''PAYOLA''

Payola in the American music industry is the illegal practice of  payment or other inducement by record companies for the broadcast of recordings on music, in which the song is presented as being part of the normal days broadcast

Payola in Ghana is the ''normal'' practice of paying an amount of money to a disk jokey(dj),so that the music gains popularity.

Payola is from the word ''pay''.

MUSIC AWARDS

The music scene in Ghana has being rewarding for sometime now.musicians are now being recognized,appreciated and rewarded for their contribution to the act industry.
Music awards are are good initiative and have come to stay and to be accepted by musicians and stake holders of the music industry.Due to the fact that its quiet beneficial to organizers;music lovers are asked to text the names of their favorite artist to a particular short code in order the artist to win an award,thus organizers make money and rewarding to musicians;gain recognition.

There are various criteria for an artist to win an award.

These awards have now become a sort of yardstick to determine who is the best artist in the music industry.The awards compell the artist to work harder and improve themselves in order to be recognised and retain his prestige

Music awards brought about competition between artist since all musicians wants to be the best or the most popular artist during the year in review.

Most music awards are  basis for international awards and recognition.A typical example is when Sarkodie a hip-hop/hip-life artist from Ghana won the Best International Act Africa,from the BET Awards,mostly because of the numerous awards he has scooped in Ghana.

SEX APPEAL IN MUSIC VIDEOS

Sexuality in music videos has become more common for sometime now.this is because music videos have to attract the audience attention and convey the message quickly. The sexual content, which is included, is to convey the message quickly and attract the audience.

According to a social learning theory, in order for a mediated model to have a legitimate chance at gaining attention of a potential attendee, that model and its media form must be salient, striking, conspicuous and prominent.

We all agree that most videos nowadays contain too many references to sex. Most of the videos portrays sexual feelings and impulses, like scanty clad females in bikini, slapping their butts whiles gyrating towards each other, thrust of the pelvic, long lip licking or stroking.

Most sexual activities are mostly portrayed in hip life,hip-hop and r n b, because of the lyrics [choice of words] that artist uses in this genre of music. But my focus here is the Ghanaian hip life. Most say Ghanaian artist copies blindly from the foreign artist without taking into consideration the culture of the country. What most directors of music videos says is that ‘ sex sells’ so if an artist wants his music video to gain the recognition he seeks for then it becomes necessary to use a sex appeal to gain that that objective.

THE YOUTH AND MUSIC

soak in the moment

           Music they say is life. Music is soul .Music is inspirational. If music is all these, then no wonder the youth are so into it. The youth of nowadays are music savvy. It’s almost as if they worship music. The youth nowadays spend most of their time glued to most electronic gadgets and almost half of the time on digital music device such as iPods, smart phones, mp3s and the likes, listening to music.

         

          Gone are the days when parents admonish their wards when they desired to pursue music as a career, but the situation is almost entirely different now! Parents now accept and urge their wards on if they decide to do music even to the extent of financing them just because the music industry is now more enticing and lucrative and not forgetting the popularity one gain if he or she becomes a successful musician.

studies can be fun with music

          The youth now do not find it enough to only listen to music but also download it and enjoy live streaming of music and anything related to it. Music influences how people act and what they do.When asked what the youth gain from music, one student from Ghana Institute of Journalism GIJ, Miss Arabella Adu who is an underground rapper started that music soothes her whenever she was tired and also allows her to escape from all her worries and stress from school activities. I asked another student of University of Ghana Priscilla Mawena how music influence her life and she answered by saying listening to music gives her hope that everything is going to be ok and also makes her take her minds off things for a while.

          Now the question to really ask is what kind of music the youth like to listen to. And the obvious answers after an extensive survey proved that most youth like to listen to RnB, Hip-hop, Highlife, Dancehall and sometimes Reggae and Gospel when the mood is right, they claim. My personal experience with it is when I chanced upon one rap music on radio and felt the words were too “hardcore” and offensive for my liking. My reaction was that of repulsiveness. This goes to show a long way how music affects the sensibilities of the mind of individuals.So it might be very true that music has become part and parcel of individuals especially the youth to a large extent,but the question is how we it is affecting us in our interactions with others within our habitats.

HISTORY OF GHANAIAN MUSIC

Ghana is one African country whose culture is majorly made up of music.  Ghana is often described as a land of festivals, music, and traditional dances. That said, it can really be said that music is indeed part and parcel of the traditions of the country.

The music of Ghana was infused and highly influenced by Caribbean soldiers who were in the country with the Indian troop’s .During the night and their spare time they played their brass bands called calypsos. Ghanaian soldiers also followed suit therefore brought the spread across the southern to the northern country. The influence brought about ballroom music groups such as Jazz kings, Cape Coast Sugar Babies, Accra Orchestra, Rag-a-Jazz Orchestra. These bands entertained top- hatted elites.

E.T MENSAH-HIGHLIFE LEGEND

Although the term ‘highlife’ was not coined until the 1920’s it existed before then under various names and

Its creation occurred as a blending of local African and foreign music in three imported contexts: the

Coastal military-fort brass bands, the port music of seamen and fishermen, and the local dance orchestras of the Christian elite of coastal towns such as Accra, Cape Coast and Winneba.The sound of which there were a few variations, generally combined multiple guitar rhythms with a brass band backing, as well as various percussion instruments.

After the Second World War, the Tempos headed by E.T Mensah began to concentrate more on highlife with a touch of jazz and calypso rather than the ballroom orchestra, Kofi Ghanaba the drummer of the group added Afro-Cuban percussions to make it livelier and interesting. Highlife became so successful that many dance bands modeled themselves on it. Examples of these groups are Black Beads, Rambles,The Rakers of Ghana.

THE OSIBISA BAND

THE RAMBLERS

  Highlife began to evolve to Afro-rock. This was created by the London based Ghanaian group called Osibisa. And also merge into Burgher highlife, Ghanaian musicians who had gone abroad began returning home and bringing a new disco   highlife style, created by George Darko and lee Dodou .Drum machine and synthesizers horns were used to create the disco feel. Burgher highlife then paved way for local reggae. Felix Bell and Roots Amaboe introduced the Rastafarian dreadlocks hair fashion in Ghana accompanied with the music highlife reggae. Gospel highlife also emerged into the scene,which saw musicians like  Suzzy and Matt, Tagoe sisters and the rest and later emerged to hip life, which seems to have come to stay. It emerged in the 90s by Reggie Rockstone also known as hip life grandpapa.Its a local rap in Twi and Ga which became very popular among the youths. Sounds used were computerized and sample backing.                     

In all,it could be said that Ghana has a rich music culture,which has evolved in time and appreciated by various generations.