Institute poses no threat to MUSIGA - Amoako

Ho, Jan. 19, GNA - Professor Komla Amoako, Executive Director of the Institute for Music and Development has said that his proposal for a wider umbrella organization to encompass all shades of musicians was in no way an attempt to create a body parallel to the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA).

He said neither was the bid of his organization to facilitate a programme to link Ghanaian musicians especially those in the production of the distinctive Ghanaians traditional music to the national strategy for poverty reduction meant to pre-empt the authority of MUSIGA over its members.

Professor Amoako was speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the furore over the programmes of the Institute and a workshop on Music and Poverty Reduction scheduled for Ho, in the Volta Region from January 19 to 22, this year.

He said the Institute was borne out of a deep desire of an analyst and a scholar in the growth and development of traditional music to save it from the avalanche of modern social norms and religious precepts that were threatening to liquidate local musical forms and styles. Professor Amoako said it was that desire, which informed his proposal that won 29,450 dollars from the US State Department to establish an archive of Ewe Music from the Volta Region.

He said the Institute was free to promote its mission without recourse to MUSIGA since it was an independent Institute whose work was more or less intellectual in scope and content.

Professor Amoako said MUSIGA's suggestion that the Institute was not representative of musicians in Ghana was therefore misplaced. The focus of the Institute was to "bring together all of the multiple stakeholders and activities necessary for the development of a vibrant music industry in Ghana including traditional contemporary music in their varied forms and their accessibility to the widest audiences possible", Professor Amoako explained.

On the linkage of his institute with a workshop on music and poverty reduction in Ho, Professor Amoako said it was based on the premise that "a vibrant music industry with the provision of the requisite institutional infrastructure and equally dynamic cultural policy can promote a community's economic and social development". He explained that MUSIGA was brought into the picture out of courtesy and due deference to its position in the country's music industry and wondered why MUSIGA was crying wolf.

Professor Amoako said MUSIGA's suggestion that the Institute was not representative of musicians in Ghana was too far fetched because MUSIGA and for that matter any other likeminded body could not claim the monopoly to represent the interest of all musicians in the country including the many unknown producers of indigenous music. Professor Amoako urged MUSIGA to stop its attempt to roll back gains made in talks with cultural offices of some donor countries and join with the Institute to work for the interest of Ghanaian musicians of all shades.

He said suggestions that it was monetary gains and not the interest of musicians that was the driving force behind the formation of the Institute and its programmes were misplaced. Professor Amoako asked MUSIGA to verify its claims on the sponsorships for the projects to ascertain the real facts.