Music Profile: Breakout Artist and TCK

Third Culture Kids (TCKs) come in all shapes, sizes, colors and nationalities.

Mawule, a new musical artist, was born in Ghana, Africa and moved to the U.S. with his family at age 10. Though he cherishes his origins, the U.S. since has become his home. “I go back when I can,” Mawule said. “My parents still have a house there. All my family members, uncles aunties are living there.”

Coming from a musical family with a trumpet-playing brother and a sister adept at clarinet, people are surprised Mawule creates music, because he’s the only sibling who cannot read music.

“When I feel it, I can turn on my keyboard connect it to a program and do it. So if I feel it, I need to make the time to turn on the piano and do it, because I can’t replicate it later,” he emphasized. “My goal is to read music so can be like John Legend and play piano for people.”

I think people would like my music. As the artist you put your heart and soul into it and I hope people appreciate the song, the beat and the effort that was put into it.

Mawule produced his first single, “let you go,” on his own, garnering 16,000 listens on Myspace in two days and catching the attention of two producers. The producers wanted him to do music full time, but the budding artist had education on his mind.

“Dad was the first to graduate college at the time and I wanted to continue that. I was young and ambitious, wanted to produce an album,” but in the end, school was more important and he pushed music to the sidelines.

Last November, Mawule was finishing graduate school and decided a career in higher education was his path. The day before removing his music from anywhere it was housed on the internet, a producer emailed saying he’d heard Mawule’s song — “crazy with your eyes” — and it caught his attention. “He wrote an almost a two-page email explaining what they do and why they wanted to work with me,” said Mawule, who had been thinking of making music a hobby and not a career. But passion was calling….

The result is a brand new album, a career in higher education, and a calling that fills his spirit. Listen to some of the tracks from his new album below, and tell us what you think!