Veteran Ghanaian Highlife musician, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley has decried the nature of lyrical content being churned out by the new crop of musical artistes in Ghana.
The originator of Ghanaian rap music and legendary saxophonist believes that musicians should use their songs as a tool for social commentary, education and activism
In a recent interview on the GTV Breakfast Show, Ambolley noted that artists of recent times have failed to create songs that promote our culture or speak on societal issues.
Rather, they highlight inconsequential matters, especially their female lovers and their bodies. Buttressing his point, he cited their music video as being overtly sexual and straying away from proper Ghanaian norms.
“If I’m going to talk about it, I think they are singing more about their girlfriends than what is happening socially because if you watch recent music videos, you will see these young girls always shaking their butts”, Mr Ambolley explained
His comments have raised an important question about the role of music in society as musicians have always had a powerful medium to express their ideas, feelings, and opinions
The veteran musician further explained that young artists who compose such songs do not have many responsibilities as opposed to their senior colleagues who are seasoned and meandered the brevities of life.
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“I don’t blame them because the young ones don’t have responsibilities, if you have a responsibility, it will reflect in your lyrics and your music videos but I think they are enjoying themselves, so you can find out from their video and how everything is being portrayed.”
