Bessa Simons
Acting President of Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), Bessa Simons, says one of the ways to sustain the highlife genre as the national cultural heritage is by supporting young musicians who decide to do highlife music.
He believes that it is the only sure way to promote the growth of Ghanaian music and also enable musicians to make a living in order to continue producing good highlife music.
Bessa Simons mentioned that Ghanaian highlife musicians should be given the platform to perform their songs live, adding that the nature of highlife is such that if not played live, it loses its touch.
The veteran highlife musician with international recognition said he was worried about the dwindling fortunes of highlife, which according to him represents the cultural heritage of Ghana.
”Every country wants to sustain its cultural heritage so as to curtail the influences of other foreign cultures. Many countries have supported systems with grants for artistes who want to do local music or film,” he disclosed.
According to him, “These are the kind of things I would like the government to do in order to cushion young and upcoming musicians so that they are not tempted to do other genres.”
He charged Ghanaians to be aggressive in pushing Ghanaian highlife music to the global market for the world to know that Ghana has something unique when it comes to music, adding that it is about time we push our own music, and stop the idea of promoting foreign songs.
“It is about time we push our own music if we want to be recognised globally on the world music scene. We need to play more of our music instead of the foreign ones,” he added.
The MUSIGA president however, suggested that it’s high time Ghanaians took highlife music serious. He also advised Ghanaian highlife musicians to step up their game because the highlife genre is dying in Ghana.
He mentioned that plans have been instigated to get support for young musicians, and hopes the package would be a game-changer for the rejuvenation of highlife music.
”We have already started working at getting support for young musicians who want to do highlife music but it is important we push the government to make this support available as soon as possible,’’ he noted.
By George Clifford Owusu