You don’t need hit songs to stage concerts —Celestine Donkor
Staging a concert without hit songs can be tedious to non-hitmakers since patrons attend most events to enjoy bangers from their favourite artistes, but Gospel musician Celestine Donkor believes popular songs are not entirely important to make a gig successful.
This is because her first major concert held 13 years ago was lit even though she didn’t have any hit or popular song back then.
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“Some 13 years ago when I wanted to organise Celestial Praiz, I was wondering what songs I would be singing to my audience because I only had Supernatural which was not a hit song back then. I went on to sing songs from Gospel musicians such as Sinach, Don Moen but the show was packed and the patrons enjoyed every bit of my performances,” she told Graphic Showbiz in an interview.
She, however, explained that one thing that helped her at that time was the massive publicity she put in.
“I did a lot of publicity on radio and banners all over. I didn’t have enough money to do billboards back then but I am sure I would have done that if there were enough funds. So the likes of Adomaa, Dhat Girl who mostly do renditions of other musicians can easily stage their own concerts if they want to”, she added.
Sharing Celestine’s sentiments, another Gospel musician Jayana who organised her maiden concert Kara Experience last year told Graphic Showbiz a musician did not really need chart-topping songs to stage a concert.
“I for instance do not have a big song but I have performed in different churches and other places and built the fan base. I was surprised to see the turnout at my maiden concert last year.”
“Again, once you are financially sound to organise a concert, it does not matter having a hit song. I have personally gone to events organised by musicians who did not have hit songs yet I enjoyed myself because of the stagecraft. One thing that I don’t take for granted is my stagecraft”, she said.
However, Founder of 3Media Networks Limited, Baba Sadiq Abdulai Abu, disagrees with Celestine Donkor and Jayana saying chart-topping songs are very important for a musician when staging a concert.
“You need bangers to build the brand. The fans would have to know your songs so that they can at least sing along. Sarkodie did not have a hit song in one of the years he organised Rapperholic but because he has built a solid brand with his music over the years, his fans came through for him,” he said.
He added that an artiste such as Black Sherif has been successful because he has famous songs accompanying his brand leading to the massive turnout at his maiden concert Mozama Disco held at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel in December last year.
For his part, artiste manager Ashes is also of the view that a hit or popular song is important for an artiste to stage their own concert. Without hit songs, he questioned what the musicians would perform to patrons if they staged their own concert.
“ A singer like Adomaa can host her own concert but in small place like + 233 because she has her own fan base but not at a place like Accra International Conference Centre (AICC), Fantasy Dome or any big place because people will not come in their numbers,” he said.