Highlife artist, Dada Hafco has suggested that if the Telecel Ghana Music Awards (TGMA) makes the Highlife Song of the Year category the highest award of the scheme, it will whip up musicians’ interest in doing highlife.
He said the TGMA is an influential brand that can be used to advance an agenda such as this.
“I believe that the TGMA platform is one that people will malign and say all sorts of stuff about but it is a place where facts are established. If the TGMA comes to say this year the person who wins the Ultimate is the one who wins the highlife song of the year, do you know how many people would want to win the ultimate award? Do you know how many people will start trumpeting the highlife agenda?”
Dada Hafco
He also advised people against mocking artists who choose the highlife genre. According to him, a lot of younger musicians shy away from the genre because some people say negative and brutish things about it.
Recounting his personal experience, he mentioned that he has been described by some people as a ‘villager’ for doing highlife.
Music producer, Justice Oteng also known as Wei Ye Oteng of Drumline Studios indicated that music producers have a role to play in helping preserve highlife.
He stated that in as much as most times the musicians come with production ideas in mind, the producers have a crucial role in influencing new styles on consumers.
“Producers, we set the pace. Producers can have an agenda and set the pace because guess what, if I get ten musicians and I send them a certain kind of beat and I know they will love it and within three to four months those people are going to drop those songs and we promote them, trust me it becomes a trend. That’s how Azonto was made.”
Wei Ye Oteng
MUSIGA to Present Special Prizes to TGMA Highlife Winners
The President of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), Bessa Simons, announced plans by the association to motivate highlife musicians.
According to him, MUSIGA will, from next year, award special prizes to winners of the highlife category in the Telecel Ghana Music Awards.
The venerated highlife musicians said this is one of the strategies the union has put in place to help preserve the genre.
“One thing MUSIGA is doing to promote highlife is that next year, because we are partners with Telecel Ghana Music Awards, we are adding a special award to the person who wins the highlife category,” he said.
Asked if this prize would be in cash, he said: “It will be more than a cash prize.”
The conversation on reviving and preserving highlife has resurfaced after the announcement that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is in the process of making highlife an intangible cultural heritage of Ghana.
It has also been necessitated by Nigerians’ tenacity in pushing the Afrobeats movement to get global acclaim.
For many Ghanaian highlife advocates, the genre which originated in Ghana holds the keys to Ghana’s resurgence in the international music market.
However, the Head of Public Events and Communication for Charterhouse Productions Ltd, Robert Klah, announced at the Industry Mixer of the Telecel Ghana Music Awards (TGMA) that the Artist of the Year (AOTY) will be rewarded with fully paid events.
This initiative will commence with the celebrated artiste Stonebwoy.
The Telecel Ghana Music Awards, organized by Charterhouse Productions Ltd and Telecel, is a prestigious event celebrating Ghanaian musical talent.
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