Ghanaian musician Edem Goget’em has recounted how an award scheme in Ghana wanted him to perform for free for an award and a video shoot.
The ‘Toto’ singer told Kwame Dadzie on Joy FM’s Showbiz A to Z that because he declined the offer, he lost the slot to another artiste.
“There was a year where an award scheme said I should come and do a free performance so that I would win an award and also alongside that they would shoot a video for me. I said ‘no’, and another artiste won the award and they shot the video for him,” he said.
Although he declined to mention the name of the award scheme, he noted how elements in the music industry manipulate the system to favour themselves.
Asked which artiste won the award in his stead, he quipped “it is not my duty to use my platform to promote anybody.”
Speaking about other things that draw the music industry back, the versatile Ghanaian musician said people in the Ghanaian society are overly fond of comparing great achievements of Ghanaian creatives to people outside, always trying to belittle what is Ghanaian.
He noted that while most Ghanaians may not revel in glories of their own, some people in other countries really appreciate Ghanaians who have excelled in their creative fields.
He mentioned how American music producer told him he was so fond of legendary Ghanaian musician Ebo Taylor.
“I was having an open conversation with Swiss Beatz and he said Ebo Taylor was his favourite artiste in the world.
He has even sampled Ebo Taylor’s songs in the ‘Godfather of Harlem’ series,” Edem mentioned.
Edem is currently promoting his latest work ‘We Don’t Really Care’, a song that talks about individuals not fretting about what others think about them.