The Best Corner On The Talent Shelf (Revised)

Some have called it indecent, others have called it trash or garbage. There are even others who have gone further to call for its ban completely, but call it what you may, you cannot affect them until they become irrelevant or until they themselves decide to stop. They are the underdogs. They come with messages and actions that can be subversive and sometimes inappropriate. They come to make you uncomfortable but there is nothing you can do about it.

It’s the new subculture of dance, of entertainers of the distorted, of talent appropriated, of the misplaced ability. This type sometimes goes beyond what can be described as creative for they might not have talent and skill as the Ambolleys, the Sarkodies, the Agya Koos, the Adjorlolos, the Brobbeys, the Mcbrowns, but still, they somehow are able to break through.

They are the mimickers. Some very smart kind of people they are. They are the global phenomenon that is currently everywhere all over the world. From the standpoint of the rich top elite echelons of society, this type are to be ignored to their own device as long as it does not spill over to the rest of society. Having them enables the upper crust to win.

Unfortunately, and still in this century many of our people have not come to realize that while our society is still struggling to feed our people, the higher ups have already begun an Elysium of the future. An Elysium (Greek word), which is not to be taken lightly in this context, is the futuristic place where the most advanced inhabitants of earth are searching to move to in the event earth depletes and exhausts all the resources needed to make this planet safe and habitable, by our inability to safeguard the environment and prevent greenhouse emissions and thereby destroying the ozone layer (that protects the earth against strong radiation from the sun).

Sadly, ours now is a craze about nudity that is bordering highly on pornography. True creative arts and applied science have been relegated to the backburner. We justify our shortfalls by saying “oh! other people have done this or that to become rich and popular”. Wrong! Wrong! and Wrong! again. No one has ever used indecency and gone on to riches i.e., if they or their families were not already fairly wealthy, so our society must stop deluding itself, protect itself, and stop roping in the younger ones.

A misplaced priority? Yes. Our society will lose out in the worst way imaginable unless the creative arts sector is able to appropriate what is theirs and help streamline the nature of things. Our society might need to call back the Ambolleys, the Sarkodies, the Agya Koos, the Adjorlolos, the Brobbeys, the Mcbrowns, etc. (these are but just a few of Ghana’s celebrated talents) to put things back on the proper shelves, the way it was done of old. This creative skill group needs to positively reinvent itself in order to hold others to account, and to act as teachers and to help Ghana speed up its transformational development. That is imperative.

Bellinia Asiedu-Young
Richmond Hill, Ontario Canada