Afrobeats put Ghana 支援する on international music scene
In a music scene long 支配するd by Nigeria, Afrobeats from Ghana are now finding favour not only in Accra's clubs but also in the international market
On Saturday night at the Purple Pub in Ghana's 資本／首都 Accra even the pandemic and an 公式の／役人 shutdown of 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s and clubs can't stop the music.
In the bustling Osu 地区, 早期に revellers laze on plastic 議長，司会を務めるs emptying 地元の beers as （衆議院の）議長s cranked to 十分な 容積／容量 溺死する out their 発言する／表明するs.
After midnight, the 議長，司会を務めるs empty, whether it is Sarkodie or Stonebwoy, the kings of Ghanaian Afrobeats soon have the whole street swinging.
In a music scene long 支配するd by 巨大（な） 隣人 Nigeria, Afrobeats from Ghana are now finding favour not only in Accra's clubs but in a 栄えるing international market beyond West Africa.
"Not only is Afrobeats hyper-popular here in Ghana, it's now 伸び（る）ing real 承認 on the international 行う／開催する／段階," says Stonebwoy in his Accra 記録，記録的な／記録するing studio, which is lined with international accolades.
Ghana musician Stonebwoy is one of the 星／主役にするs of the country's Afrobeats scene
"We ar e seeing Afrobeats festivals appear in Europe, I am happy to see West African music go so far. I even have 常習的な fans in India and Bangladesh," says the singer who counts 3.6 million Instagram 信奉者s.
Afrobeats takes its 指名する from the Afrobeat musical genre of the 1970s popularised by the music icon Fela Kuti and which 爆発するd in Nigeria.
Western audiences were discovering the Afrobeats scene in 2016 thanks to the 攻撃する，衝突する "One Dance", featuring Canadian superstar Drake and Nigerian Wizkid.
The tune 急に上がるd in 人気 to 安全な・保証する a place as the most played song of all time on Spotify, より勝るing one billion streams.
- Nigeria's 影をつくる／尾行する -
Now, と一緒に Nigerian 星／主役にするs with millions of social マスコミ 信奉者s -- Wizkid, Burna Boy, Davido -- Ghanian musicians are 現れるing to take their turn.
Gyakie and Joey B 誇る hundreds of thousands of Instagram 信奉者s while KiDi has 1.6 million, Sarkodie 4.4 million and Shatta むちの跡 3.2 million.
Shatta むちの跡's "Already" featuring Beyonce and Major Lazer was one of the 攻撃する，衝突するs of the summer of 2020, 安全な・保証するing Ghana a place の中で the countries which now count on Africa's pop scene.
Jefferson Seneadza, co-創立者 of the Ghanaian music streaming 壇・綱領・公約 Aftown, which 目的（とする）s to 促進する African music, has 公式文書，認めるd "a 大規模な 利益／興味 in Ghanaian music".
"Our music 産業 is finally 存在 taken 本気で," he says, 説 the country can now take its talents to the international 行う／開催する／段階.
Stonebwoy's 最新の album, for example, has been listened to over a million times in a week on the 壇・綱領・公約.
"And a lot of those （電話線からの）盗聴 （機の）カム from abroad," Seneadza said.
Young singer Gyakie 調印するd a 契約 with US 巨大（な） Sony Music earlier this year, すぐに after a 代表 from the label travelled to Ghana to scout the 地元の market.
Ghanaian-Romanian musician Wanlov the Kubolor (c) says the internet lets young Ghanaian artists 達成する viral success quickly
"In Afrobeats, Ghana is now in a position to compete with Nigeria," said Jim Donnett, public relations 経営者／支配人 of Sony Music West Africa.
"But it's healthy 競争."
Musicians せいにする this success to the mixture of genres.
"My music is Afro-dancehall 影響（力）d by Caribbean music," says Stonebwoy, a 有望な red cap 残り／休憩（する）ing on his braided hair.
"I borrow from Jamaican dancehall, reggae, and cook it all in the big マリファナ of African music, 追加するing the rhythms and melodies unique to the continent."
- The Highlife -
The result: contagious rhythms which, served by a powerful 発言する／表明する, form irresistibly catchy pieces.
But the Ghanaian Afrobeats stand out from their Nigerian big sister in one particular way: the 遺産／遺物 of "Highlife".
The genre appeared in colonised Ghana, then called Cote-de-l'Or, at the beginning of the 19th century, by adapting the 伝統的な rhythms of the Ashanti people to Western 器具s brought by the colonists.
It was thanks to Highlife that Ghana enjoyed its first success on the international music scene.
"By the 1970s, big Highlife groups like Osibisa were already filling entire stadiums," 解任するs Ghanaian-Romanian musician Wanlov the Kubolor, avant-garde cultural icon and author of an offbeat album called 'Afrobeats LOL'.
"But the 最近の 人気 of Afrobeats is of a different nature."
Thanks to the internet, young Ghanaian artists can 達成する viral success very quickly, he said.
But Ghana's scene now 直面するs another challenge: the Covid-19 pandemic and the strict health 制限s put in place by t he 政府 since March 2020 that have been a blow to the music 部門 across the world.
The 取り消しs of festivals and concerts, which 代表する the 本体，大部分／ばら積みの of income for African artists, have その上の 弱めるd a 部門 where 基金ing was already 壊れやすい.
"All 注目する，もくろむs are on Africa 権利 now, and we, the young Ghanaian creators, feel that it is the 権利 time to 現れる," says young talent Sofie on the sidelines of a shoot for a new ビデオ in a 私的な 郊外住宅 in Accra.
"What we 欠如（する） now is a real 産業, structured and 基金d with the help of the 明言する／公表する."
