The Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Hon. Mark Okraku-Mantey says Ghana made a mistake by accepting to perform perform under the Afrobeats genre.
According to Hon. Mark, Nigerian artists are widely known for producing Afrobeats songs so even if Ghanaian artists release Afrobeats songs, and all the credits are been awarded to Nigerians because they(Nigerians) have made the genre their own.
Narrating his experience about the ordeal, Hon. Mark said a shop attendant in Dubai described one of Bisa K’dei’s song as Nigerian. And this is because Nigerian artists have made people believe every music you hear from Africa is theirs.
“The man was Moroccan but he thought the Bisa K’dei’s song was from Nigeria. I have experienced scenarios where Ghanaian artists’ shine goes to Nigeria.”
“It because they make so much noise leaving a perception that every music you hear from Africa is from Nigeria. We also made a mistake accepting to perform under Afrobeats.”
Talking about the how the Afrobeat genre was originated he said;
“The word Afrobeat itself was coined by Fela Kuti years ago, without an ‘s’. So the moment you hear Afrobeat, the owner of that word is Fela.”
“With time people in the Western World said Africa has too many rhythms so why don’t you call all of them African rhythms.”
“Because we were known for highlife and we were bullying them with our highlife genre, they quickly opted for the Afrobeats and unfortunately, my brothers and sisters went joined them. They don’t know that all their hard work goes to Nigeria because they don’t know about the perception of Afrobeats in Nigeria.”
“I also heard Camidoh’s song in Tanzania, and people thought it was from Nigeria. This will enable Nigeria to get all the buzz they are getting. Everybody is thinking that almost every music you hear from Africa now are from Nigeria.”
A lot of Ghanaian artists prefer to be called Afrobeats artists because that is the trend in the music world and they feel that exposes them internationally but it can be clearly seen that Nigerians are taking all the shine on Ghanaian songs even though they are not the owners.
Ghana is widely known for producing highlife songs but on a second thought Ghana need to embrace what belongs them instead of chasing what they don’t have no power of.
