Ghanaian broadcaster based in the United Kingdom, Austine Woode, has criticised the Ghanaian creative industry for focusing on trivial issues instead of uniting to achieve greater global success.
Speaking on his platform, Austine questioned why Nigerian artiste Burna Boy, who was once featured on Shatta Wale’s song Hosanna, has since surpassed Ghanaian acts on the international stage.
“How did Burna Boy who was featured on Hosanna by Shatta Wale just have that quantum jump over us? I think we revere in petty competition among ourselves when the competition is against the world out there. Because I ask myself when they did Hosanna, Shatta Wale was three times bigger than Burna Boy; Shatta Wale has been doing well since that time. He’s gone up, he has been featured by Beyoncé. But now Burna Boy across the world is like ten times bigger than Shatta Wale,” Austine noted.
He pointed to Burna Boy’s performance at the UEFA Champions League final as an example of how Ghana is lagging behind its Nigerian counterparts in international exposure.
Austine also lamented how some Ghanaian music fans and industry players celebrate small achievements, such as artistes filling modest venues abroad, rather than aiming for global-scale success.
“I think that there is a huge market we can harness out there but what we keep doing is always competitiveness which is negative. If competitiveness is positive it helps the industry to grow but for ours somebody will take pictures of one hour into the show and post that people didn’t go to the show,” he said.
He urged Ghanaian musicians to unite for a major event outside the country that truly represents Ghana on the global stage.
“I envisage a point in time where Sarkodie, Black Sherif, Stonebwoy, Shatta Wale, Kuami Eugene, Samini, Diana Hamilton will be billed for a Ghanaian Independence Day or Nkrumah Memorial Day staged in, say, the UK where there is a huge African population. We do proper groundwork and hit a ten-thousand-capacity auditorium; it will be a stepping stone for us,” he added.
Austine concluded that he has chosen to stay away from discussions about petty industry issues to focus on more meaningful conversations about growth and global relevance.
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