It has been an engaging week for talents of the Upper East region as the music industry under the Upper East Awards with sponsorship from Happy Man Bitters welcomed Sammy Flex to the region. An opportunity was generated for artists who have long wished to appear on Sammy Flex Tv to engage in interviews with the prominent media figure which was well utilized.
Fasetwo was one of those talents privileged to have appeared on the show as he narrates his journey to Sammy Flex and his viewers. Fasetwo stated categorically that he isn’t impressed with the pace at which the industry moves. He lamented that they lack investors and people who will come out to scout talents in the region and promote them to reach greater heights. He noted that this is making many sinks with their talents. He added that the industry works on the principle of individualism and those who lack the resources to promote the growth of their talent are impeded.
After saying this, the host assumed the problem has been identified and asked further about the way forward. In response, Fasetwo noted, “I think we started with a good call by bringing you to the Upper East region. Yesterday we had a seminar and you taught us how to make good music and how to make money from the music that we do. I think this is the start of it and we will need more of this seminar like this, so bringing the big guys from the city to talk to us and help us just like this interview, is a privilege. So if you are getting this all the time and we are being heard by a wider audience, I think with time as the clock keeps going, we will get there”.
Though not the first person, Fasetwo was among several others who complained about language being a barrier to most even in the Upper East itself. He asserted that Upper East is a multilingual geographical setting and its multilingualism poses an adverse effect on the music career of many artists. He cited that, people from Bolga speak Frafra, those from Bawku speak Kusaali and mampruli, those in Navrongo speak Kassim and the list goes on. So it becomes difficult for an artist singing in Frafra to have his or her songs transcend beyond the shores of Bolgatanga and its environs to the other communities, unlike the Northern region where it is just Dagbani and everybody understands it and will gladly accept what the artiste is bringing on board no matter his location. Also advantaged to have Dagbani (Northern region) and mampruli (North East Region) being mutually intelligible.
Capitalizing on the production of both audio and videos, Fasetwo noted that the Upper East region is still lacking behind and that they mostly go out to bring people for production when the need arises. He acknowledged the few who are also working tirelessly in the region but indicated most of them lack behind when it comes to quality hence why they mostly have to bring producers and directors from down south and in some cases Tamale to help them out. “Normally when we are to shoot videos we have to bring somebody from somewhere to come and do it. Those we have in the region they are good, but to meet the standard music video we don’t have the props for that. So normally if you want to have a quality and a well-shot video, you have to bring somebody from the city”, he disclosed.
Fasetwo revealed that music in the region doesn’t pay and that to help sustain himself, he is into one of the security services where he earns a living but hopes things change in the music scene too so that he can start reaping what he has sowed.
He has tipped versatility as the best way by which Talents in the region can be projected to the outside world. He clears that when you do the same thing over and over again without improving, many are likely to lose interest in what you do but being versatile will mean giving them new stuff each day and that will help to keep people around your craft while attracting many more.
Fasetwo has something spicy on the pipeline captioned featuring Nambawan.