Atigsi Badek Review; Diva 1 & Amie, “beef”, a situation that transcends the loyalty of fans.
Rahamatu-Lahi Zakaria || Editor Sanatu Zambang: It is quite unfortunate to see women start a career in music and all of a sudden, they vanish from the music scene without prior information as to why they quit. Some go into a long hiatus while others never make a return. Your first week’s stay in Tamale, you will think there are no female artists currently in the region. Most radio presenters do not play female artists’ songs. They will let you believe that these female artists are not working hard as their male counterparts
It was heart-breaking listening to participants of the Enough project forum organized by Norsaac. Some of the participant’s comments after seeing Amie, Diva one, Etornam, Reka J and AJ sugar perform their songs are that we do not have any new crop of female artists doing music now. They can only remember the likes of Mama Rams, Meimunatu Laardi and their gang. Some of them said they did not know we had female artistes in the region though they were in Tamale. For the first time in my career as a journalist, I listen to females artistes talked about sexual and gender-based violence that they faced for being ladies in the music industry. Yes, I knew that sexual exploitation existed but I did not know how deep it runs in the industry and the trauma that arises from it for the ladies just because they wanted to live their dreams of entertaining people and letting the world appreciate the gift that God gave them.


At the Forum, the female artists made us understand the reasons people do not hear from them frequently and that was because their managers and the radio presenters who aught to promote them are constantly and sexually harassing them. They want them to trade their body for favors.Most often than not, we blame female artists for not being active in the industry like their male counterparts forgetting the sexual harassment they have to face in the industry. But what was quite unfortunate was when one of the artists said if you should make a mistake to name some of the sexual predators in the industry, your career as a musician is over. They said these gang of sexual predators masquerading themselves as industry players, who want to see the growth of northern music will sideline you and never play your music on air again. This practice does not see the growth of female artists in the region. With this practice, society stereotypes them as ‘sex workers.’ They do not see them as victims that they should protect but rather the problem of the and do not deserve any sympathy.