Earlier this morning, award-wining journalist, Manasseh Azure took to his Facebook wall to reveal how disappointed he was that some sports journalists who came to Ghana recently did not know any of the A-list music stars of Ghana like Sarkodie, Stonebwoy, and Shatta Wale but new the likes of Wizkid and Davido of Nigeria.
He went on to add that these A-list artists in Ghana must not be proud and satisfied that they are able to feel stadia in Ghana but are not known widely like their Nigerian counterparts.
While many thought that raised a lot of cogent points in his write-up, entertainment journalist Kwame Dadzie has countered many of his claims in a comment he left under the post.
In the comment of the Citi FM/TV journalist, he pointed out that it was factually inaccurate for Manasseh to claim that these top music stars are not known “outside our shores.” According to him, even the likes of KiDi, Kuami Eugene, Gyakie who Manasseh does not consider as big stars are known out there.
He also added that Manasseh’s attempt to demean Shatta Wale’s ability to fill the Accra Sport’s Stadium was rather below the belt because it counts for something.
Read the full post below
It’s good to know you care about the music industry. One, the fact that some journalists somewhere in the world don’t know three of our top artistes does not mean these artistes are not known “outside our shores.” That sounds quite anecdotal. These guys including KiDi, Black Sherif, Gyakie etc have mad love out there. They may not be as popular as their Nigerian counterparts, but the picture is not that gloomy.
Two, collaborations are good but you don’t need (emphasis on NEED) the Nigerians to get your biggest gigs outside Ghana. What we lack in our Ghanaian music industry is investment; one that would empower our artistes to plug into other markets the world over. Talents we have – we just need to tighten our marketing and promotional strategies on the international front. This is the work of music business executives. Nigerians, apart from their huge numbers, have really activated the business side of the game.
Three, you could have made your point without narrowing it down to Shatta Wale. The world is their stage, but conquering the world starts with conquering a “small stadium” in Ghana.So as someone who cares about the arts industry, kindly use your platform to solicit support for the arts from investors.
This is what we can also do to help; not shaming our artistes for filling “small stadiums” in Ghana. Adwuma no so! Medaase!
