New Music Ghana honours three

This year’s New Music Ghana Festival (NMGF), which takes place at the Youth Home Centre in Tamale on Saturday, July 13, will be in honour of three musical stalwarts  for their immense  contribution to the development and spread of Ghanaian music across the world.

Prof. Komla Amoaku, Kofi Ghanaba and Faisal Helwani  made significant and long- lasting inputs to the music industry through actions within and outside the country.

An internationally acclaimed ethnomusicologist/performing artiste, Amoaku was noted for creating tradition within tradition through his music  which effectively blended a variety of   genres.
Ghanaba  was a drum virtuoso  renowned for a highly dramatic fusion of African rhythms with western harmonies, especially jazz. He was the first person to define his music as Afro- jazz way back in 1956 and continually emphasised  the African elements in jazz  throughout his long career.

An accomplished  music promoter/administrator, Helwani, created a popular label and stable of bands that brought pride to Ghana. He won many hearts  with  groundbreaking recordings that have their roots deeply embedded in Ghanaian traditional rhythms.

Bizung, Bright Stars, North Wings and Youth Home bands — all from the Northern region — will participate in the festival, which will also host some senior music and dance groups as guests.

Since its inception in 2009, NMGF has created avenues for crossovers in music, while contributing to Ghana’s share of the global market as well as creating wealth for composers of music and the country as a whole.

Past winners of the competition have represented Ghana at multi-cultural festivals in Africa and Europe and have established working partnerships with other professionals in the industry worldwide.

Goethe-Institute Ghana is supporting NMGF 2013 which is being organised by the Institute for Music and Development in collaboration with Arterial Network Ghana.