What is our genre of music?

Since the question of Play Ghana is making rounds on our airwaves for these couple of days, it will be fair to identify ourselves first with the question; WHAT IS OUR GENRE OF MUSIC?

Music as a form of art and creativity is not only the combination of musical instruments for rhymes and rhythms but the art of the heart for the cultural identity of nations and history in arts and culture.

When l was a kid growing up, the only genres of music l knew heavily of in Ghana were Hiplife which was dominated by Obua, Tinny, Okyeame Kwame, Lord Kenya, Obrafour, and Shatta Wale, and Highlife which was also dominated by Amakye Dede, Kojo Antwi, Daddy Lumba, Oheneba Kisi, Ofori Amponsah et al. Unfortunately today, we cannot vividly mention the very genre of music that we pride ourselves on as a people.

To put it succinctly, there's no denying that Nigerians are custodians of Afrobeat and are extremely popular within the world topping charts on various streaming platforms and shutting down huge auditoriums with this genre even in our country with the likes of Wizkid, Burna Boy, Davido, Rema, Tems and Ayra Starr which have earned them Grammy nominations of Burna Boy and Wizkid have already won.

It's because these musicians have identified with their culture in music,so there's no one competing with them. Just as South Africans have identified with Amapiano and Kwaito, Tanzanians with Bongo Flava, and Congolese with Rumba and Soukous we should find our roots or go back and take what's ours.

On 2nd June 2021, Shatta Wale pinpointed this out in his State of the Industry Address saying, ‘ Firstly, one of the things I find to be a major setback in the Ghana music industry is a unique genre that can be solely attributed to us as a people'.

But the omniscient pundit, Arnold Asamoah-Baidoo trashed the idea and called Shatta Wale names in a petty and disgusting manner disregarding the focal point of having identified for global recognition because times have changed. This is easier to do in our society because perception clouds our intelligence.

While l understand that doing Dancehall and Hip Hop may be good for the music business, it's also evidently fair to find our roots because l don't see how Hip Hop legends like Jay Z, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar will be nominated in the same category with Joey B for Grammy Awards and one will expect the latter to win.

Finally,l would like to appeal to the stakeholders that while l support Samini and his colleagues ' call for the Play Ghana initiative, it'll be fair to find our traditional rhythms again if not Ghana music will be in a maze forever.