MUSIGA and GHAMRO treating old musicians like we don’t matter —Naa Amanua

VETERAN traditional musician, Naa Amanua, now 74 years has appealed to the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) and the Ghana Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO) to treat aged musicians special because most of them are currently finding it very difficult to make ends meet.

To her it, is disheartening to see musicians who have made meaningful contribution to the music industry go through ‘hell’ in their old age.

According to Naa Amanua of Wulomei fame, it is worrisome that aged musicians are not living well after paying their dues as seasoned musicians and it is about time MUSIGA and GHAMRO lent a helping hand by putting measures in place to sort them out.

“I am in touch with most of the musicians in my age group and I tell you for a fact that things are not good with them. Many of them struggle to survive and it is a shame to see such musicians go through hard times because the systems that should help are not working well”, she said when she sat down with Graphic Showbiz in a recent interview.

She revealed that she recently went to GHAMRO to find out from the big wigs there why they treated aged musicians like they didn’t matter.

“I personally went to GHAMRO very angry asking why they were not treating aged musicians well. My dear, it is not easy if you don’t have someone buying your medications for you at my age; life becomes unbearable. Why should it be so when most of my peers have quality songs they should be enjoying royalties from? MUSIGA and GHAMRO should sit up and do the needful,” she added.

Naa Amanua, real name Mary Naa Amanua Dodoo, was lead female singer for Wulomei, a Ghanaian music group founded in 1973.

She later left Wulomei to join Suku Troupe whose first album, Awo De Me, was a big hit. The Suku Troupe afforded Naa Amanua the opportunity to give the world a little more than just music.

Naa Amanua was honoured in 2018 with the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) Lifetime Achievement Honours.