Radio presenter and former Hiplife rapper, Okyeame Quophi
Radio presenter and former Hiplife rapper, Okyeame Quophi, has expressed his disappointment with what he perceives as the laziness of Ghanaian musicians when it comes to creating original highlife music.
In a 3xtra.com report, he emphasized that highlife is a complex genre that demands a deep understanding of music theory and practice.
Okyeame Quophi, a former member of music group Akyeame, pointed out that many of Ghana's musicians tend to gravitate towards easier and more trendy genres, resulting in music with short lifespans.
He stressed that highlife is not an easy genre to produce and highlighted the transient nature of contemporary music.
"The music being produced right now has a very short lifespan. They're making easy music, and it passes quickly," he shared.
According to Okyeame Quophi, these musicians fail to grasp the essence of highlife because it requires time and dedication to compose a great highlife song.
He argued that a solid understanding of music is necessary to create exceptional highlife music, emphasizing that the current crop of musicians is simply lazy.
He further clarified that the issue lies not in a deliberate rejection of highlife but rather in the lack of knowledge and understanding among the current generation of musicians.
"They don't understand, and you cannot practice what you don't understand. It's not that they are refusing; they don't know how. There's a difference," he explained.
Okyeame Quophi suggested that musicians should invest time in acquiring the necessary skills and knowledge to create authentic and timeless highlife music.
He emphasized the importance of learning the intricacies of highlife progressions to utilize them effectively.
"If you know how to use it because you know it, then you can actually bring it about any time you want and make a difference. So they should go learn the hard life progressions," he concluded.
Watch the latest episode of Nkommo Wo Ho and E-Forum on GhanaWeb TV here:
ADA/FNOQ
