Ghanaian highlife singer and songwriter, Kwabena Kwabena, has asserted that African songwriters are not able to express themselves well when they compose in English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Assessing the standard of songwriting in Ghana, Kwabena Kwabena said although some Ghanaian songwriters are doing well with their craft, others are not churning up quality materials.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He told Joy FM\u2019s Kwame Dadzie in an interview on A-Z<\/strong> that a good song must have good melody, catchy chorus and message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u2018Adult \u2019 hit maker said a lot of African musicians (and Ghanaians for that matter) who sing in their native languages exude some depth in the messages their songs carry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe truth of the matter is, English done in English by our African musicians lack a lot of depth.\u00a0Take 10 African music and you can sample just about 10 lyrics which are dangling or intersecting with almost every song. And that\u2019s not great songwriting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He indicated that with regards to originality of lyrics by Africans who compose songs in English, the standard of songwriting is low.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n He named Olivetheboy, Lasmid, Amerado and Black Sherif as young Ghanaian artistes who are doing well with songwriting.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kwabena who declined to mention the list of artistes he has written songs for explained that most people in Ghana feel that it is condescending to announce one’s contribution to a piece of work in terms of songwriting.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also noted he has not charged for any of the songs he wrote for other musicians but will start doing so soon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This comes on the back of a recent issue between Kuami Eugene and Mr. Drew, where the former said he wrote a song for\u00a0\u00a0Mr Drew but he had not been paid nor given credit for his input.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n To a lot of music connoisseurs , this development shows the cracks in the business side of the songwriting craft in Ghana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n