NPP buys ‘Go High’? - Philipa Baafi

Sensational Gospel musician, Philipa Baafi says it is untrue that she sold her ‘Go High’ track to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for a huge sum of money plus a Jaguar X-Type 2007 mode, as is being speculated.

“The NPP approached us and requested that they needed to use the song for their campaign this year and that was it,” the musician told DAILY GUIDE in an exclusive interview, and explained the conditions under which she released the song to the leading political party in Ghana.

Philipa Baafi said she was not the least worried that she had given her song to the NPP because other political parties were using the songs of some other Gospel musicians.

“I am not worried at all that the NPP is using my song; it is a popular song and I hear it is even played in some clubs so I am not worried a political party is using it.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) could have used it as well.

They are using Pastor Lennie Akpadi’s ‘All Other Gods’, so if the NPP was fast enough and they choose to use my ‘Go High’ to support their campaign, it is very cool with me.

“Look, that song is very inspirational and encourages people to go higher in whatever field of endeavour they are, and if the NPP is using it to tell Ghanaians to go higher with them, I am cool with that.

“The NPP did not buy it from me per se, but we had a negotiation for them to pay a sum of money for the copyright and that is the norm,” Philipa Baafi disclosed.

She said she wrote the ‘Go High’ song herself and released it onto the music market in November 2007 with the aim of using it to inspire people.

When asked how she felt anytime the NPP flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo joined her on stage to do the Tic Tac-originated Kangaroo dance during the party’s outdoor programmes, Philipa had this to say:

“Nana Akufo-Addo, on his own, joined me on stage to do the Kangaroo dance and I think it has to do with the favour of God. When the favour of God is working, it is not about you struggling.”

Philipa, apart from being a musician, is a beauty therapist and is married to Kofi Karikari, who is her manager and producer as well. They have a set of triplets of which two are boys.

The Gospel musician, who has ‘Go High’ as her fifth album, first entered the music scene in 1999 with her first album while in her final year at St. Monica Secondary School in Kumasi.

She explained why her husband is her manager: “He was the General Manager for OTEC FM in Kumasi and I went there with my third album in 2003 and that was how we met and became friends.

He later became my manager; he was managing my music and later decided to manage my body and everything so we got married.

“He is cool; he is handsome and a Christian and understands what I do. I am proud of him. We are now on a national music tour, preaching peace, tolerance and unity every where we visit.

I believe that is the message we need in this election period. We have been to Sunyani and Kumasi and would be in Berekum and Techiman.”

She confirmed that she was yet to receive the car prize she won during the ‘Music Music’ MTN Music competition TV3 organized for Ghanaian musicians recently.

“Well, the truth is that I was told I would be given a brand new car but I have not received it. I hear it is a Tata Indigo but I have not seen it.

“I joined the competition because I wanted to use that opportunity to speak to my fans through my songs, so I was surprised I won and with such a wide margin of over 20,000 votes,” she noted.