• Shatta Wale addressed the country on industry-related issues on June 2
• He touched on his trip to the US, Ghana’s music identity and proposed a decentralisation of major events
• Nana Yaw Wiredu however posits that Shatta Wale’s approach was questionable
Entertainment pundit Nana Yaw Wiredu has observed that Shatta Wale’s did not attach any level of seriousness to his ‘State of the Industry Address’ on June 2.
According to the Director of Oneplayafrica, Shatta Wale portrayed him as one who was not serious about the subjects he was making submissions on.
“Shatta Wale’s demanor when he sat down to deliver the speech never made me take what he said seriously. From the beginning of his speech to the end, he was laughing,” Nana Yaw Wiredu said on GhanaWeb TV’s entertainment review show Bloggers’ Forum.
He continued: “Have you ever seen somebody who is taking something at heart coming to deliver something as important to him deliver it like that before? Compare that to he doing a live video when he’s pissed.
Shatta Wale who had been off the scene for close to a month returned with an encounter dubbed ‘State of the Industry Address’ on June 2.
Aside from updating his followers on his journey to the United States, the musician claimed that during one of his meetings, he was asked “what kind of music do Ghanaians do?” but was unable to provide an answer to the question as a result of the many genres being championed by artistes in the Ghanaian music sphere.
“I want to propose that, we as music makers and stakeholders come together to identify one genre that can be attributed to all music works coming from our part of the world. Let’s do this for our industry to give it the global attention we have all desired,” he said, while advocating for a national agenda to prioritize Ghanaian music on the airwaves.
“I want to propose the institution and enforcement of a national agenda to prioritize Ghanaian music on our airwaves. Let’s give Ghana music 90% of the airwaves and spread 10% for the other countries. For this proposition to work, we need all hands-on deck; media house owners, DJs, event organizers, MUSIGA, and every single stakeholder including the government of Ghana. This must be a national agenda. Let’s all get involved now to make it happen.”
Commenting on the substance of Shatta Wale’s assertion, Nana Yaw Wiredu said, “It was a normal formality just to say that I’m back on social media. Whoever wrote Shatta Wale’s speech has done him more harm than good.
“There is a question of credibility, belief and trust in whatever he said as against the things he believes in. You stand for industry progress yet two days before your industry speech, I was on the media, chastising them, dropping the line on a reputable media house that can propel your brand to the next level.
“The things they wrote for him to read to us had deeper meanings than the artiste and that was why when he sat down, he didn’t have vim in it. If Ghana media it’s going to mark Shatta by the things he said in the state of the industry address, I’m sure he’ll get 3/10,” he told host Abrantepa.
Touching on the music identity concern, Nana Yaw Wiredu slammed Shatta Wale for winning Highlife Song of the Year award in 2019 yet could not give an appropriate answer to a question on the music genre Ghana is known for.
“It’s a shame… Are you serious at all?” he fumed.
Watch Nana Yaw Wiredu’s submission from the 40th minute of the video below