Music not about hierarchy —Rocky Dawuni

A normal thing in the music industry is for young acts to seek collaborations with their ‘seniors’ but award-winning Reggae musician Rocky Dawuni says that does not really work for him as he is ready to come down to the level of any young musician if need be.

According to him, once a song appeals to him, the artiste’s status does not really matter.

“There is no hierarchy for me so far as music is concerned. Actually, I have personally reached out to Fancy Gadam, Kofi Jamar and KiDi for collaborations and there is nothing to be shy about. These musicians are doing amazingly well and I feel so proud to work with them.

“Music is not about a veteran musician feeling big in his shoes to do collaborations with young artistes. I believe in creativity and once an artiste is creative, I will work with you.

“I have reached out to musicians who are not even mainstream artistes and that is because I loved the song they put out. However, if the song is not okay, there is no way I will jump on it no matter the relationship I have with the artiste,” he told Graphic Showbiz in a recent interview.

Read also: Africans must use digital tools to tell own story - Rocky Dawuni

Touching on other matters, Rocky Dawuni, who bagged his second Grammy nomination last year, said it was about time event organisers deliberately included traditional artistes for their shows.

“In Ghana, we only book the trending artistes for shows, especially in December which is not really cool. The likes of Wiyaala, Sherifa Gunu, myself, Worlasi, King Ayisoba, Atongo Zimba and other artistes I know are brilliant but how often do they get booked in Ghana?

“We are not being fair to these artistes and we must make it an effort to include them,” he said.

Talking about his Grammy nomination, Rocky Dawuni, who has songs such as Woara, In Ghana, Beautiful People, My Baby, Ghost Town, Burn One, Rock Your Soul, Nairobi and Turn It Up said he was looking forward to making Ghana proud at the awards which will come off in April this year.

“A win for me is a win for Ghana so I am just praying that I emerge the winner and make Ghana proud. Getting a nomination is not new to me but I just pray that Ghana wins this award,” he stated.

Read also: No! Ghana is not above Grammys

Talent alone not enough to win us Grammys - Jae 5

“Fine Fine” music no guarantee for Grammys - Barima Sidney

Asked if it was difficult for a Ghanaian artiste to get a Grammy nomination, he said it was not difficult and that an artiste just needs to have a good song with the right lyrics, great instrumentation and be original.

“During my time, I had to deliberately move to the United States to study the system there. I had to intern at a record label just to be familiar with the system. I made sure to sell my music and myself to them,” he added.