On Monday, 30th November 2015, I read a news item posted on the official Facebook page of a media outlet called ‘GhanaNdwom.com’. The story, titled; ‘Fans disappointed in Stonebwoy for poor live band performance’indicated that scores of Stonebwoy fans who thronged the Baba Yara Sports Stadium for the 2015 Tigo Unplugged Concert in Kumasi last Saturday, didn’t enjoy his live band performance. I therefore decided to focus critically on live band performances by artistes and its relevance. Stonebwoy’s pedigree in the music industry has heightened tremendously over the past year and it has therefore become a burden on him to exhibit professional standards on any platform he is given. His impressive form earned him a live band tour with Morgan Heritage across Europeand he has also been signed unto one the biggest reggae record labels. All these sum up the burden and desperation that have been imposed on him to perform with a live band. It makes it not surprising that he performed with a live band at the MO Ibrahim Concert held at the Black Star Square on 21st November 2015 and also performed with a live band at the 2015 Tigo Unplugged Concert held at the Baba Yara Stadium last Saturday. It however appears that a substantial section of his fans do not enjoy his live band performances as much as when he mimes. What may be the reason(s)?
I usually hear music scholars and pundits who have in-depth knowledge about the music industry positing that artistes who perform with a live band show a high level of musical prowess and a depiction of maturity in the music industry. On the contrary, they describe artistes who mime on stage as minnows and mediocre. Technically, they may be right with their assessment but I believe that the core aim of any artiste who mounts a stage to perform should be to entertain the crowd or audience to the extent that they will be fully satisfied and convinced that the journey they made to the venue to watch the artiste perform wasn’t a waste of money, time, and/or other resources. Whether miming or live band, what the fans will enjoy most, is what should be of focus to the artiste and his team. Artistes must therefore employ strategic planning before they mount the stage to perform. This involves taking into consideration several factors before a decision on whether to resort to strictly live band, strictly miming or a merger of the two is made. The factors include the audience that the artiste will be performing to, the genre or type of songs that the artiste will be performing, amongst others. Performing to a corporate or diplomatic audience, live band may be more appropriate than miming. In the same vein, performing to a crowd dominated by ‘street/ghetto’ guys, miming may be more appropriate than live band. Moreover, live band may be more appropriate for the performance of highlife, reggae and a couple of dancehall songs whilst miming may be the best for the performance of hip hop and hip life songs.
Sarkodie’s performance at the MO Ibrahim Concert on Saturday, 21st November 2015 at the Black Star Square was a classical case of an artiste who made effective utilization of strategic planning. Sarkodie and his team were very strategic in planning for his performance at the said concert. Sarkodie managed to combine the services of his personal DJ, DJ Mensah and a live band during his performance. Whilst DJ Mensah provided Sarkodie with recorded instrumentals for songs such as ‘Revenge of the Spartans’, ‘Original’, ‘Illuminati’ etcetera, the live band also delivered as Sarkodie performed songs such as ‘Mary’ and ‘Mewu’ with Akwaboah. The likes of ‘Revenge of the Spartans’, ‘Original’ and ‘Illuminati’ are purely hip hop tunes that are best performed and most enjoyable with its original sounds played by a DJ on stage. Such songs can be performed with a live band but the crowd might not enjoy it as much as the sounds the DJ will provide. One major reason is that, instrumentals for Hip Hop tunes are usually interspersed with very intense bass kicks which can move the crowd whenever they are played. The intensity of the bass of hip hop tunes alone can get your head rocking. It is therefore appropriate to resort to the original sounds anytime an artiste mounts the stage to perform such typical hip hop tunes. For songs such as ‘Mary’ and ‘Mewu’, the best way to perform them is by a live band and that is exactly what Sarkodie did on the said night. The 2 aforementioned tracks were recorded live as part of the 11 tracks which were all recorded live on Sarkodie’s Mary album in honour of his late Grandmother, Mary. Performing those tracks with Akwaboah, a major architect behind the production of the songs and the album in entirety, with a live band, was therefore the best way to go. The crowd loved the performance and enjoyed it to the fullest. This constitutes the basis upon which I described Sarkodie’s performance as a classical case of an artiste who made effective utilization of strategic planning and will suggest that his colleague artistes will take a cue from him.
Stonebwoy and all other artistes in the music industry should make efficient use of strategic planning before mounting any stage to perform. For Stonebwoy I believe his type of songs can be performed with a live band to the satisfaction of any crowd or audience but I think it is a matter of time. It’s a process and he has every capacity to become an expert in it. He can also seek tutorials from his senior colleague, Samini who has over the years, carved a niche and established himself as one of the best performers in the country. At the end of the day, success is chalked when the crowd enjoy your performance to satisfaction. It shouldn’t necessarily be strictly live band. It can be strictly miming or a merger of the two depending on the aforementioned factors.
Seth F.T. Mireku Jnr,
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