If I were to eulogize Danny Nettey

Last Sunday morning, we were on our way to church and as we normally do, we had tuned into one of our favorite radio stations that play very good music. Most radio stations do a good job on Sunday mornings.

In acknowledgement of the fact that Sunday is a day of worship for Christians, we are usually spared all the "noise."

We get to hear carefully selected clas­sic Christian, Christian country, Christian urban and contemporary songs. Not much is said by the presenters. We are spared the arguments, political talk and elections forecast which is filled with dis­cussions of how this country is being managed or mismanaged. Amazingly we don't get to hear a lot about the elections, the economy and "dumsor" on Sundays.

I think everyone gets tired of the "noise." The news mak­ers and the agenda setters take a break and "recharge" so that we can all enjoy soul searching music.

Listening to sweet melodious soul searching music is not a surprise. But the chain of music that was played last Sun­day was special and caught by attention.

Some of the songs were being played over and over again and so I asked my husband why they were playing those songs. He knows a bit more about local musicians than 1 do. I am a "one way" gospel musician and when I am buying CD's my choices are mostly foreign - Cece Winans, Don Moen, Donnie McClurkin, and my all-time favourite Sandy Patty.

He told me the chain of songs was composed and sang by Danny Nettey. I said "What," how come I have sung these songs over and over again and didn't know they were written by a local singer.

I began to suppress the feeling of guilt which had filled my heart and mind. I then begun to understand how much this is country is losing in this so-called taste for foreign goods. We are always eager to consume and accept anything foreign. We hardly give locals a chance.

Not that I know anything about Danny Nettey. I knew he was a great singer. But that was it. I never went out of my way to buy his CDs and enjoy what he offered the world. I had never attend­ed any of his concerts. I only enjoyed his music when he happens to part of a group of musicians who feature in a con­cert.

Earlier on Friday when I heard about his death I took my phone and "googled" to read a bit more about him and got to know that he was described as one of the pioneers of Gospel music in the country. I then got to know that he had five albums to his credit and that he is said to have written over 500 songs. Who knows, per­haps many of the worship songs we sing in church came from him.

Amazingly, when you do a search on all the famous foreign singers you find pages of information about them. Howev­er the information we have about him on Wikipedia is quite limited. Our lack of documentation in this country is another challenge. Apart from the 5 albums he launched, do we have a record of all the other songs he composed? I doubt if that record is readily available.

How come I only got to know his true capabilities when he died? Why he is more popular in his death than when he was alive? I am sure many people who never took interest in him are now doing that. The fact is how mans people ever made him a lead or headline artists in their concerts.

How many awards did he receive? What recognition did we give to him when he was alive? Listening to the richness of his voice, his voice range and the long notes he held, it was obvious that he could match any of the great foreign gospel musicians we all cherish.

I know that it costs a lot to bring artists from the US, South Africa and other foreign countries to come and play in Ghana. I am aware that many compa­nies and event organizers have to fight tooth and nail to raise money to pay these foreign artists.

I am not quite sure how many events organizers will be willing to pay local artists 10 percent of what they pay foreign artists.

The cost of bringing foreign artists is huge and hosting them is not an easy task. You have to pay for expensive flights, expensive hotels, provide security and expensive sound controllers to get them to play in Ghana. I am not by any means saying that for­eign musicians should not be used.

My point is that we have musicians who are as good as the foreign players and we have to pay more attention to them. We have to treat them well so that they can also match their counterparts in their country. The music industry is one big gold mine that can never be drained or over used. We need to dig deeper, invest and refine them for the benefit of the nation. We can put Ghana on the world map through music.

Ghanaians like to eulogize the dead and it's a pity that most people get cele­brated after they are gone. We have to change that. We have to celebrate our heroes when they are alive. We have to help them succeed and when we do we will feel better when they leave this earth.

If I were to rate Danny Nettey's per­formance and vocal abilities I can will easily say that he is as good as most of the very popular foreign musicians we adore so much, if not better.

Farewell to a great musician. We pray for strength for his family and friends, as they hear his songs over and over again for the next few weeks. His legacy is immeasurable.