Scratch heads to French music festival
It is billed as one of the world’s biggest meetings of music professionals.
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In 2013, Scratch Studios became the second company from Africa, after South Africa, to ever attend Midem.
At that event, the company was represented by CEO Kofi Amoakohene and Associate Director, Paa K. Holdbrook-Smith and they began campaigning for greater African participation.
According to Holdbrook-Smith, the first thing they lobbied for was for the festival to be moved from February to June which is a more favourable period, weather-wise, for African participants.
Attendance at Midem by African countries increased in the following year.
“In 2014, through our persistent lobbying, there were delegations from Senegal, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Cape Verde, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Gabon and Algeria in addition to Ghana and South Africa,” Holdbrook –Smith said.
Scratch was also influential in pushing for an African to be added to the festival’s jury, resulting in the inclusion of rap star, Sarkodie being part last year.
The East Legon-based entertainment company last year assisted rapper Koo Ntakra to become the first Ghanaian artiste to feature in the Midem Accelerator Programme which is a platform for artistes to show their talents, book agents and top guns from the global music industry.
Rapper, singer and songwriter, M.anifest, has been accepted to perform at this year’s programme.
Through the influence of Scratch, the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) launched its Ghana Music Week at Midem 2016.
This year, Scratch will be represented at the music festival by Paa K. Holdbrook-Smith; General Manager and Head of IT, Michael Bamfo and singer/songwriter on the company’s label, Ssue.
“Our aim is to help Ghanaian and African music to grow internationally and we are happy we are making ample progress on that front,” Holdbrook-Smith said with pride.
