B. Rhymes Live In GH, Prudent or Commercial

In the next couple of days Ghana will play host to one of Hip Hop's biggest names Buster Rhymes. Already several people are excited about his coming. A couple of days ago, when the news first broke

, one of Pinnacle's International Correspondents based in the UK told me..."I know about 17 people who are coming down for the concert". All I said was wow, that's great. The trend of having Ghanaian and other nationals resident abroad coming to Ghana for a concert is not new, years ago when Kojo Antwi's 24th Night show was very vibrant, you would have people coming into Ghana from all over the world to watch the meastro Live In Concert.

It is always nice to have a feel of international artiste. In that regard Charter House must be commended for their efforts and success at hosting huge stars in Ghana. Charter House has not been the only outfit to stage such events, we have withnessed private citizens, companies and even adhoc companies bring various artistes to Ghana. The last decade has seen the likes of Wyclef, Jay Z, Don Moen, Micheal Stampley, Sean Paul, Ron Kenoly, Omarion, Eve and a host of others. More often than not such shows are very expensive. The most expensive yet has been that of Jay Z when people had to pay about a GH C100, then just about a $100 to watch him perform. The after party was $200 for the VIP and Jay Z did not even turn up! One would think that when these international artiste come to Ghana it would afford the section of the populace who are not in the position to travel and watch the concerts of these industry giants the opportunity to watch them, unfortunately, the shows are put out of the reach of these individuals.

Thus, what is the real essence of having these artistes in Ghana. Looking at such events from the perspective of the normal Ghanaian who has to pay for watch these artistes, it's a rip

off. Besides the entertainment value of such concerts and visit to Ghana by these artistes what do we gain from them and the concerts. Such concerts habe become notorious for their disrespect for Ghanaian musicians. Some artistes are practically thrown off stage once the "International Artiste" is ready to perform. On some occasions artistes have refused to perform on ther own stage and in their country because of the treatement organisers have given to them.

Why has such sponsored shows become so expensive and out of the reach of most Ghanaians. The Buster Rhymes show according is to commenmorate the 2nd anniversary of MTN, the telecommunications gaint that has brought us several artistes and sponsored several music development programmes in Ghana. This time they are taking GHC 80 from the Ghanaian to celebrate their 2nd anniversary. Does it make any sense? Why would they give so much for the Ghana Music Awards, support Music Music and so many of the music programmes and projects around and charge the equivalent of about $70 dollars in celebration of their own 2nd anniversary?

Except the communications is wrong or the event house is organising it's own event and not MTN, it surely does not feel like MTN. Or just may be we have the wrong impression of MTN. These days am told that nothing goes for free and thus an individual who sends a proposal for sponsorship must prove how they will make whatever project they are applying for will benefit the network directly. May be it's about time they re look at their core business, they should be adding general commerce to their core business. If corporate organisations want to sponsor events they should in the spirit of giving back to society and not play "hunky punky" with applicants. Organisers and promoters must begin to look beyond the commercial value such shows and make them more prudent and beneficial to society.

It's a shame that sometimes artiste visit the country for their own social projects and we still have to talk them into mounting the stage just so that we can rip the Ghanaian off.

Originating at www.pinnaclegh.com