Accomplished Highlife musician and member of the legendary Osibisa
group, Bessa Simons of “Belembe” fame has charged young talented
musicians whose hit songs receive radio and TV air play, to be
interested and ask questions about payment of their royalties.
He warned that, a chunk of their pensions are being eroded, as well as the financial support needed to develop their career.
He bemoaned the fruitless efforts made in the past to protect and
reward intellectual property, saying, he is hopeful nonetheless that,
the recently established Ghana Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO, whose
role it is to collect royalties will do a good job in resolving the
problems of the creative arts industry, working collectively with
MUSIGHA and the Copyright Office.
Contributing to a conversation on Tarzan’s Take on Multi TV, on the
journey of highlife music, Bessa recounted the days when Ghana was very
vibrant with lots of highlife musicians over a decade ago, saying that,
the country became difficult economically, ‘’hence many musicians
leaving the shores of Ghana because there was no night life’’.
The exodus of drummers, artists, keyboardists, guitarists and other
instrumentalists to Europe, gave rise to a new genre called Burger
highlife.
This era gave birth to highlife icons such as Ben Brako, George
Darko, Daddy Lumba, Nana Acheampong, Paapa Yankson, Jewel Ackah and many
others.
The Internationalisation of highlife, according to him, meant that
highlife was now being played with synthesizers, drum machines and all
kinds of modern gadgets. He further remarked that, fusion of highlife
with other international music was the hallmark of Osibisa, which gained
them international recognition.
Dr Charles Wereko Brobby, host of the programme was worried about the
trend where musicians retired in poverty after many years of active
service, and appealed to the sector Minister to enforce existing laws to
protect the interests of creative artistes
Prof. John Collins, an author, musicologist and museum keeper, who
was also guest on the programme, made reference to the practice in
Nigeria where the music union, in a bid to ensure that musicians receive
due payments for their works, strictly monitors and logs the number
of times an artiste’s music is played on the airwaves . Defaulters are
dragged to court, and action is taken to reward penalties.
