MTV In Ghana Must Project A Positive Cultural Image.

We welcome the establishment of MTV in Ghana. It has the financial power to help project our culture and attract tourists to the country. I learnt years ago a terminology called GIGO, which means GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT. If you program garbage into the computer, it spews out garbage.

I am lucky to have been in New York before the birth of MTV around 1981. It was an all white affair. They would not showcase any black video until Michael Jackson broke the racial barrier in 1983 with ?Beat It? from his Thriller album, I believe due to pressure from listeners, and they had no choice. It was heavy metal and rock music. Down the line they created VH1 for adult contemporary music. I remember when I submitted the Celebration video by Osibisa and was told, ?It does not fit our format?. That was the end of the case. Prior to that they are on record as one of the best African groups ever to hit the international stage having been signed to MCA records, Warner Brothers, Island and Columbia records. In 1995 I was successful in showcasing them at prestigious Central Park Summerstage to a huge white and black audience including Africans.

MTV morphed itself to a rap TV when rap became popular and there were more cable channels to tune into. As competition increased, it became necessary to target black audiences for increase in market share. There was also a backlash against heavy metal music, which portrayed a drug and violent satanic culture. I also remember when Teddy Osei of Osibisa alerted me to Mory Kante who had a number one hit in Europe called ?Yeke Yeke?. I was able to buy the CD in store and although the video was shown on MTV Europe, I never heard of Yeke Yeke in clubs or on radio in New York. That is the culture of commercial radio and TV in USA- absolutely no African Music on the air. The only exceptions are Pata Pata by Miriam Makeba, Grazing in the Grass by Hugh Masekela, and Soul Makosa by Manu Dibango, all released in the sixties and seventies. You will hear African Music on College and public radio. The difference between non-commercial and commercial radio and TV is financial. I am aware that college and public radio and TV do not pay as much fees or royalties to the music publishing companies like ASCAP/BMI the way commercial radio. African students and others like Dr. Lawrence Nii Nartey of WKCR Columbia University voluntarily play African music without pay on the radio.

As we now have MTV to broadcast our music in video format it is time to take advantage of the opportunity they have given us to sell our culture. The music coming from this generation in Ghana is mostly an imitation of US rap culture and Jamaican reggae. Of late you can hear authentic highlife rythms in the background, which is good and danceable, but the lyrics are pure pornography. If the songs are translated into English, they will not be aired on any foreign radio. So the program directors and music directors of MTV must make sure that they establish a format, which will border on good morals and decency and they can help mold the culture of the next generation of Ghanaians and Africans. I know that we have the National Commission on Culture in Ghana where Mac Tontoh of Osibisa is a member. There is also Khodjo Aquai who attended Julliard School of music in NYC and they can be consulted to help them shape their format. There is Koo Nimo who has performed at the prestigious Lincoln Center in New York City, Nana Ampadu and other highlife greats to help them sort out the good from the bad. Once the rap artist gets on stage they become marketing tools. They sell T-shirts, jeans, sneakers and boots for the manufacturers and these days, they have become smarter and have formed their own clothing companies. So Ghanaian artist can help the local textile industry or traditional clothing manufacturers by their costumes.

We have our woven Kente, Fugu and Batik. If MTV programs garbage they are going to influence the next generation, which is their target market, to think and behave the same and that will not be good for Africa. This is not a matter of saying ?we have no control over the artists?. You certainly have control over what you program and the right to accept or reject any material. If you set the standard of decent African clothing, the artist will comply. MTV, welcome home to Ghana.

Isaac Kusi New York

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