Ghanaian musician, Trigmatic, whose real name is Enoch Nana Yaw Oduro-Agyei, has expressed concerns over the lack of recognition of African collaborations and achievements in music.
In a report on myjoyonline.com, he stated that the industry and most African music consumers tend to place more value on collaborations with Western artists, while disregarding collaborations with fellow African artists.
"It is sad that when African musicians do collaborations with artistes from, say, Mali, Guinea, Benin, we do not think it is an international collaboration, and it is sad to start with,” he said.
Trigmatic cited examples of artists such as Bisa Kdei and Guru, who have both performed in packed stadiums in other African countries, yet their efforts have gone unnoticed.
He also lamented the fact that collaborations among African artists are not seen as international, even though many African artists are making great strides in the music industry across the continent.
“Because there are artists like Bisa Kdei who will go to Guinea, will go to Sierra Leone, and play major shows.
“Guru played a show four years ago, and it was in a stadium in Sierra Leone, and it was packed, and it wasn’t spoken of,” he added.
Furthermore, he questioned whether the industry does not view collaborations within Africa as international or if they believe such collaborations are not big enough.
According to Trigmatic, African artists should not wait for collaborations with artists in the Americas and the UK before they are deemed successful and international.
“I don’t know if we don’t think that moving from here is not an international move or because it is within the African continent, it is not big enough. We are always waiting to see it happen within the Americas and the UK,” he stated.
Ghanaian musician, Trigmatic