Ghanaian musicians who attended the launch of this year’s Vodafone Ghana Music Awards last Saturday commended the former president of the Musicians Union of Ghana [MUSIGA] for his hard work and commitment during his eight years of leadership which earned the music industry a great success.

The musicians who were spotted shaking hands with the former MUSIGA president said they were happy to see him at the launch and commended him for his contribution towards the progress of the music industry in Ghana.

They hinted that Alhaji Sidiku Buari, also the former president of the International Federation of Musicians (FIM), deserved an award in recognition of his contribution towards the building of a vibrant music industry in Ghana.

The musicians said they recognized Sidiku Buari for the initiative during his term of office which provided opportunities for musicians to get maximum benefits from FIM with regard to capacity building. They noted that through his encouragement, today, musicians and stakeholders in Ghana were enjoying duty free on imported musical instruments.

According to them, Sidiku Buari could also be credited for the re-emergence of live-band music in Ghana. The musicians were of the view that during his administration, all was well among the players in the music industry and the musicians were not left out as they were made to take part in every activity organized by the stakeholders.

They noted that the music industry in Ghana needed the likes of Sidiku Buari, who has the music industry and the welfare of the musicians at heart, to assist in running the day to day affairs of the industry.

Based on his achievements in the Ghanaian music industry, the International Federation of Musicians (FIM), last September honoured him for his meritorious contribution to the development of music in Africa at a ceremony held in South Africa.

In a citation accompanying the award, the federation described Alhaji Sidiku Buari as a dedicated and committed musician who helped tremendously in transforming the music industry in Africa.

In an interview with BEATWAVES, Sidiku Buari appealed to the record companies to invest in Ghanaian musicians, saying there were many talents in Ghana who could match any around the world.

He noted that difficulty in enforcing laws against piracy of music in Ghana was a serious canker, adding that pirated versions of creative works covered at least 60 percent of the market and in West Africa, the figure could be as high as 90 percent.

Sidiku Buari declared that lack of enforcement of copyright laws had empowered the pirates, who were better organised and more successful than the victims and perhaps acted in concert with the public enforcement agencies.

He said in most African countries, the ineffective enforcement of copyright laws had led to a host of other unintended consequences including pushing the production of African music out of the continent. For example, in the late 1980?s, most legitimate music businesses in Ghana, including production houses and record factories, were shut down due to competition from pirates.