Panelist on Adom FM’s entertainment review analysis programme Adom Billboard, last Saturday called on the Government and the Ministry responsible for culture to take steps to enforce the intellectual property law of the country and protect the current craze dance dubbed “Azonto” before it is pirated and adopted by another country.
Intellectual property is any form of original creation that can be bought or sold, from music to machinery. The four main types of Intellectual property rights are patents, trademarks, designs and copyright.
According to them the dance believed to have been originated by Ghanaians should be branded, patented, packaged and adopted in line with international standards for the transformation of traditional dance like Kpanlogo into Azonto dance in different style.
Already, the Ghana News Agency (GNA) has it that “the sole Ghanaian Dance Craze Azonto, is making wide waves around the world and threatening to spawn its own YouTube industry as dance enthusiasts try to out-do each other by posting the most hilarious and most accomplished Azonto moves on the video channel”.
The dance which has already incurred the displeasure of some pastors who described the dance as demonic and anti-Christianity is believed to have been originated from the traditional coastal areas of Accra like Bukom, Chorkor, James Town and to the large extent Tema where Kpanlogo dance is popular among the indigenes.
The Azonto Dance is a Ghanaian dance which involves movement of most of the joints in the body in a rhythmic fashion taking every few turning and twisting of one leg. Just like most African dances, knee bending and hip movements are rudiments to dancing it. Movement in the dance includes washing, driving, boxing and make-ups among others.
The name Azonto believed to have been coined from the Ga language was first heard from one of the trio of R2Bees from his song “Azonto” in 2004 and since then it has been popularized by young artistes like, Sarkodie, Castro, R2Bees, Stay Jay, Eduwoji, Cash Unit, FBS, V.I.P, 4X4 and Zigi.
In a related development, the 2011 Ghana Music Awards Best Hiplife Artistes and Best Collaboration winner Castro who also called into the programme attributed the popularity of the dance to Ghana Black Stars’ top notch striker Asamoah Gyan otherwise known as Baby Jet and the Ambassador of Tourism. This he said is as of a result of his exploits in the world cup and Sunderland FC in UK where he did the Azonto anytime he scored. He believed the unique choreography Azonto dance in the African Girls video helped to popularize the dance all over the world.
Darlynn Amess-Kotei (DJ Amess)