Deputy minister for tourism, arts, and culture, Mark Okraku Mantey has made some assertions on how Nigeria’s Afrobeat genre has hindered the growth of Ghanaian music. Mr. Okraku Mantey who was once a music executive in an interview on Joy FM traveled to Dubai and entered a shop, heard a shop attendant describing Bisa kdei’s song as a Nigerian song. Narrating the incident, he revealed the following;
"The man was Moroccan and he thought the
music was [from] Nigeria. And I have
experienced a lot of these things where Ghanaian
hard work is going to Nigeria. Because they make
so much noise that there is a perception
every piece of music you hear from Africa is from
Nigeria. And we made a mistake by also
accepting that we are also performing under
Afrobeat".
"I heard Camidoh's song in Tanzania, Arusha,
and people around thought it was from Nigeria.
And that is why Nigeria is getting the buzz they
are getting. Everybody is thinking that almost
every piece of music you hear from Africa now is from
Nigeria”.
The issue of afrobeat dominance has been a great conversation across Africa and Ghana. Most Ghanaians feel concerned and express their displeasure as credits for their hard work are attributed to Nigerians rather than them. While many are if believe that, the Ghanaian music industry could also go global if they tap into the afro eats, many others have also advised Ghanaian artists to also use their popular music genre highlife to also set an agenda and push for it to also go global.
In Ghana, there are many talented highlife artists considering the likes of kuami Eugene, Kidi, King Promise, Kelvynboy, and others. Many believe that, if Ghanaians come together and support each other as the Nigerian do, high life will also make it to the global stage and Ghanaian music industry will make a good name for themselves.
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