Mac Tontoh Goes Wild

A leading member of Osibisa, Mac Tontoh has refuted the allegation that he and certain top musicians in the country have contributed to the collapse of the Ghanaian music industry. Mac Tontoh was reacting to a report published by showghana.com that he, Alhaji Sidiku Buari, Charles Amoah and Rex Omar were the few Ghanaian musicians who had been so caught up in the politics of music that their fans hardly hear them sing these days. The report said the activities of the above-mentioned musicians had collapsed the industry to the extent that stakeholders are finding it difficult to get a lasting solution to the problems. Mac Tontoh told Beatwaves in a chat that he sees himself as one of the musicians who have worked to promote Ghanaian music to the outside world. He indicated that he was not a music politician and would not play politics with music as was being alleged, but as a musician he wanted every musician in Ghana to enjoy life to the fullest as their colleagues in the Western world. According to him “although I am not into active music business I have a lot of musicians under my training programme. All I want is that Ghanaian music should be successful on the global music market”. He pointed out that no amount of negative publications could stop him from contributing toward the progress of Ghanaian music. According to him, the music industry is moving to higher heights and is gradually attracting the attention of major stakeholders in the international music arena and it would take a few creative and hardworking artistes to survive in the face of the challenge that comes with this movement. He advised Ghanaian musicians not to imitate Western styles, which most of them were now adopting in the country, and rather develop the local beats and tunes to satisfy modern tastes.