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Boosting the Music Industry
With my eyes wide open and my nose well-distended, I have been seeing and smelling what is happening in the music industry in Sikaman. My interest in the music industry is not the result of mere curiosity. Fact is that Kwame Alomele should have been a musician and not a journalist, “but God no gree.”
Small boys are young. And when I was small and young, I learnt to play the guitar. Seth Ansah of Site 21 who taught me how to manipulate the strings told me I was a fast learner. I said he was lying.
I figured he only wanted to flatter me, but within quite a short period of time I became a guitarist and my bosom friend Kofi Kokotako also learnt to become a dancer. Actually, if it hadn’t been for school, we’d have performed and made some money.
Earlier, I had learned to play the piano and organ and I also taught Seth a few lessons in the use of keyboards and later, the wahwah synthesiser. Certainly, I was on the sure steady way of becoming a musician.
I began dreaming and day-dreaming I was indeed a musician. I was Jimi Hendrix wiring 18 strings to great effects, the frenzied crowd cheering and cheering as I hit the stage. It was a youthful experience one needed to have.
In school, I used to disappear every afternoon only to materialise at the training place of the Supreme Dynamos Band just to watch them train. I used to cherish those moments.
Then one day I told my mother I wanted to be a musician. She was glad. She liked the music of the masters like Bach’s Jesu Joy Of Man’s Desiring, the Messiah by Handel and the wonderful masterpieces of Mozart and Beethoven. If I could be like any of them, she’d thank God.
“Go ahead, why not?” she encouraged me.
“I’m not saying I want to be a classical musician-o,” I explained. “I want to be like Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff.”
She simply asked me to go and report to my Dad the nonsense I was trying to spew. But of course, Dad wouldn’t come into a matter of this kind. He’d strangle me to death upon merely hearing the name of the great Bob Nestor Marley, the legendary reggae king.
I had to abandon the idea and stick to chemistry books. No fooling around! Man must become a medical doctor.
Since then, however, my heart has always been in music and, as afore-mentioned, I have followed the developments in the music industry. Luckily, I recently stumbled upon information that would be of value to music producers.
Ghana can now boast of having the MACKIE MIDI AUTOMATED RECORDING CONSOLE, arguably the best recording equipment worldwide. It is right here in Ghana. If good music is not properly recorded, it loses its quality.
It reminds me of what Kwame Korkorti once told me. “If you don’t spice the nicest chunks of meat, you don’t get the taste.” Of course, Korkorti is a man who doesn’t joke with his stomach and values the tongue that tastes food.
Yes, when I had the information that NANA BOAMAH of ARC STUDIOS, Tema, had just installed the expensive equipment, I traced my way to Community Eleven to catch a glimpse.
I was confronted by the most professional studio in town with 56 Channels of Mackie Recording Console, which won the BEST MIXER and the MOST INNOVATIVE PRODUCT FOR THE YEAR AWARD, 1994 in the United States.
Nana Boamah was “hoarding” what I term as every musician’s delight — the best music mixer in America. Nana himself is a man you’ll like unless you’re a devil. He is unassuming, of fine personality and a good Christian as far as I know. The only thing I don’t know is whether or not he speaks in tongues. He attributes the progress of his work to the Almighty.
Nana is an Honoury Graduate in Sound Engineering, precisely a product of the SCHOOL OF SOUND ENGINEERING in the United States. Most of his works taken by Executive Producers and artistes outside the country for compact discs and cassette printing in different studios always recommend his mixes. An example is Kwadwo Akwaboah’s latest music for Isaac Taylor’s ROOT WORLD MUSIC.
I wanted a chat. In spite of what people say of Nana Boamah’s great works, he has never really been in the news.
“Nana, why don’t you get publicity for your contributions towards the improvement of the music industry?”
“In fact, I don’t like cheap popularity or publicity,” he said. “I always want to toil and work and through my good works I can achieve my popularity or publicity without asking for it.”
“So you mean you haven’t been advertising your studio?”
“No. Since it was established in 1988, I have not even done a single advert in the newspapers.”
“So how come your studio is known to all musicians?”
“That’s why I say the good works will advertise the studio by themselves without me asking for it.”
I now wanted to know why he had gone in for the highly expensive, almost prohibitive MACKIE CONSOLE.
“It is always good to go for the best in terms of sound quality. In fact, it has taken me two years looking for a mixing console which has got all the technical qualities that any professional worth his salt should have.”
I also wanted to know the contribution the ARC STUDIO has made towards the growth of the music industry.
“In fact, coming to Arc, one does not need to hire musical instruments because the studio is well-equipped with all kinds of instruments as you can see; all kinds of guitars, drum machines, sound modules.
“We don’t hire them to our customers; they use them for free just to help them cut costs. We also provide free professional engineering services including mixing and free computer programming. We also give professional advice on production free of charge. That is our modest contribution.”
I remarked that with everything free including professional advice, the studio must be for charity. “It seems to me you are also a shareholder in the music industry.”
“Well, I am not a shareholder. I’m only trying to help up-and-coming musicians. Who knows whether one day, Ghana will produce another Michael Jackson? If we don’t encourage them with these free services, their talents will never come to light. Arc Studio is really for the people. We have to sacrifice for the people.”
“You say your studio has the biggest or largest tracks. What do you mean by that?”
Nana Boamah explained that tracks and channels are determined by the number of inputs and outputs that a mixer or recorder can take and come out at a given time. “At the moment, the mixer I’m using takes 68 inputs and during mix-down doubles up to 124 channels.”
Yes, Dr Mensah, a resident of the USA, has this to say of Nana Boamah’s work: “After wasting our time to get the best, we decided to compare our works with what you recorded on the date you sent to us, and saw that your mix was the best and we had to drop ours.”
Well, the music industry is being patronised by many young musicians and gospel singers. It goes without saying we need to improve the quality of the works to enable them become exportable commodities. The time is now.
So hail that day a Michael Jackson will be born in Sikaman and we shall have no problem making it BIG just like the Yanks made Michael Jackson big by their technical and moral support.
This article was first published on Saturday, December 17, 1997.
THE state of feeling rejected, could be a terrifying experience especially for those who have become used to fame. If not properly addressed, it could lead to depression and the consequences, could be disastrous.
When you are on top of your game in whatever profession you find yourself such that you become famous, a lot of people try to associate with you. The phone never ceases to ring and one is tempted to feel loved and very important.
When a disaster strikes and the fame or the money which was the source of the attraction fades away, the circle of friends and fans begin to shrink and the phone will start to stop ringing until the call stops voting completely.
You will be shocked at how people you considered friends, will no longer be calling you or pay casual visits as they used to. You will begin to notice that messages you leave after calling them and not getting a response are not replied to and that is when you begin to know who your true friends are.
One of the most popular movie stars was an actress called Sharon Stone. In an interview with one of the media houses that was published, she spoke about how people who should have come around to encourage her in her moment of depression, shunned her. The calls stopped coming.
This is what the Bible admonishes that the arm of flesh will fail you and therefore we should put our trust in God. It could be a very frightening experience and can easily lead to depression.
Human nature being what it is, people will want to get close if things are okay. Everybody wants to associate themselves with interesting things, famous people, rich people etc for mainly selfish reasons.
We need to develop the habit of putting our trust in God and relying less on human beings. The lesson we have to take along in life is that, no one marries his or her enemy so how come people who took vows that they will love each other become so hostile to each other that they want to go their separate ways in life? Such is the reality of life.
It is therefore prudent for people to recognise that, life is full of uncertainties and so there is the need to prepare your mind for uncertainties so that when they occur, they do not disorganise your mental sanity.
A lot of people have experienced situations where people who they could have sworn will never betray their trust have disappointed them when they were through challenging moments.
If there is one thing famous people should desire, it should be the ability to identify who are true friends are. Countless stories abound regarding incidence of celebrities who have lost their shine and their wives divorcing them soon after.
It is sometimes useful as a famous or rich person to sign a prenuptial agreement before marriage to safeguard or protect yourself from any future unpleasant surprises.
People can be very pretentious these days, it goes both ways. There is this real life story where a man married a divorced wealthy woman and convinced her to sell her house so they could build a new one together, with the excuse that people are gossiping that he is being housed by a woman.
The woman agreed and they put up a new building. After a few years the man asked for a divorce, only for the woman to realise that the land on which the building was situated, was bought in the man’s name.
This can drive a person insane, if you are not mentally tough and this happens to you. When people hear that you are homeless, a lot of your so-called friends will stop calling, so that you do not become a burden on them.
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
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‘But, er …. I don’t even know your name’.
‘Paul. Paul Allotey. I’m Sarah, by the way. Paul, why don’t you leave me here, since this is the last important thing I’m doing today’.
‘Okay. Now Sarah. I was just thinking. You will be here at the cafe for about an hour. By then it will be about twelve thirty. Then, you would be thinking of buying yourself some lunch, to eat here or to take home. So if you would please allow me, I will take you to one of the nicest eating places in town, and after you have sorted that one out, then I can drop you home. Just that one errand, then I won’t bother you again’.
‘You are not bothering me at all. You are being very kind to me. And I just realised you are a mind reader too. The last item on my agenda was lunch’.
‘I’m so glad I appeared at your doorstep, just in time’.
‘Okay. Now Paul, since you say the cafe is a comfortable place, let’s go in together, and you can do your work while I get my application done’.
‘Okay, Sarah. Thanks. Let’s go’.
We got back in the car at eleven forty-five.
‘So where are we going, Paul?’
‘To Royalty restaurant. It’s a twenty minute drive away’.
‘So, do you enjoy your job?’
‘Most certainly. I won’t change it, not even to be President. And am I right to say that you are preparing to enter the university?’
‘That’s my plan. I hope it works’.
‘It will, if you are determined, and disciplined. You look very much like a disciplined person’.
‘Thank you very much’.
We arrived at Royalty in twenty-five minutes, ‘You are joining me for lunch, Paul’.
‘Thanks for the honour, Sarah. But the bill is on me’.
‘Aren’t you taking on too much for one day?’
‘I never do anything that is bigger than me, Sarah’.
Over the next hour and a half, we discussed fashion, local and international politics, and sports, as we ate and relaxed. Finally, he drove me to the shop.
‘I will never forget you, Paul’.
‘I’m glad to have been helpful. But if you don’t mind, I’ll say it again, your husband is extremely lucky. You are really beautiful’.
‘Thanks again. But do you mind if I call you sometime in the future?’
‘Certainly not. Let me write it here. I will not ask for your number, for obvious reasons. But I will be looking forward to hearing from you. And hopefully, I will see you next month, when I call to drop your bill’.
‘Okay Paul. See you then’. What a lovely day, I said to myself as I opened the front door. I closed the shop and got home by seven. I went straight to the bedroom, stood in the mirror and took a good look at myself. ‘You are a very beautiful woman, Sarah. Never forget that’. I will not forget that, again.
Over the next several weeks, Martin and I had very little to do with each other. In the morning he ate his breakfast and after a shabby ‘I’m going’, he left. He came home around eight at the earliest, ate his dinner and, already soaked in beer, went off to sleep.
He spent the greater part of the weekends at the club house with his friends, playing tennis and partying. My mind was focused on furthering my education, so I didn’t complain to him, and didn’t bother to inform my parents about what was happening. I had decided that I would only take action if he lifted his hand against me again. I spent my free time reading all manner of interesting stuff on the internet, and chatting with my sister on WhatsApp.
One evening, he came home at about eight, rushed to the bedroom and rushed out. An envelope, obviously containing money, dropped out of his pocket, and I picked it up and followed him. I was going to call him and give it to him, but I noticed that there was a young woman in the car, so I went back in, counted it and put it in a drawer in the hall. He came back after some ten minutes.
‘Excuse me, I dropped an envelope containing money. You must have seen it’.
‘Yes, I saw it. Actually, I followed you, and was about to call you and hand it over to you when I realised that there was a woman in the car, so I came back in. I counted it. One thousand cedis.
‘Well let me have it. I have to be going’.
‘I will let you have it if you will tell me who the woman in the car is, and why you are going to give her that amount of money’.
‘Listen, if you waste my time, I will teach you a lesson you will never forget. Give me the money now!’
‘Here’s what we will do, Martin. I know you will give money to her anyway, so I will give it to you, if you will withdraw the threat you just issued. But I want you to know that I will be taking some steps from tomorrow. Things are getting out of hand’.
‘Okay, I’m sorry I threatened you. Can you please give me the money’. I handed it over to him, and he ran out’.
The following morning, I waited for him to finish having breakfast, and told him I wanted to have a word with him urgently.
‘You better be quick. You know I’m going to work’.
‘Well, I want to inform you that I will inform my parents, and your parents, about the situation in this house. As I said yesterday, things are getting out of hand. You spend most of your time drinking. You get drunk every evening, and through the weekend. And you are also spending your time and money on a prostitute’.
‘How dare you? One more stupid word from you …’
‘Am I lying, Martin? You have just started life, yet you are behaving like a rich, elderly man who has already seen his children through university, and can afford a life of fun. As I said, I’m going to inform our parents. Maybe your parents can straighten you out before it is too late’.
‘Look, we can talk this evening. It’s nothing like what you are saying’. He walked away, shocked.
That evening, I was expecting to have a meaningful discussion with him, but his mother called early in the evening to offer me some ‘advice’. Her son had called to say that certain developments at home were disturbing him so much that they were beginning to affect his work.
And, ‘as a loving mother to her daughter’, she was advising me to submit to my husband, and support him in prayer, and not ‘drive him from home’. Men would always be men, and she was telling me ‘from experience’ that no matter how much time Martin stayed away from home, he would always come home to me.
She had been a young wife before, so she understood the challenges I was facing. So I could be assured that if I followed her advice, all would be well. And, of course, she didn’t allow me to tell my side of the story.
Martin came home very late, and very drunk. And from the next morning, he carried on as before. With some hesitation, I called my dad and told him all that had gone on.
‘Well, my daughter. I’m not going to say “I told you so”. I was only trying to protect you. So here’s what we’ll do. Continue doing the best you can, and try not to give him any excuse to harm you, but if things continue to deteriorate, I will take you back.
A couple of days later, my cousin Dinah arrived in Accra from Brussels, having completed her medical course. With Martin’s agreement, I went to Koforidua and spent a couple of days. I spent most of the time chatting about her experiences in the US, but we also discussed my relationship with Martin, and she endorsed Dad’s decision to take action if Martin’s behaviour did not change after two weeks Elaine informed Mom and Dad. We endorsed Dad’s decision to take action if there was no change in two weeks.
Dinah returned with me to Takoradi. Her plan was to spend a couple of weeks, and return to Accra to be posted. I called Paul Allotey, and asked if he would meet her for lunch and, if possible, show her some interesting spots. Delighted, he suggested that we meet at Royalty the next day.
I told Martin about it, to remove any possibility of future disagreement over ‘going out with men’.
‘It’s fine with me’, he said, ‘if, of all the people who could show your sister round this town, you chose a borla man. Doesn’t that indicate the kind of person you are?’
‘ First of all, Martin’, I’ve spoken to him a few times, and he comes across as a decent guy, so I think it is rather unfortunate that you are writing him off when you don’t know him’.
By Ekow de Heer
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