Beninese music producer and musician, Horace Tempo, born Horace Wangnin Saizonou hasn’t been around for long but already he has proven himself the genuine article the African music scene really needs.
With so many new and upcoming artists crowding our social media feeds, it can be difficult for a real gem to stand out but Horace Tempo has burrowed his way to the surface by staying true to his crafts, using creativity to build an identity that is synonymous with originality.
Horace Tempo’s musical trajectory took a defined direction when the Coronavirus forced the world to go into lockdown. It was a solemn time in the history of mankind and the Benin Republic artist took advantage of it to perfect his craft and reached down into the recesses of his musical creativity.
In a matter of months he has found a footing, doing his own thing and making informed collaborations. He recounts his journey thus far.
“My record SELF has gained over 700 Hundred Thousand streams in a year, it is a powerful and uplifting song produced and released by me in May 2020. I have already produced and released a remix for the black empowerment song “Upheaval” of the legend of Benin, Nel Oliver. I have been blessed with opportunities to connect with other creatives and the collaborations in my pipeline are just blessings upon blessings that will put food on the table for my family, and my fans. I say my fans because my business model is to eventually integrate sales with NFTs for every single fan to earn rewards as they participate in growing the T E M P O brand by sharing the music,” he said.
With “Self” which he created in collaboration with Kubla Kahn & Shelley Segal, he had his path laid out before him and in the true manner of a winner, Horace Tempo has capitalised.
“I said to myself if I could release SELF as an independent artist, then I have a calling, I am not just passionate, I am a chosen one. The one complex thing for me is keeping the listeners waiting while you are cooking. As an independent artist or “up and coming”, you start with gaining listeners before having a fanbase and that’s a hard one. If you understand the industry, you know Radio is your way to the listeners,” he said.