How Kiki Banson marketed Akwaboah as a brilliant songwriter

Highlife musician and songwriter Akwaboah Jnr. has revealed that he intended to sell ‘Daa Ke Daa’ to Kiki Banson when the latter was the manager of Becca for a thousand Ghana cedis but changed his mind after an interaction with the business mogul.

Speaking on Onua 95.1FM in Accra, the son of the legendary Kwadwo Akwaboah said Kiki Banson convinced him of the need to give the song out for free. He noted that the EKB Records boss mentioned to him he’d rather market him as a songwriter than paying him off, stressing that it will inure to his [Akwaboah] benefit.

“I wanted to sell it to him for GH¢1,000. I gave it to Kiki but he said he wouldn’t buy it; he’d promote the song and everyone will know I’m a good songwriter which will be financially rewarding. He stated that he could buy the song and not mention my name as the songwriter but he doesn’t want it that way, he rather wants to promote the song and promote my brand so I get more clients,” Akwaboah said.

‘Daa Ke Daa’ won Akwaboah ‘Songwriter of the Year’ at the 2010 Ghana Music Awards. Akwaboah who doubles as an instrumentalist has since composed songs for top musicians including Sarkodie. He produced and co-wrote the BET Award winner’s fourth album ‘Mary’.

In one of her interviews, Becca described Akwaboah as “an amazing composer and songwriter.”

She said: “He was part of Daa ke Daa... Akwaboah is just good. When it comes to songwriting here in Ghana, Akwaboah is my number one.”

Having composed songs and played with several bands for a very long time, he reckoned the time was ripe to record his songs.

In the last couple of years, he has released good records including the ‘Matters of the Heart’ album. He has also featured on hit songs such as Flowking Stone’s ‘Blow My Mind’, Strongman’s ‘Transformer’, Celestine Donor’s ‘Thank You’ among others.

Akwaboah is currently promoting ‘Enjoy’, a song that features Kelvynboy, and ‘Face To Face [Remix] which is a collaboration with his father.