A New Calling

Dear Stranger,

I think I have received enlightenment. I know this is a weird and different from most of my letters but this is actually exciting stuff. I was engaged in a conversation with a friend about music and I have never had anyone approach me head on like that before. I was very impressed to say the least. I am probably making it sound even weirder and weirder am I not? I always seem to have my head all over the place in my letters and I apologize profusely.

I have a friend in the South. He is very knowledgeable in music. That is to say the least. I have heard this guy’s songs since I was in my first year of high school and he is very talented. Maybe a little tweak here and there but he has something really special. No not everyone has a calling to music like many Ghanaians seem to think. Music is something special. It is connected to the very center of you. Yes a whole lot of people can appreciate diverse music but you need that extra “uumphh” to either directly do music or criticize it.

I like to listen to a whole range of music. I am a down to earth music lover (If I do say that myself). I am used to people asking me to criticize music before it is released. I have no idea how it started though. I think I was on my high horse criticizing one of these American rappers and the next day my friends tried to pick my brain on a song they were working on. Maybe that is why I have a lot of friends in the music industry in Ghana…..or maybe not! Who knows? I am a socialite…or at least, I used to be one before I joined the group of “Africans in the Diaspora”.

That is not the point though. The point is, a friend called me out on how I was not being fair on some “up and coming” artistes in my critiques. Apparently I was being too lenient. I didn’t disagree with him because I knew his observation was on point. I explained however that I had tried being very forward in my critique and all it did was discourage a couple of “new faces/voices” and I felt very guilty. he was emphatic in letting me know that he preferred such criticism however and I was glad at least there were some people out there who did.

Later on, while I was on twitter, the topic of the new movies circulating the Ghanaian markets came up and I realize there were no harsh movie critics who spoke out on the issue of outright nudity in these movies and I decided maybe I should concentrate on that. This is the real point of my letter and it took me 480 words to get here. Anyway, I decided I was going to start writing reviews on Ghanaian and Nigerian movies since I watch quite a number of them whenever I am homesick. And frankly, I have not been impressed with any Ghanaian movie since their discovery of nude scenes. There is no concrete story line and all they seem to be focused on are the sex scenes. Are they aware media is easily accessible and we have kids out there who watch their productions? We copy very blindly from the West, i keep telling everyone, but we do not act tactical about what we copy.

it is such a shame though because we have a rich heritage. I am not totally excluding Nigeria but I can honestly say that no matter what they do in their movies, their culture shines through and if they go to far, they do have reprehensions which I have not seen in the Ghanaian movie industry yet. Maybe some of our actors need to experience probation like their Nigerian counterparts did. I boldly step into my new calling of movie critique and I will not be lenient but call out whoever needs calling out. I just hope they see the construct criticism of it and not rant and rave, because frankly I wouldn’t care if they did. This is where I rest my pen…..or in this case, my fingers.

Thanks for listening,

MzYayraTay