Ghana Month to promote Highlife music – Bessa Simons

The president of the Musician Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), Mr Bessa Simons is pleading with industry players to promote Highlife music as we celebrate Ghana Month this March.

To Bessa Simons, Highlife music is the only genre that identifies Ghanaians but unfortunate the music style is not well promoted in recent years.

Speaking with Graphic Showbiz on the sidelines of the press launch of Ghana Month at the Accra Tourist Information Centre on Monday, March 4, Bessa explained MUSIGA intends to use Ghana Month to promote Highlife music yearly.

“Ghana is Highlife and Highlife is Ghana so it is about time we made it known and this month is dedicated for that. This month means a lot to us because we need to promote our Highlife music the best way we can.

“There are a lot of activities marking this month. We have the Play Ghana Music where all radio stations across the nation will be required to play only Ghanaian music.

“I am extremely excited when I see young musicians promote Highlife music through their songs. Black Sherif calling himself a Highlife artiste is good for Ghana because he is promoting the genre,” he said.

Giving more details on the programme line-up, Bessa said there will be a concert for up and coming musicians on Saturday, March 27.

However, the concert will also feature seasoned musicians like Okyeame Kwame, Trigmatic, Abena Ruthy, Tagoe Sistrs among others.

Other activities he listed include Health screening, African music business dialogue, Free Health screening, Accra tour: visiting some tourist sites and finally crown it with a concert dubbed  “Musicians Time With God” on March 31 at the Christian Service Centre, House of Testimony, East Legon.

He noted that Ghana Month has been around for a while but MUSIGA intends to create more attention for it.

 “I wish some other months will be dedicated to pushing things like this. It is very necessary because our rich Highlife music must be promoted across the country” he said.

He concluded by appealing to media houses to support this initiative by freely giving their platforms for promotion.