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The National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI) in collaboration with the French Embassy in Ghana is organizing a two-week regional workshop for African music writers, composers and performers to produce appropriate sound tracks to back African films. Mr Martin Loh, Director of the Institute, opening the workshop on Thursday, said the idea of training local musicians to be able to compose appropriate sound backing for African movies was hatched years back but due to financial constraints it had not been able to bring the dream to reality.

He thanked the French Embassy for providing fund and renowned resource persons to train the selected 10 participants from Ghana, Burkina-Faso and Togo who would train others as well. Mr Loh noted that unlike the western film industries, which uses their our original sound tracks to back and blend with specific scenes in their movies, almost 90 percent of African movies had these borrowed Western sound tracks that do not in most cases blend with the scenes of the movie.

“Though most of our African movies have beautiful images, the poor sound track to back the scenes makes the entire movie incomplete and we need to rectify this shortfall in order that our productions compete favorably with other films on the international market,” he said.

He said the African film industry was still developing, and urged the participants to make the best out of the training. Mr Pierre Jacquemot, French Ambassador in Ghana said the Embassy was pleased to be associated with such a reform in the film industry in Africa, as it was the first time such a workshop was being held in the whole of the African continent.

He asked the participants to be very serious with the work as the success of the programme would depend on their maiden composition and outcome.

Mr Jacquemot underscored the importance of music to the environment, and said Africa was blessed with a large number of its own traditionally created musical instruments, which could be used to create unique music backings for its own movie setting without necessarily blending them with western sound tracks.

“Africa is already plagued with a wide range of problems such as wars, superstitions and other negative perceptions, which do not help in its development, therefore it is the duty of the film industry to appeal to minds and conscience of the people through positive images for a change,” he said.

He advised film producers to take a cue from the negative happenings in African societies, partly due to some of these negative things that some of these movies portray and begin to change African productions to portray more positive things about Africa.

John Mensah Sarpong who doubles as the President of Ghana Association of Phonographic Industries and CEO of JMS Music Productions seems to be getting his acts right this year as he continues to lobby for more deals for GAPI to support and improve standards of the Ghanaian Music Industry.

He is probably the only president of any music group in Ghana who has so far achieved a lot in terms of getting sponsorships for his Association.

In August 2007, he lobbied for funds from The Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund which led to series of workshops to seek inputs from stakeholders in Ghana’s music industry on the draft document for policy intervention to establish long-term financing for the industry.

Recently under the leadership of Mr. Mensah, GAPI signed a Memorandum of Understanding with an Internet Service provider in Norway to establish a bank in Ghana to support the music industry.

The proposed bank, to be known as the Copyright Investment Bank, will serve as a security and guarantee for musicians, producers and other stakeholders in the music industry to access credit facilities to support and expand their intellectual works.

As Chief Executive Officer his record label JMS Music Productions, he has executively produced some of the hit albums of Ghana Music Awards Winner Kwaku Gyasi, Stella Aba Seal, Jane & Bernice, Rev. Yaw A. Benjamin and Ama Boahemaa.

Congrats on your good work JMS!

American R&B singer, songwriter, and pianist John Legend is billed to perform in Ghana on Saturday 27th October 2007.

The concert which comes off live at the Independence square in Accra also features reggae legend Luciano and South Africa-based Nigerian jazz guitarist Kunle.

Joining the performance from the Ghanaian music circles are Obrafour, Tinny, Slim Busterr, King Ayisoba, Ohemaa Mercy, Gyedu Blay-Ambolley and Wulomei.

The hiplife music originator Obuoba Reggie Rockstone and the Music legend Mac Tontoh of Osibisa fame will also be joining the teeming crowd to dish out some good music.

The show which is organized by Creative Storm is to support the flood victims and eradication of guinea worm infection in the northern part of Ghana.

The concert is sponsored by mobile telecommunications giants TIGO.

It is interesting to know how our young Ghanaian Musicians always start up as a group, do good songs, and later split up with series of “beef” and acrimony.

I wonder if you remember the feud that existed between X-doe and Chicago of Daavi Mede Kuku Fame. After coming together to do a nice tune, each of them wanted to claim the fame for writing that song. Who cares about the song writer when mechanical royalties don’t even work in Ghana?

A similar feud is currently going on between Nana Kontihene and his one time Protégé Kwabena Kwabena and I wonder when they will settle this beef.

After coming out with Aso, which led to Kwabena Kwabenaa winning an award as the Best Male Vocal Act of the Year at the 2006 Ghana Music Awards, Kontihene is claiming he wrote the song.

Kontihene was on Abeiku Santana’s Fusion on TV3 two weeks ago, claiming he owned the song Aso and that he even wrote Kwabena Kwabena’s verse for him.

Then a week after Kwabena Kwabena appears on the same programme and claiming he owns it.

When will Kontihene and Kwabena Kwabena ever come clean?

Ghanaian musicians are becoming philantropists of late; Barely a month after the King of Street and Hiplife Music Kwaw Kese donated food items and cookwares to the Peace and Love Orphange managed by Maame Dorkono, another music was in the news last weekend for a similar act.

Award winning highlife musician of the year 2007, Ofori Amponsah made some donations to victims of last months floods in north.

Ofori Amponsah together with one Andrews Adjei presented 22 bags of maize and a sum of GHC 200 to the Upper East Regional Coordinating Council to be distributed to the flood victims.

Presenting the items, Ofori Amponsah, said he was moved by the plight of the victims from the area, which was already economically deprived and had been hit by the flood and decided with Andrews Adjei Digital Company to present the bags of maize as their “widows mite” to the victims.

He indicated he and the Company would do everything possible to mobilize more relief items to the victims in the area and appealed to others to do so.

Via Ghana Music