Mr Illiasu Lukeman, artiste manager and also the Chief Executive Officer of REM Properties, has urged Ghanaian artists and stakeholders to stick to the Ghanaian genre of music and make it better to attract investors.
He emphasized that for Ghanaian music to be global, “Language is not a barrier when it comes to music. We should stick to our musical identity,” adding “Let’s be consistent and we will get the results we need.”
According to him, artists in Ghana who follow every foreign genre are those trying to kill Ghana’s music, making them quickly lose their identity to follow other nationals’ styles of music.
“I believe the music industry has a lot to contribute to the Ghanaian economy but we don’t seem to concentrate much on Ghanaian music”.
Illiasu Lukeman called on the government, MUSIGA, and other organizations to allocate some funds to promote indigenous Ghanaian music to support artists gain international recognition.
He added that neighboring African countries have government and corporate organizations, as well as individuals, who work together to promote artists.
He stressed that the stakeholders in the creative industry should find creative measures to bring all the players on board to work toward the progress of the music industry.
As artiste manager who believes that Ghana has an abundance of talents that can be nurtured to compete on the world stage, Lukeman asked Ghanaians to be generous in their support of the country’s musicians who have what it takes to compete with those on the international music scene.
He indicated that the country’s music marketing plan should be strengthened in order to enhance the number of people who are aware of Ghanaian music and its international appeal, adding that structures in Ghana do not support musicians in their profession.
He charged Ghanaians and the music industry stakeholders to be aggressive in pushing Ghanaian music to the global market for the world knows that Ghana has something unique when it comes to music.
He urged Ghanaians to have confidence in what we produce and go to any length to promote and market it.
