Bob Pinodo still Show Master of Africa - Urges young musicians not to tire of rehearsal

Bob Pinodo says he never gets tired of rehearsals; hence, the reason his performance is always top notch.

“I am called the Show Master of Africa because of my performances. In Germany in 1976 after one of my performances, I was named Show Master of Africa and I still rock the stage till now,” he told the Daily Graphic.

Bob advised young musicians to never get tired of rehearsals because it was the only way that they would perfect their act.

Rehearsals

“Constant rehearsals is the key, an artiste who is always rehearsing gets his act right and one artiste I personally admire is Samini. He has perfected his act over the years and it is evident in his performance. I would be glad if the young ones can take a cue from him.

“If you are an artiste and you cannot perform well on stage, especially with a live band, then what is your use as an artiste?” he questioned.

The experienced musician pointed out that it was about time young musicians spent time with bands and practised with them and stopped miming on stage.

“I find it disheartening when I see musicians mime on stage. They don’t know how to flow with the band because the computer does everything for them. It helps fine tune their voices and makes things very easy for them but they forget that it makes them lazy.

“What I know about foreign music is that they only use the computer for their demos but if they want to do commercial songs, they do live and that is why their music is always richer than ours. You cannot mime on stage. I mean it is not allowed and the earlier we move away from that the better for us,” he added.

Market highlife

Another thing Bob Pinodo wished Ghanaian musicians would do “is to push Ghana’s rich authentic highlife music to the foreign world”.

“We have to make a deliberate attempt to push our music out there. I have travelled around the world and I can say for a fact that the foreigners prefer to listen to our rich music. It is rather a shame that instead of us selling our music there, we are rather copying the music they are doing,” he said.

He explained that Ghana could make so much money if the country was able to sell its music out there.

“Foreigners will be willing to fly down here to watch our artistes perform if we package our music well.

“We have, for instance, foreigners coming into this country and repackaging our indigenous music to make hits. Why don’t we rather sell our music to them and make the money from them?” he asked.

Life Time Achievement

Due to his contribution to the Ghanaian music scene, Bob Pinodo was awarded the Life Time Achievement Award at the 2020 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards.

He said he was full of joy when his name was mentioned. “I have paid my dues in the music industry so honouring me was just in the right place. I have been around for more than three decades playing on some of the biggest shows across the world.”

As a lecturer at the University of Education, Winneba teaching music for a decade, Bob said he was planning on going on national television to teach musicians what they need to know to get their craft to the next level.

“I believe I have so much in me that I can impact the young ones. I will take them through how to compose hit songs, copyright and intellectual property registration and artiste marketing on the local and international fronts.

Showman

Bob Pinodo is one of Ghana’s foremost musical showmen, travelling around the country with his own variety show which featured dance, music, and comedy. He was awarded the Arts Council Award as the country’s most talented musician in 1969. He recorded his first LP in Germany in 1977.

Bob Pinodo rose to the pinnacle of his career with hit songs such as Disco Dance, Yesu Ne M’agyenkwa, Love is Love, Girl with the Guitar Shape, Come Back Love, Africa, Darling and Peep to See, all on his “Show Master of Africa” album.

The album released by Essiebons Ltd in 1978 had airplay on BBC. It also won Best Album, Best Composition, Best Production, Best Recording and ultimately the Album of the Millennium from the Entertainment Critics and Reviewers Association of Ghana (ECRAG) and the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC).
Show Master of Africa is an epitome of the final phase of Bob Pinodo Music. Bob has found the need to impart his knowledge in showmanship on the youth of Africa; this is the motive behind the formation of his new band, the GoldCrest Band.