2022 has been a crazy year for the Ghanaian Afropop, R&B and Afrobeats songwriter and musician Raphael Camidoh Kofi Attachie, better known under the name Camidoh. On Y 107.9 FM Ghana’s “#TheDrYve”, he talks to the hosts Kojo Manuel and DJ Mic Smith about promoting his music in other countries, travelling, and the key to success.
The singer says that he feels blessed to be among the artists that people talk about. To stay relevant, he believes, you need to put in a lot of work – consistently. “It’s like building a bridge. There has to be a maintenance culture. If there isn’t, the bridge will break down.” In Camidoh’s eyes, your level of success is directly coupled with the amount of work that you put into your music. He does not claim to finally be “there” – he believes that this is an illusion and that you need to keep putting in effort and fighting to stay successful.
The musician admits that the beginning of the way to the top will always be hard. “I feel like when you are beginning as an artist, it’s like a mountain that you are climbing.” But, so he says, if you stop, it’s like you didn’t do any work at all.
The “Sugarcane” singer has been in the industry for roughly four years now. “The work keeps adding up, and the result keeps growing”, he says.
Nowadays, many artists make music purely for Tiktok and other social media platforms as their only way of promotion. Camidoh believes that this does not make any sense. He thinks that the smartest strategy is to not only concentrate on one platform but several others as well. Sometimes, Twitter will work better, and other times, Facebook will be the smartest way to go. To him, it is all about being flexible. “Marketing has no formula”, he says. “Whatever will spark the fire will spark the fire.”
The next subject raised by the host was the issue of Ghanaians barely listening to Ghanaian songs. Do they not support their own music culture? Camidoh denies this. “Ghanaians love quality”, he explains. And he believes that, for instance, Nigerian artists are a lot better at marketing their work. They do not simply stay in their country and hope for their people to support them but travel all around the world to make people get to know their music. “Ghanaians support quality and what is marketed to them.”
The musician’s newest song, “Slow”, is a collaboration with the Nigerian singer Magixx. They met when Camidoh travelled to Nigeria to promote the “Sugarcane” remix. “It’s important that you make collaborations across Africa”, he explains.
The song talks about taking it slow – not only in relationships. It can also inspire you in other means, like in life generally. Camidoh started working on “Slow” two years ago. It was meant to be part of an album that was supposed to be released last year. However, the artist notes that his distributors keep stretching the album. He hopes for it to be released in March 2023 under the name “Love is the answer”.
For the cause of marketing his music, Camidoh has travelled around the globe. He has been to France, England, the US and Portugal, just to name a few. “Music is something that will take you around the world”, he says. He admits that travelling itself is not even fun to him. “I only have fun when I go and perform and I feel that I am connected with the people.” And he believes that Ghanaian artists should focus more on marketing their songs outside of their own country. “One thing I’ve realized is that people around the world love music. They love Afrobeat. They love what we are doing here and they love Ghana. But we are not going there as much as we should.” He says that it does not matter whether people know you or your music. In his eyes, the world is a global village and people worldwide are also interested in Ghanaian music.
The Ghanaian makes a point of standing fully behind his music. “If I make a record and I select it for my team, my faith is at 100%”, he says. “I am a hungry artist. I want to make everything that music comes with. I want to make it all, and still inspire people. For me, it is a full package.” Camidoh’s mentality is hard work, love and humility.
There is an interesting extra to the singer’s new song “Slow”: He has partnered with “Audiomack” for a free verse challenge. Any talented artist who loves to listen to the song can participate. The link is in the bio of Camidoh’s Instagram account. All you need to do is click and download the audio, record your verse, and put it on “Audiomack”. The winner will be announced on 1st December. He or she will receive free studio equipment and full support from “Audiomack”.
