The new fundamentals of Ghanaian music is copying and sampling old songs – Dope Nation

Ghanaian music duo, Dope Nation, has established that musicians have grown fond of copying and modifying the works of other creatives.

They mentioned that the way music is created in Ghana often involves taking progressions and melodies from old songs and transforming them into something new.

Speaking in an interview on TV3 they said, “Our fundamentals when it comes to music is copying because when you take our progressions and melodies, they are from old songs. We just bite them and create them into something new.”

“We can’t say we’re creating something new; it can’t happen because the keys and melodies are just there and have been exhausted; the only thing that can be done is to make them evolve.”

They, however, emphasized that true innovation is about taking these existing elements and evolving them.

Dope Nation also discussed their new musical direction called ‘Ghanapiano.’

This they explained is the fusion of different genres into a new sound.

They noted that the world is paying attention to African music and the piano sound, hence they’re taking this opportunity to create something distinctive by researching and using their own instruments to shape the tunes.


They believe that while they’re not making something completely new, they can make familiar music elements evolve in interesting ways.