While globalisation has eroded a lot of indigenous cultures across the world, there are some creatives who through fusions and experimentation, still want to retain what is original and traditional to their identity. 

One of such people is Edem Goget’em, a musician who has etched his name in the annals of Ghanaian music as creative and versatile with styles and genres. 

His style is so eclectic that he taps into reggae, dancehall, rap, highlife and other Afro variants. 

Edem has revealed in a recent interview with on Joy FM’s Showbiz A to Z how he employs indigenous rhythms from the Volta Region (where he comes from) into the composition of his pop music genres. 

“When I go to my mother in the Volta Region and we go to the village and then I also have access to borborbor, kenka, agbese, agbadza, sogo, all the forms of music we have in the region and then I also saw the synergy and I just marry the two and ai tend to create.

One of the examples of a kenka song which Magnom and I decided to do an EDM Afrobeat with it, is ‘Koene'," he noted.

He said they fused a pattern in kenka that sounds like a techno beat into the song. He also cited ‘Nyedzilo’ as having inspiration from kenka. He said the took parrots the sound produced by one of the drums in the ensemble. 

Highlighting how he derived the chorus for the song ‘Heyba’ he said the fisher folk along the coast in Keta and other places in the Volta Region, usually chant “ahooo eee, heeeeyba” while going for fishing. 

Although Edem noted that his creative process is inspired by artistry, there are times his inclusion of rhythms from the Volta Region come from the subconscious. 

According to him, these things are instrinsic and that they creep in anytime he is doing his compositions.

Edem, however, indicated that his upbringing exposed him to different types of music like hip hop, regga, reggae, highlife, pop, among others; a reason he is able to switch between genres. 

Edem has over the years been lauded for in-depth knowledge in music and his unparalleled artistry. 

After attending the Africa Nominee Brunch of the Grammy Awards in March this year in the United States of America, he linked up with American music producer Swizz Beatz in Los Angeles.

In his bid to network and build connections, he had a chat with the producer as they shared a lot of ideas about the music industry.

The Ghanaian musician who has collaborations with Efya, Sarkodie, Raquel, Sway, Kwaw Kese, Akwaboah, Kwabena Kwabena, Tinny, Rekaado Banks, M.I., among others, mostly does his songs in his native language Ewe, and in English, Patois, Twi, Pidgin English, or sometimes a potpourri of two or more of these languages. 

Edem is currently promoting his latest work ‘We Don’t Really Care’, a song that talks about individuals not fretting about what others think about them.