Entertainment of Sunday, 14 March 2021

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

This is why old gospel music videos were mostly shot beside flowers

Hanah Marfo, Diana Hopeson, Abaawa Comfort and Ophelia Nyantakyi were present during United Showbiz play videoHanah Marfo, Diana Hopeson, Abaawa Comfort and Ophelia Nyantakyi were present during United Showbiz

Due to technology and evolution in recent times, the humour in such old practices could now be felt but back then, shooting music videos in a room, beside a water body or plants was the order of the day.

Ghanaian gospel musicians using flowers as a backdrop in their music videos was a great deal in the early 90’s and 2000’s.

Touching on this particular issue, some veteran gospel musicians opened a discussion on why they chose to go that tangent.

Stating their reasons in an interview on United Showbiz, the likes of Hanah Marfo, Diana Hopeson, Abaawa Comfort and Ophelia Nyantakyi cited lack of adequate resources as a key factor.

“That was the order of the day. If at that time your video wasn’t shot beside flowers, then you’re not on top. Also, our budget did not permit us to shoot anywhere apart from our rooms and gardens plus we did not want to go to the extreme for people to criticize us. Everything was done moderately and modestly. The cameras were also not helping and also there weren’t many studios as compared to now but we realized people were complaining a lot,” they told Nana Ama Mcbrown during the show.

Recounting some other challenges faced during their active days as gospel musicians, they added:

“There were many conflicts about recording…pastors and congregation members always classified it worldly to pose certain way or do certain things in our videos. We were not allowed to dance too much. We were not allowed to do much makeup. Just powder and lip-gloss,” they explained.

Watch the video below from 1hour 15 minuites onwards