project using explorative dance and traditional drumming to voice the black diaspora narrative.
The perennial Omaha Entertainment and Arts (OEA) Award nominee attributes much of her success to “a lot of things my mom has given me” and to qualities her late father possessed.
“I definitely believe I have a lot of his strength, his persistence and his innovation, and I believe that’s what has carried me as far as I’ve been able to go in music.”
Coming from an immigrant family of meager means, Garro's learned “to make a lot with little and to make something out of nothing.” Faith plays a big role in her life and she speaks openly of the “gratitude” she feels for the many “blessings” she receives.
Her African-American roots music defies categorization. The OEAs variously pegged her music as "ethnic," "world" and "R&B and soul" before finally settling on soul, which suits her fine.
“I’m not bound by the genres people like to place in music,” she says. “I go wherever my spirit feels led to. That isn't a genre. Music doesn’t care about artificial walls or barriers or boundaries. It surpasses that. I respect all music, but a lot of music today is not healing. It’s processed, like some of the foods we eat. It’s not good sustenance, not good nourishment.”
She’s only recently heeded her own advice to live unafraid of being one’s own best self. With help from a Go Fund Me campaign she made her first ever visit to Ghana in 2019. Family gathered from around the world to celebrate their matriarch’s 80th birthday.
“My mom couldn't take the trip, so it was imperative that as her only daughter I made it on behalf of my mother. I was able to see my grandmother for the second time in my life and to meet my grandfather for the first time in my life.
“It felt good, it felt right. Ghana’s right on the equator and I felt like this was where my body’s supposed to be.”
Last year an Old Market denizen she knows only by face encouraged her to step through her fear to pursue her goals of national recognition.
“This gentleman told me, ‘If this is the step you’re supposed to take, stop wasting time and take the step.’ It felt like God was speaking through him to me. I felt like I really needed that. It brought into perspective that I’m in my own way preventing myself from living that journey.”
Upon resolving to more faithfully follow her path she was selected as Musician in Residence in the Capitol District and as a Lincoln Corsair Chart Your Course contest finalist. The latter distinction earned her a trip to the 2020 Grammys, where she and her fellow finalists performed on stage with jazz pianist Jon Batiste.
Garro rocked the red carpet.
“I had my dress custom made in Ghana. I wanted to showcase my heritage. It’s who I am.” The experience has only emboldened her to dream big. “I will go to the Grammys again and I will win an award, many awards. It’s going to happen.”
She hopes new tracks she’s laying down lead to a breakout hit. Chasing her dreams. she’s sure, will one day see her relocate for a residency or recording career.
“I have this deep love for Omaha. This is my home. It will always be my home. I will not always live here, but I will always pour back and give to this place. This creative community is what helped build me into who I am today.”
She’s planning to launch an herbal tea brand. There’s also a book she hopes to resume writing and future books she wants to pen.
Whatever one’s path, she says, it’s vital that you enjoy the ride. She certainly does. “I love the journey of life.”
This musical sage reminds audiences to “be mindful of the way in which you present yourself to others and to try to add something positive for future generations to come.”
Follow her at edemsoulmusic.bandcamp.com and fb.com/edemsoulmusic