Veteran highlife musician, Bessa Simons, has advised bands in Ghana to record their own compositions.

According to him, in the past, it was usual practice for bands to also own records apart from doing covers of other people’s songs.

Bessa Simons, a former member of the legendary Osibisa band and currently the leader of the Bessa Band said on Joy FM’s Showbiz A-Z that by releasing their own songs and promoting them, these bands will be eligible for awards schemes like the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards. 

“You know what the VGMA stands for. They look out for recordings, promotions, you putting yourself out there, making sure you are in the digital space, making sure you do things extra-ordinary that need to be awarded,” he told the host Kwame Dadzie. 

As a board member of the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) and the President of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA), Bessa said he was going to propose the idea of creating a category for bands, as mooted by Sita Korley, a member of the Lipstick Queens.

Sita on Showbiz A-Z suggested that bands be given a special recognition in the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards even if they don't have their own songs.

“Because they [the bands] don’t have albums, are they saying they are not going to be recognised at all? 

I would suggest that a different criteria be made out for the bands that are performers and not because they are composers and bring out albums," she said.

She further noted that even with individual artistes that usually get nominated in the scheme, not all of them compose their own songs so it is not a big deal if a band does not have a song of its own.

“For me I would say there should be a criteria for bands that bring out their own albums and those that play as performers and play covers because there are so many events in the country they perform at so at some point they should be recognised,” Sita said. 

Some bands in Ghana that have their own records are Kwan Pa, Fra, Santrofi, Nkyinkyim, among others.