Aralola Olamuyiwa was born in Lagos and is from Ondo state. She spent a good part of her childhood in Warri, Delta state, where she attended Nana Primary School, Our Ladies High School, Folashaye Girls Grammar School. She then had a brief stay at University of Ilorin as a fresh law student but left and later returned but this time to Ambrose Ali University Ekpoma where she studied English Language.

Born into a music loving family that also appreciated excellence, her journey into musical excellence began at a tender age and had written her first song before age 10. She went from performing at family events and corporate events, to becoming the head drummer and represented her school in many singing and choral competitions in which she won numerous awards.

She admired legends such as Micheal Jackson, James Brown, Bonnie M and Diana Ross. She had dreams of someday becoming a star too, but a strange illness was standing in the way, doctors had no clue what was wrong, so she was left to battle with it herself. She recalled the words of her father who reminded her of the future she had dreamed of and why she needed to fight for her life and he would do his best to see her dreams come true. Those words were strong enough to get her back on her feet and since then she hasn’t looked back.

oming from a family with deep traditional, religious and cultural backgrounds, Ara had the opportunity of witnessing tradition festivals, cultural events such as; OGUN FESTIVAL, ILEYA FESTIVAL and many others. It was during one of such festivals she began to pick up interest in the Talking Drum and had the rare opportunity due to her royal ancestry of meeting the best talking drummer in the land and soon she fell completely in love.

So when it was time to create an identity for Ara many musical instruments were tried on but after coming in contact with the Talking drum again, she quickly relived her childhood and in no time she settled for it.

Ara had dreams and one of such involved women with very long hair; this was why she admired Indian women. So when it was time to create her identity as an artiste, she decided to incorporate the long hair but with a difference, she wanted to create the “Wonder” brand, hence the long braids. The braids for her represent ‘Patience’ as it takes as long as twelve to fifteen hours to be done, and it is done six boys who have been her braiders for over eleven years.

At the time the Talking drum was known as a male instrument, for no woman could play it or dared to, and no one was available to teach Ara the skills required to master this instrument. She didn’t lose hope; instead she began her training and decided to bring in something different into her performance. She also at the time admired the South African phenomenal singer, , an energetic performer who was famous for being able to do the ‘Split.’ Ara wanted to do that and much more. So she got into the gym and told her instructor all she wanted and worked day and night to perfect it all.

Men are proud and in the 90’s it was a very chauvinistic society, how then will they receive the idea of a woman, not just playing the Talking drum but performing in public to a male dominated audience.  Even the women folk were not as supportive believing she was stretching the boundaries. Ara had all these in mind but did not let it bother her, she took to the stage and gave her best, doing the much practiced ‘Split’ while still playing the Talking drum and all other stunts she had rehearsed to blow the audience away.

She was done and looking up the entire ‘Male dominated’ audience were on their feet producing a thunderous applause! She had done the unthinkable, she was the first the best and this spurred her on.

Ara introduces us into her music world of «gan gan fusion» («gan gan» is the Talking drum). She describes the «gan gan fusion» as an evolving kind of music, due to the flexibility of the sounds of the Talking drum which can be fused into any kind of music. She has worked with names such as the legendary and Grammy award winner Stevie Wonder and Kim Burell.

She has also performed for the likes of the Queen of England, ex- President of United States of America, Bill Clinton and ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, Black Mayors Caucus in America, Evander Holyfield, Wesley Snipes and Broadway executivesamongst other notables. She recently collaborated with one of Nigeria’s and Africa’s finest artiste, 2face Idibia for the remake of Ebenezer Obey’s classic “Olomi” http://pulse.ng/2012/02/21/new-video-%E2%80%9Colomi%E2%80%9D-by-ara-ft-tuface/  which is currently enjoying massive airplay.

She has won numerous awards over the years, and has been involved in a lot of charity work over the years. She was recently appointed Melody for Dialogue among Civilisations and Association (UN) Water Ambassador.