Afriyie Wutah argues 'pride, production, pedagogy' could redeem Ghana’s music image

Afriyie Wutah has expressed worry that Ghanaians do not show adequate pride for "what we have" musically.

Rather, he lamented, the country is distracted by xenophilia.

The Highlife star spoke to Summy Brown on Accra 100.5 FM's after-drive programme, Akwaaba, exploring ways to make Ghana's music heritage trendy again.

"Variety is good, diversity is good, but we need to embrace what we have. Once we embrace it, we can sell it to the next person," Afriyie encouraged, admonishing: "If Jamaicans had opened their doors to almost every genre, I am not sure they could have sold Reggae to the world how they have."

Production

Afriyie opined that music production in Ghana should be urgently relooked at.

"What's the production we're seeing now? Is it the same production from back then when Island Records came to sign some of our big artistes like ET Mensah and George Darko? We are not getting the same [quality] of production [now]," Afriyie bemoaned.

In his view, Ghana's prevailing poor music production "all boils down to investment and finances".

"We've invested so little in our Highlife," he said, adding: "We have marginalised it. We have opened our doors so wide for almost everything to enter."

Afriyie noted, "Today's musician is a versatile one," thus if a genre is not financially rewarding, they quickly switch to a widely accepted style for the money.

"We've even seen talent managers redirecting artistes to appeal to current trends," he added.

The guitarist and saxophonist suggested that to salvage the situation, the media should play an active role, like designing "segments on stations dedicated solely to Highlife".

Education

Afriyie said that apart from "gatekeepers" in media and entertainment playing their role, introducing the learning of Ghana music in "basic schools" would also go a long way.

"Like in the days of Ephraim Amu – and John Teye back then... let's bring music education back into our schools because when a child understands music, he will not see one type of music as crass and foreign ones as refined."

Afriyie argued that this will eventually help "these kids appreciate music, and once they appreciate music – music being part of their culture – they'll appreciate the kind of music their forebears grew up with and what they are doing now".

Future

Furthermore, the singer-songwriter took a moment to encourage Highlife musicians not to lose faith and steam just because they are not popular on the radio.

"There are people online who go out there to look for good music to listen to," he said.

He noted how his song Cheers to Life had more than a million streams on Spotify at a time. "I hadn't even heard it on the radio" in Ghana.

The Here to Stay hitmaker forecasts that those who have a bright future in the music business are not those whose songs are played on the radio but those with streaming numbers to show.

Finally, Afriyie Wutah revealed that "in the pipeline" is a project he is working on to discover and "groom new artistes."