Interview: SYN! New Ghanaian Artiste Blames Ghanaian Musicians “They Don’t Study”!

The Ghanaian Music Industry is blessed with Africa’s most brilliant song writers. One of the newest gifted writers to grace the music scene and ready for mainstream success is a young man known as SYN, born and christened Safwan Alhassan, a twenty something year old graduate of Central University.

The young song writer has labeled Ghanaian musicians as people who don’t want to learn. He also accuses Ghanaian music as being too narrow and chastised musicians for limiting Ghana music to mainstream African boundaries, when it can cross to the world market.

Like many others, SYN discovered his singing abilities at a tender age. Trying to sound different in respect to the genre of music he does. He said: “I can’t specify the genre of music I do but I get my inspiration from any kind of music, any kind of tune, any kind of story I want to tell, I tell in a particular genre and I leave the audience to judge what kind of genre the music is”.

SYN is a Human Resource Management graduate from Central University but wants to pursue music to the fullest. The enthusiastic and dedicated artist is currently in music school studying music intimately and learning how to play some musical instruments, with his preferences on the guitar.

Syn goes onto explain how a lack of education is what is retarding the progress of the country’s music industry and advises fellow musicians to take courses in music to be abreast of what is happening in the music world. He challenged musicians to go to school and learn about music and not only offer courses in Management, Human Resource or Accounting.

His debut 13 track album ‘SYNED’ is ready to be released soon. SYN revealed to GhanaCelebrities.Com about himself and dwelled on his music life as well as what he hopes to achieve musically. Below are the excerpts …

GhanaCelebrities.Com: SYN can you tell us about yourself?

SYN: I’m SYN, a Ghanaian up coming artiste. I can’t specify the genre of music I do but I get my inspiration from any kind of music, any kind of tune, any kind of story I want to tell, I tell in a particular genre and I leave the audience to judge what kind of genre the music is.

I’m basically a graduate from Central University, Human Resource Management graduate but I want to pursue to music so I’m diverting. I’m really studying music intimately right now; I’m a music school now learning the pop guitar. I love pop music and that’s the trend I want to go. I want to infuse a lot of Afro-Pop, African instrument, live performances, so I’m really on the start and I hope to build to the top.

GhanaCelebrities.Com: Where do you take your inspirations from?

SYN: I take my inspirations from stories that I hear, from people’s experiences, not personally but recently the new compositions I’m doing most of them are personal, so I will say from my environment, I take my stories from my environment.

GhanaCelebrities.Com: You have a single ‘My Bebe’, can you tell us the concept behind that song?

SYN: The concept for ‘My Bebe’ is very hilarious; basically saying cut your coat according to your size. I picked it from a point where I was talking about a woman that I lost love to in the village where I’m now a rich guy in the city now and I cannot find happiness with all the riches, so I try to go back to my roots. Basically, the song talks aboutcut your coat according to your size, be content with what you have and be happy.

GhanaCelebrities.Com: So what’s the message are you putting out there?

SYN: I want to tell people that; the little that you have is not that bad; you can be happy about that if you don’t envy people but want to be someone else. I infused a lot of northern rhythm into the music by introducing a northern artiste as you can see in the video. It was really a tough job.

GhanaCelebrities.Com: Ghana has lots of languages but Twi and Ga dominates the rest when it comes to music. You decided to feature a Dagomba artiste, any special reason?

SYN: Yes I featured a Dagomba singer and I sang in pidgin. Basically that’s why we want to go; we know there are 46 tribes in Ghana, which means 46 different kinds of music store up in this country and we are just narrowing it down to some particular languages but certain languages have beautiful musical trends that’s we can tap into. Now I featured a Dagomba artiste and I did pidgin but certain songs that are coming that I will do in local languages.

GhanaCelebrities.Com: How long have you been on the music scene?

SYN: I have been trying for the past 5 years when I came into the industry and I was honest with myself that I knew I wasn’t prepared. So I went back to the drawing board, build my locals, I took vocal lessons. I really worked hard before I got here but it’s been 5 years but 1 active year of recording my album and getting it together.

GhanaCelebrities.Com: Any collaboration with any artiste?

SYN: Yes, I have worked with Jayso, who I’m still working with right now, we are about to do a collaboration with D-Black. I have worked with the Dagomba guy who is not popular here in Accra. I have worked with a couple of artistes. I have worked with the Skillions, Irene, Kwaw Kese. Those songs are not on my album but they are singles that we recorded.

GhanaCelebrities.Com: How soon should Ghanaians expect the launch of your album?

SYN: This year is basically our year for the new act, we are coming hard. We are trying to push and sell our talent. It’s not easy. The terrain is not easy. You need to know what to do and where to go. You sit back and look at the industry, you go good music, means its easy but you need people who know what you have to do and what you don’t have to do. So we are learning, making our mistakes and we are coming strongly.

GhanaCelebrities.Com: You are a singer. Do you also rap?

SYN: Yes I’m a singer. I don’t rap.

GhanaCelebrities.Com: What’s your impression about the Ghana music industry?

SYN: I think Ghanaian music is too narrow. I think we are limiting ourselves to our boundaries. I think the world is a cultural market, when you have something you have to sell it out there.

It’s a big market and music is one big multi-million industry and with the right things done, we can sell our talents, our creativity as Ghanaians to the world and bring lots of economic benefits, creating employment and the likes. So I think our industry is narrow, its limited and we have ourselves to blame. I think we have to go for the big things.

GhanaCelebrities.Com: Do you share the assertion that language is the major factor why Ghanaians can’t get their music up there on the world market?

SYN: No, not necessarily. There is a Nigerian singer Asa who performs in France and other places. They don’t understand the language but she’s good and she’s making it big in those countries, it’s not the language barrier. I think we [Ghanaian musicians] don’t study.

You watch a Ghanaian musician on TV saying that he’s going for education and he will be talking about Management, Human Resource or Accounting or something with that knowledge but music itself is a science that you have to learn into detail to know it before you can express it better to the world.

I think our musicians are limiting themselves in knowledge. I think we have to learn, we have to be educated. We do music in our universities but the extent that it should go. What we need is education and Ghanaian music will go somewhere.

GhanaCelebrities.Com: Musically which artists do you look up to?

SYN: [Laughs] Okay, locally I respect certain musicians; I don’t look up to them. But I respect and look up to old acts like Osibisa, Rex Gyamfi and the likes. The original highlife because I feel some languages have certain styles of singing that is perfect for these languages but today the contemporary highlifes and hiplifes …

I’m not saying they are not good but they are taking the quality of that kind of music. I respect Becca, I respect D-Black. I respect the Skillions, people think they are just rappers but if you go into the clique you will see that they are really into music, jazz and the likes.

GhanaCelebrities.Com: And the foreign artists?

SYN: I look up to songwriters like Neyo and Alicia Keys. Most artistes/singers look upto Michael Jackson and I happen to have a lot of people telling me that I have that kind of voice tone. The Michael Jackson kind of voice tone. I can’t do his dance moves; I just have his voice tone. I think I have his style of music too, it affects my music.

GhanaCelebrities.Com: Are you happy with the way Ghana Music Industry is moving?

SYN: No, I’m not happy. I think that we are being complacent because when you ask people, they tell you it’s moving on well but you if actually talk to those in the industry, you realized that, they don’t have the knowledge of how to run the industry.

They are from other sectors, specialist in engineering or other things but music is their passion, so they find themselves in there to try and promote something with the finances and do what they do. I think we need people who would learn the system, the industry, the music as an administration because these are courses they learn outside Ghana and I look to do a course like that too. We are just leaning on the faith of people appreciating good music.

GhanaCelebrities.Com: Do you think Ghanaians are ready for your kind of music?

SYN: Yes, I think Ghanaians are ready for my kind of music because Ghanaians appreciate a lot of music from out of country.

Day in day out there was a time that people say Ghanaians won’t appreciate music sang in English and the likes and though I do music in local dialects, I do lots of Pop, R&B and Rock music. Jon Germain came out with his album, though he didn’t break even in Ghana, people appreciate him. People love Michael Jackson, Neyo, and other international artistes like Asa.

To even look at artiste like Jason, you don’t expect people to love him but they have the kind of market in Ghana. So I think I have a group or fan base I can build in Ghana.

GhanaCelebrities.Com: Meaning of SYN?

SYN: I actually got the name SYN based on some initials in my name. But the SYN word later I learnt is a Greek word that means fusion or togetherness. Looking at the way I do my music, gathering different kind of styles together, I think it’s a perfect name.

GhanaCelebrities.Com: Thank you for your time.

SYN: My pleasure!