Here comes Prince Hakeem on guitar

As leader of the Adisadel College Band in his final year in 2006,Prince Hakeem Matthews cherished the confidence he possessed occupying the piano chair and even looked forward to more intense moments behind the keyboard after school.

He, however,switched to guitar as his main instrument in 2009 and put himself to the task of exploring the instrument to the best of his ability.

The young man is now the reigning Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) Instrumentalist of the Year.

He’s been a busy guitarist working on his own projects as well as adding flavour and inviting melodies to material by a wide variety of artists.

These include Sarkodie, Nii Okai, Gyedu Blay Ambolley, Cwesi Oteng, Edem, Pat Thomas, Kojo Antwi, Joe Mettle, King Promise,Donnie McClurkin,Mr Eazi and Wizkid.

Prince Hakeem’s contention is that knowledge of one’s instrument is a starting point if musicianship is to be turned into a truly useful asset.

To him, it’s a matter of what you do with your head once you’ve gotten your act together on your instrument.

“I have been working hard at all the different roles I play on the music front.The guitar is my key instrument so developing my expertise there is paramount. But I function well across board as far as contemporary popular music is concerned,” Prince Hakeem says.

As Music Director in many different setups,he has had to deal with songwriting,arrangements, putting teams together and overseeing recording sessions.Sometimes, his involvement extends to marketing and branding for some artists.

Incidentally,Prince Hakeem didn’t formally study music.He puts his abilities down to the time spent ‘fooling around a lot’ with a keyboard his father bought for him while in primary school.

He also listens to different types of music and reads a lot.He says having a good ear to pick out what he finds useful has  helped his musical growth.

Luckily, he landed at Adisadel College where Ghana’s first student band was formed around 1963.

The school has always cherished student involvement in popular music and Prince Hakeem felt blessed to meet other young people who shared his passion for creating music.

Three other guitarists have won the VGMA Instrumentalist of the Year trophy in the
past.

They are Akablay, Dominic Quachie and Joshua Mozsi. Prince Hakeem knows them and gives them the thumbs
up for their achievement.

“They are good guitarists.What I like about them is that they have their unique styles so immediately you hear them,you know whether it is Akablay or Dominic or Joshua.”

Other musicians accorded the Instrumentalist of the Year honour in the past also include Osei Tutu (trumpet),Victor Dey Jnr and Kwame Yeboah (keyboards),Emmanuel ‘Shabo’ Koomson and Philip Acquah (bass), Frank Kissi (drums) and Justice ‘Shikome’ Williams (percussion).

Guitarists

There are many approaches to guitar playing in the popular music context. That’s why Prince Hakeem points out that guitarists everywhere need to have ears for what other competent players are up to in order to keep abreast and become more engaging with their own techniques.

So from Congolese rumba and soukous to Western guitar-dominated styles such as progressive and soft rock, Prince Hakeem takes in all of them as well as good Ghanaian guitarists such as Kari Bannerman, Joe Pompo, Zapp Mallet, Kwaku Mensah, Paul Duah, Kojo Folson and others.

In the process, he has learnt how to make his guitar passages harmonise tastefully with what others are playing and deliver insightful solos whenever his guitar has to be the principal voice at a studio session or live on stage.

Several ‘toys’ are available to the contemporary guitar player.Prince Hakeem believes it is important to know what sound one is going for and how it works for the work at hand before deciding on what effects to employ.

He gives credit to some musicians for being mentors to him. They include multi-instrumentalist Kwame Yeboah; London-based keyboardist Isaac Aryee, singer Kofi Owusu Dua Anto (KODA)and Nigerian guitarist, Agboola Shadare.

The peculiar thing about Prince Hakkem is that he does not wait to be chased by projects.He creates them himself whenever he can.

That’s how the Santa MOGA (Adisadel Old Boys and Mfantsiman Old Girls Association) Praise programme
came about.It is a sort of reunion and thanksgiving event as well as an outlet for expression of musical talents for former students of the two schools.

Apart from the Christmas in Tema concert series,he also initiated an online programme called The Breakdown where he explained techniques he had used on specific recording sessions.

“People kept asking me to explain some of the methods I had used on certain recordings.It was difficult making time for everyone so I decided to do it on video and post it for anyone interested.  

“It was a bit expensive for me then because I had not finished my studio and had to pay to get it done in other studios.It went on a break due to that but my own studio is up and running now and I’ll go back to The Breakdown.”

Prince Hakeem has two recorded singles under his name at the moment: ‘We Are One’ and ‘We Shall Overcome.’ He is in
the studio completing another single and an album of instrumentals which he hopes would be out before the end of this year.

He likes to get involved with different kinds of music and is happy for the chance to do so at this stage of his career.