The Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) is launching a new campaign to support national efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19. The campaign is supported by the Ministry of Information, the National Commission on Culture, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the and Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS). The launch is scheduled to take place on Thursday, March 11.
The initiative is at the instance of ECOWAS and partners to use culture and the creative arts of member states to create much needed awareness and promote COVID-19 prevention messages, key to the to prevent and limit the spread of the virus.
The campaign involves the release of a song, music video and video messages by Ghanaian artists through local media.
The song features Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA) 2020 Songwriter of the Year and International Organisation for Migration Ambassador, Kofi Kinaata; VGMA Gospel Song of the Year winner, Celestine Donkor, the Golden Voice of Africa, Pat Thomas and multiple award-winning artiste, Amandzeba. Other artists on the track include highlife singer, Adane and Best and ace SDA songsmith, Samuel Kofi Agyemang.
According to the Acting MUSIGA President Bessa Simons, the campaign is the Union’s contribution to the fight against COVID-19 and its impact on Ghana. “The campaign begun with support from the Ministry of Information to record the song, music video and messages and UNESCO helped us to finish the recordings and publicize the material.”
On his part, the UNESCO Representative in Ghana, Abdourahamane Diallo noted that Ghana has been one of the first countries to implement this UNESCO/ECOWAS joint support initiative. This comes at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is surging in Ghana, schools have re-opened and restrictions have just been tightened by the President because of the surge. It is hoped that this important contribution from the creative and cultural industries will be welcome and contribute to the national response.
The Executive Director of the National Commission on Culture (NCC), Madam Janet Edna Nyame indicated that, “The support from UNESCO to the Commission and our affiliated organizations to combat the ravages of COVID-19 is indeed very welcome. There is the need to educate our people on how to prevent the virus from spreading.”
Ghana has currently tightened restrictions as announced by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo recently. The numbers of infected persons are increasing and it is hoped that this intervention by MUSIGA will help raise awareness among the population on how to avoid contracting the virus.
