Popular Highlife musician Bisa Kdei blamed the lack of promotion of Ghanaian music during the Year of Return and Beyond the Return celebrations to the low level of acceptance of Ghanaian music abroad.
Speaking on Accra FM on March 28, Bisa Kdei acknowledged the influence that the Year of Return and the Beyond the Return celebrations had on the artistic landscape, but asserted that instead of promoting Amapiano and Afrobeats, those events should have been used to promote real Ghanaian music, such as Highlife.
“We didn’t seem to make the most of the Year of Return,” In search of genuine Ghanaian music, some visitors from abroad—including Nigerians—came to Ghana. But we were occupied with entertaining them with Afrobeats and Amapiano. Which songs will they carry with them when they return to their own countries?
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“The Year of Return was enormous and drew a large number of visitors from all around the world. We had a chance to market ourselves and sell our culture. However, he remarked, if you went to the clubs at that time, they were occupied with promoting music from other nations.
According to him, this circumstance is what made these sounds popular in foreign markets whereas Ghanaian music was not.
Therefore, if a Ghanaian musician wishes to perform live, Westerners won’t come since they won’t be able to recognise his music. However, they acknowledge Amapianos and Afrobeats,” he said.
