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09.12.2021 Industry News

Songwriter charges media to project positive African stories

Songwriter, Isaac QuarcooSongwriter, Isaac Quarcoo
09.12.2021 LISTEN

GHANAIAN record label boss and songwriter, Isaac Quarcoo has charged media outfits in Ghana to lead the way in projecting positive stories about Africa and her stars as a step towards changing the narrative of the usually uninspiring stories projected from some western media outlets.

In an interview recently, the songwriter shared his opinion on the popular ‘Ghanaians don’t support their own artistes’ cliché’ – a common slang that suggests that Ghanaians do not appreciate their own stars enough – where he opined that some media houses had done quite a lot over the years in projecting Ghanaian artistes but there was more to do be done to realize the full goal of putting Ghanaian stars on the map in the world market of music.

“Just like black people have over the years been told by the western media and entertainment industry how our culture is not okay and that we have to adapt to theirs to look extra ordinary, we need to use that same medium to force a positive attitude on the average Ghanaian especially through the media.
“I will state categorically that our media has played a significant role in placing a positive spotlights on other nationals especially Nigerians despite the ‘Ghanaians don’t support each other’ narrative making rounds. Just imagine the impact of a million news items projecting the ‘#GhanaianssupportGhanaians’ agenda instead of otherwise. Just imagine how awesome that will be,” he said. Isaac Quarcoo known popularly as Travelz highlighted on the need for the masses to appreciate and consume local artistic pieces.
“Like the bible says, ‘train up a child the way he should go’. Let’s all come together and train the hearts of Ghanaians to absorb positive content about our country and our culture. Sometimes when I see continuous news content on the Ghanaians not supporting each other narrative, I become sad because same energy could have been used to do the exact opposite.
“As the founder of the Techpreneurs Union of Ghana, I have sat in the same meetings with people from different nationalities and it will shock you how Ghanaians are revered and respected across the continent. Maybe we are yet to develop proper structures to measure certain things but I can tell for a fact that our songs and the image of our country goes far beyond our estimation. Give us a few years and see the kind of transformative work we will put through. I believe this with all the blood left me,” he stated.

He further bemoaned the situation where some Ghanaians who become victims of the douse supposed lack of support from their countrymen go about spreading those stories, saying those stories in themselves contribute negatively to Ghana's reputation on the international stages.

“I urge all our celebs to turn things around. We can’t continue trying to eat at the same place we excrete and expect everything to be fine. It’s a long shot but we can start it today and it will shock you how drastically we can turn things around tomorrow,” he emphasised.

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