Tuobodom Citizens Support Music Ban

Chiefs, opinion leaders, prominent citizens and the youth of Tuobodom in the Techiman Municipality are backing their Adontenhemaa, Nana Nyarko Antwiwaa, who is leading a campaign against Nkasei’s song, Yefri Tuobodom.

Citizens and the Traditional Council have given notice that it intends to sue the two musicians in court to stop the song from being played on radio and television.

According to them they consulted with their lawyers on the issue and by the end of this week the papers would be filed at the court. The action by the Traditional Council to sue the two artistes has received the overwhelming support of the entire citizens of the town.

When Showbiz visited Tuobodom last Friday to sample the views of the people of the town about the song, they called on the Traditional Council to go ahead with their court action or the song be banned outright.

Over 20 people, including chiefs, and opinion leaders whose views were solicited expressed their disgust for the song, which they claimed was a deliberate attempt by the two artistes to ridicule the people of the town and for that matter the entire Brong state.

Nana Owusu Akomah Tintini II, Nifahene of Tuobodom who spoke on behalf of the Acting Traditional Council President, Nana Gyemerah Akenten, said there was no need for Nkasei to apologise since the song was already in the public domain.

He stated that apart from the song the video of the song also portrayed the people of the town as ‘backward people’.

He stated that Tuobodom is the next biggest town after Techiman, the municipal capital but now it has become a laughing stock among the other smaller towns in the municipality.

Nana Tintini II said if it became necessary for the Council to meet the two artistes, it will have to be at Sunyani, and not Tuobodom since there was tension in the town as a result of the song.

Mr Nicholas Sarkodie, an assemblyman for Tuobodom-Dopoase Electoral Area said the town is the centre for the Techiman North Constituency and the people in the town were nothing like the people suggested in the video. He said he supported the move by the Traditional Council to sue Nkasei.

Mr B.A. Sarkodie, an opinion leader of the town said the song is very insulting. He said the primary aim of a song is to educate, encourage and entertain, but this song does not contain any of these elements, but just ridicules the people of Tuobodom and the Brong state.

Mr A.B. Afrifa, a lecturer at the College for Renewal Natural Resource (CRNC), now Faculty of Forest Resource Technology under Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, also a citizen of the town said the song was just to ridicule the people of Tuobodom and that the song could not serve any purpose as claimed by the two artistes that they wanted to use the song to unite the people.

Kwasi Adjei, a 30-year-old farmer of the town said people from the surrounding villages also use the song to tease known citizens of the town anytime they meet them and supported the move by the chiefs to sue Nkasei.

Adwoa Nyarkoa, 28, a trader called for the ban of the song since it was creating a lot of problems for the people of the town.

Kwadjo Owusu, 28, a tomato farmer also condemned the song and said it must be banned to save the youth of the town from further ridicule.

Information available also indicates that the people of Jinijini in the Berekum district of the Brong Ahafo Region have also threatened to take Nkasei to task since the capital of Tuobodom is not Jinijini.

They therefore called on the two artistes to come and explain how their town became the capital of Tuobodom and that if the musicians do not know their Geography and their Social Studies then they should go back to school and learn.

It will be recalled that the June 16-June 22 edition of Showbiz carried a story that the Tuobodom Traditional Council had threatened to take action to stop the song if the artistes do not come out within a week to explain their motive for recording that song.

Nana Nyarko Antwiwaa, the Adontenhemaa of the Tuobodom Traditional Area called at the Graphic offices in Sunyani to express sentiments about the song Yefri Tuobodom on behalf of the Traditional Council.