Celebrated Gospel musician, Cwesi Oteng has said that language should not be a topic for discussion if Ghanaian musicians aim to break into the international market.

According to him, every artiste is entitled to sing in their local dialect, however, when there is a goal of promoting one’s songs globally, they must strive to include the English language.

“Any artiste with any language can do it. We must just now think globally, and if we’re thinking globally, a subject like doing songs in English shouldn’t be a conversation in any community. It’s part of it. It’s not odd. So, let’s just support English,” he said.

This was in response to Nigerian singer Nathaniel Bassey’s advice to Ghanaian gospel artistes to use the English language in their songs.

In December 2023, Nathaniel passed a comment at the Jesus Encounter Concert in Accra that Ghanaian gospel musicians should do more songs in English in order to reach wider audiences across the world.

His message re-ignited the debate across social media on the role of language in song appreciation, with some people backlashing him for such statements.

However, speaking on Joy Prime’s Prime Morning show on Friday, Cwesi Oteng also opined that doing songs in the English language must not be a major concern for conversation.

According to him, Nathaniel was right in his message because Ghanaian music has not done too well on the international fronts due to the overuse of local languages, which he thinks should be reconsidered in order to take advantage of global platforms.

“It was a great statement he made. I think what Nathaniel would be saying is to support songs in English. That’s the thing I came to meet. When I came, Ghana was traditionally biassed; we were traditional music-controlled. Then I emerged, and the new faces of gospel musicians were emerging. Now there’s an international platform to take advantage of,” he indicated.

Additionally, the gospel singer stated that Ghanaians consider language a major thing in culture, saying that culture has little to do with language.

He also mentioned that MOGMusic is globally recognised in non-Ghanaian churches because the people understand and resonate with his songs.

That notwithstanding, he does not demoralise musicians to stop writing songs in local languages but has urged that it should not override the English language since that is globally understandable.

Reacting to the issue of circular musicians getting international attention even though their songs are local language-dominated, the ‘I Win’ hitmaker said everyone needs to focus on their strengths, but understanding should be a major concern for all musicians.

He added that, “If I didn’t understand or know how to communicate in English, I would have made my Twi international.”

The gospel singer thinks Ghanaians should be open-minded in terms of music production so as to gain global recognition.