Panji, A Man Of Many Parts In The Ghanaian Music Industry

Panji has distinguished himself as an artiste, storyteller, journalist, scriptwriter, sideman, songwriter, a producer, sound engineer, film director, arranger, a producer, and a record label executive of Pidgen Music, and outside music, he has written scripts for sitcoms in Britain (the first African to write scripts in Britain) and helped the Ghana Film Studios.

Let’s take a glance at a few local and foreign artistes Panji has worked with. This suggests the remarkable diversity of his career - Adinkra Klan, NFL, Talking Drums, Buju Banton, Kweku T, Red Spider, Bantu (Germany), Octobre (France), Fru Infanterie (France), Buk Bak, Reggie Rockstone, Ayisoba, Winneba Youth Choir, Batman, Paapa, Kofi Ghanaba, Kwaadee, Abeiku, Malaika, Kwabena Bodofuo, Dede (Nigeria), Baba Fruyo and Kaiser Jones.

Panji has concluded that music is the easiest way for people to understand him thus doing music. In 1995, Panji wanted to make things better in the Ghanaian music industry, which was his dream so he came out with Adinkra Klan, NFL and Talking Drums.

He was born in real life as Panji Marc Owooh Anoff in London and his stay in London landed him into media houses like Concord Press and BBC before coming to Ghana for the second time.

Ghana Music.com: It seems music was your success.
Panji: No, writing scripts was my first success Back in America, Panji founded the Foundation Entertainment, which developed artistes and producers that had Red Spider (50 cent / G- Unit prolific producer) on the team.

He later collaborated with Buju Banton, Kweku T of Talking Drums and Red Spider. In 1998, Panji became a contributing blogger to the Ghana Film studio where he stayed for five years not forgetting his music theories to which he put onto a larger scale.

The latest scope about Panji is that he is coming out with King Ayisoba’s album and hopefully a compilation this year. Panji’s vision for the future is to enter into the foreign music market.

Recently, Panji and Alliance Francaise had Bantu (Germany), Octobre (France), Fru Infanterie (France) collaborating with Buk Bak, Reggie Rockstone, Kweku T and King Ayisoba at a concert called Hip Outer national which was held at Alliance Francaise.

Panji who started recording at the age of 8 years has stayed in the music business for twenty-three years now. He believes the closet people to God are musicians.
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Ghana Music.com: How long are you planning to stay in the music industry?
Panji: Because I love music and musicians, I plan to stay for ten more years.

Ghana Music.com: What kind of music does Panji like?
Panji: Any music that I can feel and examples include Bob Marley’s songs, Marvin Gaye, Fela, Sting and songs of the Beatles. However, one thing we should know is that African music is the richest music in the world.

However, my favourite artistes are Dr. Dre, Timbo, Gamble and Who, Rhonda Tempting He takes his inspiration from the environment and influences from his parents, siblings, grandma and President Nkrumah, the visionary.

Ghana Music.com: What is Pidgen Music all about?
Panji: Pidgen music is a production company, which was founded in 1995. Works of Winneba Youth Choir, Freddie Funkstone, Reggie Rockstone, Batman, Paapa, Kofi Ghanaba, Kwaadee, Kweku T, Abeiku, Malaika, Kwabena Bodofuo, Dede (Nigeria), Baba Fruyo, Kaiser Jones, Brass Bands, hiplife artistes, funk and even some traditional artistes have passed through Pidgen Music.

For his thoughts about the Ghanaian music industry, he rather wants better managers to record and help artistes to achieve their potentials. For now Panji will be producing artistes he has faith in so if you think you are good, you can call Panji on 233 24 4882148.

Having risen to greater heights in the Ghanaian music industry, Panji ends our interview by giving a piece of advice, which is “Forget the past, remember the future”.