Ghanaian highlife singer and songwriter, Kwabena Kwabena, has asserted that African songwriters are not able to express themselves well when they compose in English.

Assessing the standard of songwriting in Ghana, Kwabena Kwabena said although some Ghanaian songwriters are doing well with their craft, others are not churning up quality materials. 

He told Joy FM’s Kwame Dadzie in an interview on Showbiz A-Z that a good song must have good melody, catchy chorus and message.

The ‘Adult Music’ hit maker said a lot of African musicians (and Ghanaians for that matter) who sing in their native languages exude some depth in the messages their songs carry.

“The truth of the matter is, English done in English by our African musicians lack a lot of depth. Take 10 African music and you can sample just about 10 lyrics which are dangling or intersecting with almost every song. And that’s not great songwriting,” he said.

He indicated that with regards to originality of lyrics by Africans who compose songs in English, the standard of songwriting is low. 

He named Olivetheboy, Lasmid, Amerado and Black Sherif as young Ghanaian artistes who are doing well with songwriting. 

Kwabena who declined to mention the list of artistes he has written songs for explained that most people in Ghana feel that it is condescending to announce one's contribution to a piece of work in terms of songwriting. 

He also noted he has not charged for any of the songs he wrote for other musicians but will start doing so soon.

This comes on the back of a recent issue between Kuami Eugene and Mr. Drew, where the former said he wrote a song for  Mr Drew but he had not been paid nor given credit for his input. 

To a lot of music connoisseurs , this development shows the cracks in the business side of the songwriting craft in Ghana.