Award-winning Ghanaian rapper, Kwame Ametepee Tsikata, popularly known in music industry as M.anifest, has urged Ghanaians to use music to tell the country’s history and not for propaganda.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Thursday, M.anifest said music should be used to tell only the truth and not lies.
“…not to use it as a propaganda piece, but as in artist being the heartbeat of culture and being able to express truth about today, and also things about today that will be useful in the future…so that 50 years from now, when you listen to the music of today, it will give you clues as to what was happening with leadership, economy, social interactions between men and women.”
M.anifest made the remark when his views were sought on the Citi Breakfast Show in relation to that subject.
Host of the show, Bernard Koku Avle, posited that instead of politicians dominating sources of Ghana’s history, music could be adopted as a tool of telling the country’s story.
But M.anifest said because some musicians are paid to skew facts, music cannot always be “honest and truthful.”
“We can use Germany as an example and even some African countries in which sometimes people are commissioned essentially to tell a lie and it’s very powerful using music,” he added.
Debate of founder or founders of Ghana
The comment by M.anifest comes on the back of an unending debate of who the true founding fathers of Ghana are. Whereas some believe that Nkrumah founded Ghana and must be celebrated as such, members of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) think otherwise.
According to them, others including J.B. Danquah helped in that vein hence must all be acknowledged.
In view of this, President Akufo-Addo has triggered the necessary Executive Instruments to designate August 4 as Founders Day and September 21 in every year as Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day.