Part Two: The Achilles Heel Of Ghana Music

"The border between music and noise is always culturally defined" -Wikipedia.com

In our cultural setup, what then is defined as good "music"?? What is defined as "crap"?
And most importantly who defines what "good" or "crap" music is??

The appetite of Ghanaians towards music is undeniably phenomenal but is it fair to abuse this "gift"? Aside the menace of copy-cat artistes taking Ghanaian musical culture for granted, choosing Nigerian and American terminologies over that of Ghana, other factors cannot be ignored.

I refuse to mince words as my opinion of some Ghanaian artistes simply lacks innovation and is "lazy". Ghana has for long suffered from the low levels of commitment from singers and rappers alike. Also, Ghanaians must know that there is a distinction between Nigerian "Broken English" and Ghanaian "Pidgin English".
As much as I may chastize Ghanaians for copying Nigerians, they will face competent or even better opposition from Ghanaians if we find ourselves as Ghanaians. Instead of creativity, some artistes plagiarize from different artistes and make it theirs.

A very good example is Lil Wayne a.k.a Tunechi who started his career as a member of the Cash Money group Hot Boys. Lil Wayne was a good rapper but became even better when he realised what he was good at and stuck to it. Although his two albums Lights Out (2000) and 500 Degreez (2002) were not as successful (only reaching Gold status) as his first with the Hot boys, The Block Is Hot(1999, reaching Platinum), Dwayne Carter went back to do his homework and came out with a better rap style that moved him all the way to winning three Grammy Awards.

In Ghana, we've had artistes like Okyeame Kwame evolve to a more than laudable level in music. We've had artistes like Edem and Tinny breaking language boundaries in Ghanaian music. Kwaw Kese(who I'm particular proud of) made a statement about sticking to Hip Hop when "everybody ran" to Azonto music, which in my opinion is marvelous. As a public service announcement, I would like to state that, people particularly dancing to a tune doesn't make one a complete artiste. Real artistes who makes real songs always have a timeless imprint on the music charts.

I do not intend to condemn the Azonto craze in the country, but artistes have on many occassions settled for mediocrity since our music can be heard on the radio. It seems there is no desire to do the extraordinary since the ordinary seems to be making the waves. It is no wonder therefore not surprising that some Ghanaians choose foreign music over Ghanaian music.
Since we are on that topic, I would ike to ask if it is an intentional attempt to tag Ghanaian songs as cheap, as presenters and DJ's alike don't help matters. My earlier statements do not in any way mean that we do not have quality artistes in the country but I'm sure I'm not the only person who has noticed a funny trend. What am I rattling about?? In recent times whenever any international song is being premiered on radio or TV, you'll hear presenters giving appellations like "crazy, banger, hit-song, awesome, mind-blowing"etc to the song before its even played and would continue to play the song over and over again, no matter how ordinary the song may actually be. Unfortunately however, when it comes to Ghanaian songs, the best they can do is to say, "new song, new single" or at their best,"its a nice song or good song". It shows the low levels of enthusiasm in GH music which is very disheartening. This even happens in event commercials, where the international acts are "The Undisputed, The Sexy, The Ladies Man,The Unstoppable", for Ghanaian acts, there's not even much to be said. I'm however not surprised by this because thats the same way foreigners are prioritised in almost every endeavour.

Do I need to speak about "payola" which most claim is no more??
To Be Continued....

End Of Part Two.


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The Achilles Heel Of Ghana Music...

The Ghanaian music industry has for numerous years been trying to find itself and what it stands for. For decades, the Sub-Saharan nation has shuffled through various genres which are seemly defined by unknown strings in the industry, that is if there is a mechanism to regulate the music art that Ghanaians are exposed to.
Ghana has transitioned through High-Life,Hip-Life, Afrobeats, RNB,Rap/Hip Hop, Reggae, DanceHall and honestly, at certain points, unknown music styles crept into the Ghanaian music scene. Francophone music is not an exception and not a surprise due to the fact that Ghana is flanked on all sides except the south by African countries; where lies the Atlantic ocean.

However, a challenging and virtually disturbing trend I have noticed in Ghanaian music has to do with the insatiable need to copy any style that seems to make the charts. It has reached a point where I fear for the loss of Ghanaian musical ingenuity and originality. Most appalling is the shameful attempt of certain musicians to go to the extent of copying Nigerian lyrics in their Nigerian-coloured songs making it almost impossible to strike a distinction between certain Ghanaian songs and Nigerian music.
I believe it is imperative that Ghanaians do not lose their cultural musical content and style because we cannot copy the Nigerians and Americans more than ourselves. We are better as Ghanaians and more unique as such.
The tongue that criticizes should be capable of praise as well, so I would like to appreciate the likes of Obour, Okyeame Kwame, Kankam ((Cue) an upcoming artiste), and many more who still carry high the true flag of Ghanaian music. The likes of Kubolor, Lil Shaker, Sarkodie, Manifest and others, who use Ghanaian pidgin in their contemporary music.
The magnificent Kwabena Kwabena, Efya, Becca and others who make live band music a delight, with traditional African rythmes.


End Of Part One...

To Be Continued...