What Makes A Song Ghanaian? - Jayso Asks

Few days ago, rapper/producer/singer Jayso of Skillions Records took to his Twitter handle to ask some salient questions about the music industry in Ghana that have been left unanswered for a very long. We reproduce in full (partly delivered in Pidgin English), the questions and subsequent explanations given to what was, a thought-provoking and intelligent presentation Q: If I may ask, what makes a song Ghanaian? Q: Dis song no go fit hit for Ghana. You dey waste your time. Ghanaians don�t have time for �good� music. Dem wan dance� I ask, Is this true? Q: If I no do danceable song the DJs go bounce my track. How i go make money?� � common words uttered by many GH artists. Again I ask, True? Q: Are we creating a fair industry? One that supports all the various art forms? One that allows creative people to express themselves? Q: If she can�t make dance records because it is not her style. Or maybe she can�t dance to save her life. Are we saying there�s no room for her? I mean 1st off she doesn�t have any funding. Zero. Her best bet is to quit. This is the story of 1,000s of upcoming GH musicians. Q: This isn�t about dropping names or dissing popular/mainstream material. It�s about creating room for alternative Ghanaian music. Do you know what�s even retarded? Here I am talking about alternative GH music/arts �When�s the last time u heard traditional GH music on air? I bet many people think I�m bashing other musicians for doing dance records. If that�s your thought, wait for my upcoming dance song. Let me tell you what ignited this. As a producer, I come across many musicians. Both popular & upcoming. I met this young lady sometime this week. She sings beautifully. She�s pretty & got so much talent. She just graduated from school & wants to do music full-time. By fulltime I mean taking it as her profession. No manager. No label. Just passion. She�s submitted her songs to many media houses & the response at 1st listen is �this won�t do well in Ghana�. �DJs won�t play it� �Go back & do some danceable songs�. Now this is where it gets tricky. Was advised not to speak on this because radio/tv folk could sabotage me. Hey, I came from little to no support. I don�t care if my music receives zero spins. The purpose is bigger. I�ll continue to do it for those who want me to. Shouts to those giving hope a chance.