How does Nigerian music
become very popular in
Ghana while Ghanaian music
remains contraband
commodity in the former’s
country? This is a big question
that requires serious necropsy
by entertainment pundits.
Give or show a Nigerian
movie to the average
Ghanaian in the 90’s and he
or she will spurn it. At that
time, Ghanaians loved
Ghanaian movies to Nigerian
movies. Starting the new
millennium, Ghana was
deluged with an influx of
Nigerian movies. The table
then turned; Ghanaians
developed a strong
predilection for Nigerian
movies and ever since, have
not looked back.
In the 90’s, rarely would one
hear a Nigerian song being
played on radio. By the year
2004, Nigerian songs or
music started gaining foot in
Ghana and ever since,
Nigerian songs have steadily
become popular in Ghana
and Nigerian artistes for that
matter, have also become
popular as well.
A colleague art writer went to
Nigerian recently to cover an
entertainment event and after
his return, narrated his
observations on the Nigerian
music industry. He said barely
would one hear a Ghanaian
song being played on radio.
The only Ghanaian songs he
heard being played was
songs produced by VIP and
R2Bs. Kesse, the male vocalist
of this year’s Vodafone Ghana
music awards after
participating in the ‘project
fame’ music reality show in
Nigeria, returned to also say
he never heard any Ghanaian
song played on any medium
for the period he spent there.
Currently, Nigerian songs or
music have very popular and
so are their artistes in Ghana.
Nigerian songs have become
so popular that some
Ghanaian musicians even
copy their lyrics, accent,
composition, songs or style of
song engineering. Ghana and
Nigerian are not enemies;
neither is this feature
attempting to brew an
unhealthy competition or
antagonism between them.
It wouldn’t have become an
issue of discussion or to
worry about if Nigerian music
are popular in Ghana and
Ghanaian music are also
popular or doing creditably
well in the latter’s country.
The facts on the grounds are
that Nigerian songs are far
popular in Ghana than
Ghanaian music is in Nigeria.
This is a big challenge to our
music industry because
Nigeria has a bigger market
Ghana can tap into. It’s
obvious the media in Ghana
is the main tool that has
made Nigerian songs popular
in Ghana but the questions
that require answers are; how
do the Nigerians influence
our media for their songs to
become popular in Ghana? Is
it that they pay ‘fat payola’ to
the Ghanaian media than the
Ghanaian musicians?
Do they have special agents
here who do promotions for
them? And why are Ghanaian
songs not that popular in
Nigeria? Could they
(Nigerians) be sabotaging our
music on their soil? Or is
Nigerian music better than
Ghanaian music?
MUSIGA must come in on this
issue on a way to make
Ghanaian music popular in
Nigeria. MUSIGA can propose
a treaty with the Nigerian
music union to promote
Ghanaian music there. The
Nigerian population is big
and that gives them a bigger
market than Ghana.
However, I certainly don’t
think any measure such as
banning Nigerian songs in
Ghana is or will be a
panacea. We must be tactful.