That 'Dumsor' song goes viral

In case you missed it, a “dumsor” song went viral last week Friday on WhatsApp and other social media platforms in Ghana.

Witsfield is a patriotic musician from Cape Coast; a visionary composer and director of Witsharmonic Choir. He also happens to be a singer, violinist and keyboardist. It’s no wonder that, when his song was first heard, many people noted how well written (and performed) it was!

According to the composer, the song was recorded on the 7th of March this year, during the Cape Coast edition of his choir’s annual “Republic Concert”. The spirit of Witsharmonic’s concert is to promote peace, foster unity and address current issues of national concern, using choral music as the medium



We were struck by this vision, as it isn’t the most prevalent in the current climate of music in the country. Witsfield is one of those young composers taking the bold step of embedding choral music into the fabric of society, rather than relegating it to religious or ceremonial settings.

Witsfield told as that, following the focus of the “Republic Concert”, he set about collecting patriotic and nationalist music, as well as arrangements of folk tunes. It was during this period that he decided to use his art to send a message to the government.

Among the several songs he wrote were “Kokonsani”, “Noko ye jen” and the now infamous “dumsor” song. His composition was meant to highlight some of the difficulties citizens faced as a result of the erratic power cuts.

Surprisingly, Witsfield wasn’t too happy about the virality of the song. According to him, he was working on a video to go with it when the audio accidentally leaked.

The premature exposure of his plea to the government to find a permanent solution to this crises hasn’t upset his plans though: we expect the video to be produced and released when it is ready.