Tanzania: Ghanaian Musicians Tell Dar Counterpart to Unite, Fight Piracy

LOCAL musicians have been called on to unite and toughen up in their fight against piracy which is threatening to destroy the entertainment industry.

It is a call from their Ghanaian counterparts, as delivered in Dar es Salaam by local music expert, Angelo Luhala, who recently visited the West African nation. Luhala, who is the Director of Rulu Arts Promoters, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) which advocates for artistes welfare, toured Ghana with a view to acquaint himself with the state of its music industry.

“I had opportunity to share experience with Ghanaian musicians on music piracy and other issues pertaining to the music industry. They told me that our musicians should wake up and fight for their rights and welfares without fear,” said Luhala. Luhala quoted the Ghanaian musicians as issuing an uplifting to their Tanzanian counterparts on the fight against piracy, pointing out that ‘it is a war’ they should fight to death.

They argued, instead of complaining about their destituteness, Tanzanian artistes, through their forums, must pressurize the government to put in place effective copyright legislation that could better fight infringement. “They’re even ready to come to Tanzania and offer our musicians support and advice on how to fight for their rights and welfares,” Luhala said.

“The only way musicians can defeat the cancer of piracy is through unity of purpose.” Giving his experience of Ghana music industry, Luhala said he observed a strong unity among its artistes and that the government has been contributing towards the development of the industry.

“Look, the Ghanaian government recently dished out a two million Ghana cedis (about US 1,040,312 Dollars) to boost the country’s music industry.” Luhala said Ghanaian government has learnt that the country has a vibrant creative arts industry that can be nurtured to create jobs and provide increased income to all stakeholders. Ghana musicians, according to Luhala, have established strong music associations, which are the corner stone of their success as compared to Tanzanians.

“Ghanaian musicians are very rich,” Luhala observed. “It is important we have organs that can operate for the benefit of the entire industry and not for few unscrupulous people or companies.” Luhala was grateful to the Business Environment Strengthening for Tanzania – Advocacy Component (BEST-AC) who sponsored his trip to Ghana and vowed to share the experience with music stakeholders in the country, in a bid to inspire positive revolution in the industry. – Tanzania Daily News

Posted by admin on Jun 16 2012. Filed under Artcultainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry