Before I set the ball rolling, I would love to sieze this opportunity and pay respect to the legendary Nana Kwame Ampadu (31 March 1945 – 28 September 2021).
Indeed a great tree has fallen, the industry was blessed to have had a hero who was selfless enough to feed hearts with great and timeless songs .
He is reported to have churned out over 800 songs , Wow!!! This is “crazy”. I only can hope that his crafts paid him and his generation well , like they should , Damirifa dua Nana!!! You will forever be engraved on our hearts…
Now to the problem of the day
I vividly remember an era, somewhere 2016/2017, when all what ardent fans of music in the country could consume were great Nigerian songs, when almost always, every DJ in the country couldn’t play three Ghanaian songs consecutively due to the taste of audience, and especially, patrons.
Songs like Do Like That, Pana, Bank Alert , Diana, Oluwa ni, Oya come make we go, Fada Fada , Who you Ep , (the list is endless) cuptured the waves , and we couldn’t help but enjoy.
That inadvertent encroachment and infiltration continued and seemed insurmountable at a point until our ” saviours ” arrived and took over. Who are these saviours I am referring to ? The likes of Kuami Eugene , Kidi, King Promise , not to disrespect our heroes.
They strived to grasp our attention insomuch that some of the Nigerian giants were compelled to associate with them in order to be accepted in the country . Bright of BukBak in an interview with DJ Candyman on Atinka Fm in 2018, humbly admitted that the aforementioned saved the industry at a time when it was going down the drain.
This reminds me of the 2013 Guiness eruption show which came off at the Accra sports Stadium ; where regardless of the presence of international artistes like Akon, Big Sean, wizkid, 100% attention of the patrons was constantly on the two dancehall contenders ( Samini and Shatta wale) as of that time.
I must Confess, I was proud of myself as Ghanaian on that blissful day , it was a big win for the country ..
Take me back to some months ago when the “Kumerican vibe” arrested our ears , the dudes arguably owned the music industry,no one can’t gainsay . Almost every top Artiste in the country tried come what may to either collaborate or associate with them in other lights; they were incontrovertibly the guys you needed to be welcomed by music lovers, they were simply the go-to guys.
We have had groups and individuals who took over the scene and compelled us to love our Own: Praye, Wutah, Skillions, , just mention..
But the big question is why the breaks?
Per hindsight, I can confidently say when you take phones from 100 ardent secular music fans in Ghana , first five songs of more than 50 people’s playlists will have either only Nigerian songs or Nigerian songs dominating.
Employ the services of a DJ and I bet you , Nigerian songs will be the anthems for the event , will you blame them?
These DJs are working to please their patrons and as it were, these are songs they (the patrons) want to chant and dance to, if I were them, I would do same .
What am I driving at ?
It is so normal to have foreign songs sharing waves with indigenous ones in a country , but when that country can reach an era where the greater percentage of streams, airplays by the citizens goes to foreign songs, it is unequivocally a monumental problem , the question is , who is to blame?
Does it mean the pool of talents is skewed , monotonous and limited ? Does it mean our talents can’t give us hits consistently?
If you ask me, we have what it takes to be dominating the waves at every point , however, we don’t look to our laurels. I don’t intend instigating us against foreigners , but it is about time we approached this world music as though participating in a cold war .
Let’s stop focusing on today only , pay attention to the young chaps, let’s create more avenues like the Mtn hitmaker which gave us two great Artistes who helped to take back our mantle when it was almost all up, let us widen the scope , the “industry men” should desist from focusing and channeling all energies and attention on some two artistes who reign for years and leave the scene without any felicitous repacement .
Of course , I am one hundred percent for protecting an export when the need be, if an artiste gets to his or her peak and has the tendency of taking the country to the world and vice-versa ,there is the need for a collective effort to realise that dream, however, that shouldn’t be done at the expense of talents who will replace that “Giant” we are supporting in the next five or six years
If we continue in this vein, trust me, we will get to that point in time , where Ghanaian artistes would have to leave for Nigeria to learn how to conquer their own country (Ghana).
Stories have been told, our own deputy Minister of Tourism, Art and culture , Mark okuraku Mantey , confessed some time ago that he and some venerable artistes had to travel to Nigeria to school them (Nigerians) on High-life upon request , you get what I am comprehending??? That’s investment, they needed that for today . Unless we don’t care about what the future holds for us regarding music, we need to start investing.
Great talents like Camidoh and Mr Drew are creating good songs , let’s make the conscious effort to promote them. Presenters, DJs, Music associations, we need to fight, this is war , not one with ammunition but music ..
The big Artistes, please mentor someone, give people the chance to ride along with you, we will need them tomorrow. I can’t be blind to the disloyalty and betrayal you sometimes face in the course of helping a protégé , but please try and save the country , we are losing the battle gradually.
The young Artistes, please learn to be loyal and truthful anytime you get the opportunity , you need a mentor, you need someone’s shoulder for people like us to see your height .
We need you for tomorrow …
Let’s create new talents every day for the future, we have millions of them waiting .
Thank you
