Reggae dancehall recording artist and creative director, Theophilus Nii Arday Otoo, better known as Epixode, has given a possible solution to marketing Ghanaian music across the world.
He says if the rhythm and sound of the songs composed by both veterans and new-generation artistes are properly documented, Ghana’s music will improve.
The musician attributed his statement to the recent sampling of Ghanaian music by some international artistes.
Epixode thinks these international singers get away with it because Ghana has had no adequate record of songs since time immemorial.
He said this in an interview on Joy Prime’s Prime Morning with Roselyn Feli.
“They sample our songs every time. Like recently I heard a chronics on a Rock Stone’s rhythm, and I was like, Really?” But we don’t have a room to keep these catalogues to also help the next generation know that this is what makes our sound… well, we’re getting there if we document it well,” he said.
Although Epixode is a reggae dancehall artiste, he recently hopped into Ghana’s original music genre, highlife, by doing a rendition of his song ‘Atia’ with Kwabena Kwabena and other genres.
However, the highlife rendition surged higher than the others and got him a nomination in the Vodafone Ghana Music Award’s highlife song of the year category.
This makes him believe that highlife music is the best sound for the country’s creative industry in the future.
“I look at the longevity of my craft and who I want to be, and I’ve come to the realisation that it will get to a time when highlife will rule. It’s the sound of the future.
So if some melodies can’t go into reggae or dancehall, even if you watched the international market in Jamaica, they’re not doing straight dancehall; they’re even now tapping into the afro sound. We that we have it here, why don’t we do it more?”he quizzed.
Epixode is out with a new single for dancehall music lovers titled “Stubborn Souljah”.
He hinted at releasing an all-highlife music album by the end of 2023.