DOMINIC ANSAH- ASARE: JUDGE ON MENTOR SEASON 5

Dominic has been a permanent judge since the introduction of mentor and he is still on this season as a very dynamic judge. His passion for music started at the tender age of six when he learnt how to play the piano perfectly, to the admiration of his family and entire church congregation.

Today, what was started over 30 years ago as a hobby has been built upon to become a lifetime career. Dominic Ansa Asare does not only play the piano; he is now into the music business as well. He owns a production company known as MIDO. In his production company, there is a well-built studio where he produces jingles and creates adverts for radio and television. Besides, he trains people on vocal coaching and choir directing and provides short course in live sound engineering and recording studio engineering for church and conference hall operators.

Dominic is not a stranger on our television sets. He is an articulate judge on Mentor, a live musical performance show on TV3. His unbiased criticism of the performance of the contestants makes him the toast of many viewers of the show every Sunday. According to Dominic his dad was a music teacher at the Yaa Asantewaa Girls' Secondary School and later Prempeh College so music was brewed right in my house.

He started playing the piano at home just for fun and later decided to take it seriously when a family friend by name Ernest (now a lecturer at the Department of Music, Legon) came to the house to play better than he. Sometimes he had to skip food just to play the keyboard to his satisfaction.

 Gradually, his dream came true. At age nine he was the church organist for the Kwadaso Presbyterian Church, the school pianist and also a visiting pianist to several Presbyterian churches till date. No wonder most of his colleagues in secondary school nicknamed him the keyboard wizard.

On house chores, Dominic described himself as an excellent cook. He had only two sisters and, therefore, all the boys in the house had a role to play at home. After secondary school, he went to the University of Ghana, Legon, to study Agricultural Science.

At the university, Dominic did not put aside his music career. He converted his wardrobe into a studio where he and his friends played songs and also did some recordings for themselves.

Besides, he was the General Secretary for the Presbyterian Students Association and he was always on the move, travelling from one place to another. Due to that, many were those who thought Dominic would not excel in his university education, including his father. He, however, proved them wrong by coming out with a Second Class (Upper Division) degree.

Immediately after university, Dominic was appointed a teaching assistant and was attached to the University Research Farms. He later moved to Afariwa Farms. Dominic started his music business in a single room which was partitioned into sound, voice and control rooms. Fortunately, as the business grew, he decided to leave the single room for a more spacious office at Asylum Down in Accra.

His outfit was the brain behind the jingle for the new Ghana cedis. He has also composed several songs for some corporate bodies and school anthems for some private schools. When it comes to Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Dominic is also a master in that field. He also has to his credit numerous international certificates in music.

Dominic, the sixth of eight children, was born on January 2, 1969 to the late Julius Ansa Asare and Mrs Josephine Ansa Asare. The keyboard wizard hails from Larteh in the Eastern Region.

He started his primary education at the Tanoso Anglican Primary between 1975 and 1976. He later moved to Prempeh Primary School from 1977 to 1980 and had his secondary education at Prempeh College from 1981 to 1988. Dominic, who is a devoted Presbyterian, is married to Mina Ansa Asare a name from which MIDO was formed. They have two children, Kobby and Lois. He believes in the 'can-do spirit'. Aside his passion for music, he is also a very good tennis player.