Talented Ghanaian highlife, singer and songwriter, Kuami Eugene, has emphatically stated that good music is not always in English as most people think.
As an artiste, he believes that there are a lot of amazing music most people still listen to today but don’t understand, especially African music.
Speaking to Rev. Erskine on Y107.9FM’s Myd Morning Show, he said, “There are a lot of African music we don’t understand but still jam to, and I think music travels far regardless hence, you have to do good music and once it sounds good people jump on it.”
However, he believes language barrier will be a challenge if the artiste wants to make it on the international market.
“If you’re able to break through that barrier, then you can do the O2 arena and other places because those coming to watch you want to sing along, and if they don’t understand anything about the music it’s quite difficult,” he explained.
Citing Nigerians as an example, he mentioned language as an advantage for the Nigerian music industry, as they sing almost all their songs in English.
“The fact that they use a lot of pidgin in their music and because it’s English, people understand what’s being said. So, when it’s played somewhere, it doesn’t have to be explained because they can understand everything being said in the song,” he said.
The award winning singer and songwriter noted that it’s not bad to love and respect your heritage and whatever you’re doing but also, it won’t be bad if our music gets out there because others understand what we’re talking about.
“It’s good but if you really want to get on the international market you have to do something they’ll understand and that means adding a little of what they can relate to,” he discussed.
By: Gyamfuah Owusu-Ackom