Northern Music, A Waste Of Time?

How can you be in the music business for the past 5 years and know one outside your locality knows you nor your music, except your friends on Facebook, family members and the DJ in your locality. And please you appearing on Tv for an interview or to promote your video does not make you a star. I'm not a musician nor a music producer or record producer, but I have paid attention to good music for 20 years now, I have so much respect for music, I don't really care about the musician or artist personal life, what I care about is the Kind of music they do, the style, the groove, the message, artistic wise, lyrically engaging, voice and stage performance. If you listen to Angélique Kidjo speech after her third win at the 58th Grammys you will understand what I mean.

In my locality, all I see is waste of time, resources and talent, I can boldly say that none of these so called musicians are real musicians, they are not even up to the status of being called artist. As for the word celebrity, they are not even an inch close. And please note, not every radio presenter or television presenter is a personality. One can address them as local personalities, or local musicians because it's only in their locality that they are known.

The music industry is not just entertainment, but business. Selling of CDs, number of downloads and likes on YouTube, purchasing from iTunes, promos, record deals, endorsements from companies and brands. Many musicians have made it big and bigger by being natural, realistic and honest. A local musician does not have to sing like a western musician to get international recognition, many many musicians have recorded in their local languages with local instruments but have been able to attract and gain international fame.

Let's be honest to each other, how many of you in my locality would love to be like these so called musicians or artist. Would you like to see or hear you son or daughter, sister or brother say they want to grow up and be like these northern musicians. But I bet you would be excited to hear your sister say she wants to be like Angélique Kidjo, or Brender song, or Miriam Mekabeka. You would be proud to see your kid brother sing or rap like R2bees or Rocky Dawuni. If Wiyaala or Sherifa Gunu was your sister You would go round telling people. Because they are all doing good music and language in not a barrier but a ladder to them.

Let's do a little bit on English language here, let's find out who a personality is, who a celebrity and who a musician is. A celebrity is a person who is widely recognized in a given society and commands a degree of public and media attention. The word is derived from the Latin celebritas, from the adjective celeber ("famous," "celebrated"). Being a celebrity is often one of the highest degrees of notability.

Notability is the property of being worthy of notice, having fame, or being considered to be of a high degree of interest, significance, or distinction. It also refers to the capacity to be such. Persons who are notable due to public responsibility, accomplishments, or, even, mere participation in the celebrity industry are said to have a public profile.

Fame/Famous, the ​state of being ​known or ​recognized by many ​people because of ​your ​achievements, ​skills, etc. If that be the case, the chiefs in our locality are also celebrities. The only people in Northern region I can call famous are our politicians, Dr Chogu, etc. Because they are not only known in Northern region but beyond the borders of Ghana. And I can even call the celebrities.

An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts, and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only. The term is often used in the entertainment business, especially in a business context, for musicians and other performers (less often for actors) I'm sorry to say none of these northern musicians can fit this name.

A musician (or instrumentalist) is a person who plays a musical instrument or is musically talented. Anyone who composes, conducts, or performs music may also be referred to as a musician. Musicians can specialize in any musical style, and some musicians play in a variety of different styles. Musicians can specialize in any musical style, and some musicians play in a variety of different styles. Examples of a musician's possible skills include performing, conducting, singing, composing, arranging, and the orchestration of music. I remember EL saying he use to go for piano lessons in an interview on joy fm. How many of these northern musicians can use a musical instrument?

Mumuni Yunus Is a Editor at Radio Justice in Tamale. Read his view on northern music and musicians

I didn't want to comment on the raging debate (as I choose to call it) between Dons Clan Entertainment and Zolahood on one side and my own GadamNation on the other side. Truth is, most of the guys in the Tamale showbiz are like scavengers waiting for a prey to pounce on, but sometimes, the ink won't allow you to rest if you keep mute. Should there be controversies in the music industry? Of course yes, but it should be seen in popular and advanced industries where the musician can boast of dollar bills in his or her account. How do you play a controversial song to diss another colleague when both of you are still struggling to brand yourselves. As a growing industry, I don't personally think the time is ripe for musicians to engage in unnecessary scuffles. What they need to do now is to brand themselves to attract national attention (like some serious ones have started doing) rather than doing poor music just to claim to be "The King of Northern music", that thing really is funny to me. King of blah blah blah yet your music at best languishes in the gutters of Agbogbloshie? Common, at this time selling Dagbanli hiphop or hiplife should be our priority, when it is accepted nationwide, then we can start bragging about it. Or are we saying we're content with where it is now?

In any case, these days musicians get a chunk of their wealth from endorsement deals and no serious enterprise will sign a lousy musician whose best is to compose diss songs and engage in all the unnecessary controversies within his or her vicinity. Check Shatta Wale, how many deals has he had in his entire career, check Sarkodie, how many deals has he rejected? That is it, Shatta Wale has failed to brand himself well, so he gets little or no deals because no organization will like to associate itself with his kind of brand. On the other hand, check Sarkodie, he goes with his terms and conditions, if you can't meet that, others will, that's business! If I were these Artistes, I would ensure I feature any potential star ☆, I would have used the best to become the best, not this kind of lousy attitude. No need for needless controversies Let's wake up and follow trend, let's copy Prof Sark! -MY Awal Mburidiba is a Student at the University for Development Studies

A long time ago,Bob Marley said;"One good thing about music is,when it hits you ,you feel no pain". Now i say, "One good thing about Good Music is,when it hits you,you feel no pain". Not just any music,there are some musics you listen to and never wish for a second hearing,they really cause headache, heartache,earache and all the aches..#North@heart..#Northern music must grow..#must make sense.#Peace