Performing for political parties: Yay or nay?

GhanaWeb Feature by Isaac Dadzie

With only four months away, the election season in Ghana is slowly approaching its climax. But for a particular set of people, they seem to have had multiple.

Since the launch of campaigns by various political party representatives in Ghana, some music artistes have been cashing out, having been spotted on the stages of the different political parties.

From Joyce Blessing to Philipa Baafi to Olivetheboy, they have appeared on the political stages of these parties to perform. Although they were all quick to say one phrase, “it was just business.”

However, these appearances seem to have reignited the age-old debate about whether appearing on a political stage is a good thing or not At least business-wise.

So, narrowing this down to strictly “performing” and not endorsing, let's have an analysis of the

Yay?

In Ghana especially, most major shows tend to take place during the latter part of the year, meaning for the rest of the year, artistes have to go into hibernation, releasing tracks, and albums while depending on streams or minor events to keep them afloat until the major shows in the yuletide.

But in an election season where campaigns begin as early as March, artistes get the opportunity to perform and get paid (very important), it’s not astonishing that many would jump on the opportunity.

In the words of Andre Keche: “In this industry, music is our work and we need platforms with good money to help us produce good music. Those people talking, they have what is paying them, but some artistes get shows once every 3 or 4 months. So they shouldn't be hindered because of the fear of being tagged as affiliated with that party.”

Nay?

In a tense and heavily polarised political climate, appearing on a political party’s platform can be interpreted by many as an endorsement of that party, irrespective of whether or not the artiste intended it that way.

This ends up coming with all the baggage being affiliated to a political party brings; backlash from supporters of the opposing party, loss of fans, and ‘woe betides you’ if the party the artiste is perceived to have supported ends up losing the election.

So what to do?

If one decides to perform for a party, the best way to quickly quell speculations is to quickly appear on the stages of the opposition.

Take for example Joyce Blessing, who barely a month after a performance for the NDC was spotted on an NPP stage, leading speculators to realise that she was just after the ‘bag.’

The second tried and tested way is coming out quickly to explain one’s motivations like Olivetheboy did immediately after his performance at the NDC Youth Manifesto launch.

Taking a cue from artiste manager Nana Poku Ashis, “If you see us on any platform right now, it’s purely business. I’m not sure it will be on merits anymore. We’ll do business. You might see us on NDC the same week. You might see us on NPP. It’s business.

“If they call us, we’ll go and do business. I mean, that’s the point at which we are now. If he, the artiste, has love for one of them, he should keep it to himself.”

Either way, as long as an artiste can make it clear that his or her appearance on a political platform is just for ‘business,’ maybe, the masses will understand and ignore it.

But this does not apply to endorsements, because that happens to be a whole different (and dangerous) ballgame.

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