#MusicMadeInGH: ’Ghanaians killed the Azonto genre’ – Appietus

Ghanaian sound engineer, music producer and musician, Appiah Dankwah popularly known as Appietus says Ghanaians should blame themselves for the sudden disappearance of the Azonto genre.
Talking to Kokonsa Kester on Y 107.9 FM’s Weekend Rush show, he said, “Ghanaians have killed Azonto and that’s just how we are. We always start something with so much enthusiasm but gradually discard it”.
According to Appietus, now defunct Nigerian Afro-pop twins, P-square almost stole the genre from us with their “Alinko” song. “They almost replicated Azonto into their own version but they could not do it and yet, we didn’t learn our lesson”, he shared.
Citing an example he said, “I don’t think Jamaicans have left Reggae and Dancehall for others to claim it as theirs. Ghanaians can never say they started Dancehall and in the same way, Jamaicans can never say they brought Highlife because these genres have an identity. That is the same identity we should have created for the Azonto dance craze”.
Appietus believes Ghanaians did not embrace the dance and have carelessly left it for Nigerians to take over. “It is now too late for us to go back for what rightfully belongs to us”.
He ended by saying, “We claim Azonto is ours but it’s not functioning. We’ve left it so we can never have a steady industry and we should have ourselves to blame because we all made this happen”.
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By: Gyamfuah Owusu-Ackom