Following the rising global appetite for ‘Afrobeats’ music, a form of music that encapsulates African indigenous rhythms fused with foreign elements such funk and so on, it is no doubt that Africa and the world are dancing to one tune without paying attention to race or colour.
This is what Ghanaian Socialite Van Calebs is has advised Ghanaian talents to look at. Earlier today in an online interview, he explained that Ghanaian dance should be fused with the ‘Afrobeats’ genre so as to help project it to the world even further.
Breaking down his reason, Van Calebs stated that home grown contemporary dance ‘Azonto’, drew a lot of attention from the international community to Ghana during its peak hence, same can be down with ‘Afrobeats’.
“Azonto took Ghana places and we became a topic for a while. Even Grammy award winner Wyclef Jean featured on a song with Fuse ODG which went very far. Gasmilla also was invited to BBC and other platforms to teach Azonto.
Even our neighbour Nigeria jumped on it with Wizkid and American Singer Chris Brown acknowledging it; not forgetting ‘P-Square’ who also borrowed our style.
It was indeed a moment to be a proud Ghanaian and for the fun side of Ghanaian culture to be marketed. But, we couldn’t sustain it and grow it so it faded out. But, Afrobeats is now everywhere and even Ghanaian musicians are doing it. So, why don’t we also make it our own properly by adding some of our unique dance? “, he said.
Furthermore, Van Calebs said ‘Afrobeats’ relates very well with African dance rhythms and so bonding with indigenous Ghanaian rhythms wouldn’t be difficult. “You can hear something similar to some of our own music in almost every Afrobeats’ song…
The drum pattern, the timing, and so on. These make it even more easier for us as Ghanaians to relate and adapt to Afrobeats music.
And that’s why it’s a special kind of genre because, it makes you dance even when you don’t understand the words… I mean, you can’t sit still at an Afrobeats’ concert, you will get up and dance. So, dance is already incorporated in it and that’s why I think Ghanaian musicians should make Ghanaians dance part of their Afrobeat songs”, he explained.
In contradiction to Van Calebs suggestion, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture of Ghana Hon. Mark Okraku Mantey, stated in March this year that, Afrobeats has and continues to project more of the Nigerian identity more than the Ghanaian identity and added that in his opinion, it was a mistake for Ghanaian musician to have accepted to be performing under the label of ‘Afrobeats’; especially internationally.
Currently, Afrobeats is recognized as a music genre in Ghana and even has a category slot in the nominations at Ghana’s annual music awards … Vodafone Ghana Music Awards. Many of the new top musicians are claiming it as their official music genre such as KiDi, Camidoh, and Me Drew. The Afrobeats genre remains one of the most popular music genres in Ghana till date.
