Ghanaian musicians are being urged by renowned sound engineer and music producer Appietus to give up on trying to compete with Nigerians in the Afrobeats genre, as the latter have gained immense international acclaim for their work.
When Afrobeats musicians are discussed globally, names like Temz, Burna Boy, Davido, Wizkid, Asake, and other Nigerian musicians would quickly come to mind.
Given that Nigerian musicians have seized the top ranks on the worldwide list of fans’ favorite Afrobeats musicians, it will undoubtedly be challenging for a Ghanaian singer to reach that position.
This is the reason Ghanaian musicians are being urged by Appietus, a fervent supporter of highlife, to remain true to their own musical styles.
Appietus, a renowned Ghanaian artist who has collaborated with the best of the best, recently spoke on a panel on Graphic Showbiz X Dialogue and advised the latter not to imitate the Afrobeats genre, which he claimed was mostly connected to Nigeria.
Additionally, he issued a warning against fusing Afrobeats with other genres like Amapiano because doing so might dilute the uniqueness and authenticity of Ghanaian musicians.
“Nigerians now own Afrobeats and there’s nothing we can do about it. We will just be copycats if we keep on doing that. It’s going to be difficult competing with Nigerians on Afrobeats. It is just like how you can’t take Dancehall and Reggae from Jamaica.
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“And lately, I see people trying to blend Amapiano and Afrobeats to make it Ghanaian, that won’t work too. We will just be copycats if we keep on coming up with that mixture. Let us modernise Highlife the way we want and present it to the world and see what will happen.
“Let’s sell ourselves and culture and stop competing with others over their music genres. We have sold our music type before and Nigerians were nowhere close. So, we can do it again,” Appietus stated.
Media consultant Francis Doku participated in the most recent Graphic Showbiz X Dialogue series as a panelist.
On the subject of “#PlayGhana Initiative: Is it a Deserving Cause? Proponents of the #PlayGhana campaign and important partners were also asked by the former general manager of 3 Group to desist from imposing the program as a regulated policy on Ghanaians.
Rather, he recommends using moral argument to win over Ghanaians.
