Editorial: Time to fight the filth in Ghanaian music

?Clear Channel is serious about helping to address the rising tide of indecency on the airwaves,? said Mark Mays, president and COO of Clear Channel Communications. As broadcast licensees we are fully responsible for what our stations air, and we intend to make sure all our DJs and programmers understand what is and what is not appropriate on Clear Channel radio shows.? And with that the long-running talk radio program by Howard Stein, the famous talk jock, and champion of smut radio was yanked from the air.

I thought that I had seen the last of the fallout from the Janet Jackson Super Bowl peepshow, but it appears that the American people were simply not amused, by Ms. Jackson?s indecent exposure. The fallout has reached far and wide in a twist that makes that fateful event a blessing disguised as a bra malfunction. For years many Americans, concerned about the rising coarseness in television and radio have battled the entertainment industry to no avail. But the Superbowl fiasco has given opponents of smut and concerned lawmakers the platform to ?put the brakes on years of plunging standards? in the entertainment industry. The following are some of the actions that have resulted from the fallout:

- The House telecommunications subcommittee convened a hearing ?to review the FCC?s performance amid growing concerns that the Commission is failing to enforce broadcast indecency standards.? - CBS, broadcast the Grammy Awards with a five-minute delay to allow time to edit any offensive images. - NBC cut a scene from an ER episode that showed an elderly patient?s breast. - ABC added a delay for February 29 broadcast of the Academy Awards. - The NFL cut a half-time production of former ?N Sync band mate of Timberlake, JC Chavez in the Pro Bowl in Honolulu because Chavez?s song contained the words ?horny? and ?naughty.? - BET and MTV, have been the champions of raunchy videos, but they too were distancing themselves from the Superbowl halftime incident. Both channels have announced plans to push raunchy videos and songs with outrageous lyrics to late hour time slots. MTV produced the Superbowl halftime show - Plans are also underfoot to hike the current fines for indecent broadcasting from $27,000 to $275,000.

And if the act was intended as a publicity stunt, as many believed it was, it has turned rather negative for Ms. Jackson. The latest blow, Jackson was slated to play Lena Horne, the renowned African American singer, and one of Janet?s admirers, in a movie, but she ?was effectively dis-invited? by Horne and her daughter who were displeased with the Superbowl incident. Janet had also been dropped from other award shows including the Grammy Awards.

Carson Daly, a veteran MTV personality said of the controversy, ?this particular event might be for the moment, the straw that broke the camel?s back on the patience of the audience. Tolerance for this sort of sexual imagery may have reached its peak.?

The FCC?s indecency rules define indecent speech as ?language that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory activities or organs.?

What about Ghana? Could this happen in Ghana--the fallout and actions that have resulted from that one fateful incident? The lyrics in many of the Ghanaian songs being played on Ghana?s airwaves make what America and the FCC are concerned about here in America, mere child?s play. But that is Ghana. There may be laws on the books against such blatant and daring attempt to push the limit, but they are largely not enforced.

I have been listening to a great variety of Ghanaian music lately at Ghanatoday.com, a website dedicated to providing Ghanaian music live 24 hours. From their great selections I have been able to examine the works of many of our new artists, in style, beat, and talent. On the whole, I do congratulate them on innovation and creativity. But on content, I am only eager to point my two thumbs down.

A section of these new artists, facing no strict standards or potential penalties, have infused many of their innovated rhythm with a great deal of innovated filth, and turning Ghana?s budding music industry into a grand sanctioned peepshow. The difference is that there is no uproar from the people, Parliamentarians are not calling for any hearings, and nobody is being fined??you cannot legislate morality.?

The lack of standards or the weak enforcement of them, coupled with the Ghanaian penchant for copying anything western, are leaving the few vestiges the nation?s morality unguarded. These culprit artists have taken the law into their own hands, creating their own limits, and spewing filth in the name of art onto Ghanaians.

Imitation, they say is the highest form of flattery, but Ghanaians in some unflattering cases give imitation a whole new meaning which, many often chastise in Twi as ?soatra? (learning to the extremes). This fondness to imitate anything from the west is a double-edged sword. It is a blessing and a curse for a nation that prides itself of being among the best in its region. Ghana is measured against its neighbors in West Africa in particular and Africa in general for its peaceful environment, relative political and economic stability, and educated and hospitable citizenry. Beneath the veneer of these accolades, however, are the excesses that have resulted from na?ve consumption of many of the base aspects of culture that have even been rejected by the west.

Imitation has its advantages but it could also be dangerous. At its worse, you have a people, many of whom have never even touched a computer, but they are having their imaginations stretched with a barrage of some of the most advanced sexual innuendos and exploits. And that is what many of our new artists are helping Ghana to become, with lines like "eshe w?anum,? ?wo di na anye wo de a?,? ?W?addee yi de eye me de oo?,? Medi wo adi wo biem?? The list goes on.

Americans will be flattered as to how innovative a significant number of Ghanaians have transformed their livelihoods using the Internet technology for example. They will be equally impressed with Ghana?s democratic values and peaceful political co-existence. They will also be awed by how the youth have married Hip-hop to Highlife and originated a new form ?Hip-Life?. They would however squirm if someone were to translate some of the lyrics in one of the songs on Daddy Lumba?s latest album, ?Honey,? for example. I tried, for an American whom impressed with the song?s beat and rhythm, was eager to know ?what they are saying.?

My good friend knows about the rap evolution, from the hardcore and the politically-charged lyrics to the smooth and spirit-filled Life music, but he could only squirm at Mr. Lumba?s lyrics (Mr. Lumba is not alone).

?Did he really say that? Is she able to say that? Men! That girl was good, Wow, she can really moan, Mmm Huh! Are they able to play this on national radio?? he was ready for answers.

Yes, they are able to say that on national radio. And yep, I can?t believe she was really moaning that hard and so obviously, either. To top that of, at many of the events where these songs are played, elected officials are present as VIPs, and cheering along with the clueless crowd. And wait, at some of the pageant shows, the Miss Ghana events in countries around the world, and you bet, in Ghana, as well, sexy dancing, what we call ?dirty dancing? here, is accepted as talent. And sure, the VIP has a front row seat all-right. Yep! And you really thought that Americans were the freest people on earth, Huh!

Mr. Lumba puts it right when he says at the beginning of one of his songs that ?Nea wope na obiara pe enka ye nyinaa fra ntoma kro,? meaning literally that ?we do not all have to like the same things.? I agree with Mr. Lumba, and by all means those who share his taste for such lewd lyrics may patronize his new album, as long as they play them in their own privacy--it is their right. It is only when those individual tastes are peddled as a national policy for morality that concerned citizens must stand up.

Ghana?s is a society in which poverty and illiteracy have rendered many in the population powerless and forced them to succumb to the whims of anybody with anything from ?aburokyire? (abroad) as an infallible hero bearing progressive knowledge and things that are in their best interest. For instance, while the authorities were looking the other way and parents were unaware of the prevailing technologies, many of the ?Burgers? of late 1970s and early 1980s sneaked in with their ?video centers? where they showed pornography to impressionable youth.

America is by no means a prude nation. This nation is notorious for pushing the limits on many things, from the good of technology, economic development, values and moral standards, to the worst of moral degradation, but the national interest is balanced with the forces of morality and powerful laws. That is why the majority did not find it cute or funny when Janet Jackson bore it all at dinnertime in many time zones.

This is neither a moral crusade to turn our musicians into a national choir, nor is it a campaign against Mr. Lumba personally or other musicians. Personally, I am not anti-Lumba. Some of my best friends are Lumba fans. And I do listen to Lumba songs as well. He is multitalented and deserves praise for producing some of the more progressive songs with wise words that encourage many Ghanaians, but his reckless lyrics must also deserve the attention of concerned citizens.

Fortunately there are other artists on the scene who are denouncing such smut in Ghanaian music. Obrafour, for example chastises his counterparts who hawk profanity, in his song ?Ntitiye Pa,? saying ?Gyae nsem hunu ne adwaman sem no (stop the profanity and loose talk).? All is not lost afterall.

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