Black Echo of Chogu Boys fame has bemoaned the way musicians in the northern region are been forced to retire from their music career by some sections of the population due to their age. This scenario he says does not help in the growth of the industry and destroys great talents.
Speaking on Sanatu Zambang Hotspot Live, Black Echo explained that, musicians in the northern region are been forced to retire from performing music as compared to the southern musicians. According to him, musicians in the south are able to perform music until when they chose to retire but that is not the case in this part of the country.
He mentioned the likes of Rex Umar, Reggy Ragstone, and the likes who are still active in music and people do not call them out for performing music considering their age. He mentions that people in the north will question old musicians for performing music on stage by saying ‘’ you this old person, why are you still doing this’’.
This statement he says affects most of our old musicians to just end their careers because they do not want people to still question them. He further explained how religion and culture here also destroy talent. In his account, he says people are having double standards.
Musicians are not allowed to express themselves because people will always use religion to chastise them for doing music but will be the first to call musicians to compose a peace song to calm down tension or defuse conflict. Black Echo also touched on why the band settled on the name Chogu Boys. The name he says they wanted to change the negative narrative of their hood, Chogu.
Chogu in the beginning was synonymous with violence and they saw a chance to give it a new facelift through art and hence the name Chogu Boys. For him, he is very grateful that they have been able to do that successfully change that narrative because generation z grew up at a time when Chogu Boys were capturing the heart of the north with their impressive music and rich content. For Black
Echo his biggest threat or his biggest headache as he will like to call it is the underground artists. Black Echo in the conversation revealed that he does not see any mainstream artists as headaches but the underground artists. Underground artists because of the new and fresh ideas they are bringing into the industry. Notwithstanding that, he likes to work with them for the betterment and growth of the northern music industry.
Also, Chogu Boys’ initial plan is to unearth and promote new talent in the region which is still the focus of the group. Currently Black Echo and his band, Chogu Boys are promoting their latest single featuring WizChild, Mma Nyntaa.
The song before its release has made headlines on most media platforms in Tamale. People are attributing so many meanings to the song. But they maintain that it is not what people think it is. It has a deeper meaning especially in this our current economic hardship.
A Zeno.FM Station
