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How to become a good songwriter – Okyeame Kwame

The two-time Ghana Music Awards songwriter of the year tells how one can become a good songwriter

Okyeame Kwame tells how one can become a good songwriter

Hiplife artiste, Okyeame Kwame has indicated that, one can become a good songwriter by developing interest in writing, putting the interest into practice and knowing how to put the lyrics together to form good melodies.

Speaking to Abrantepa on Radio Univers’ mid-morning show, , the two-time Ghana Music Awards (GMAs) songwriter of the year stated that all good songwriters work with a framework they have subscribed to.

These frameworks, he said, include analogies, exaggerations and other literally devices.

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“Let’s look at it from the concept of talent. What is talent? It’s a developed interest. So if you have a talent as a songwriter, you must develop that interest by constantly practising it. After that, then you do what I did; you must get the knowledge of how to write a good song. Song writing has two meanings: writing the lyrics like a poem and creating a melody to make those lyrics catchy,” he said.

“All top song writers like R Kelly, M.I, Kojo Antwi, Paapa Yankson, OJ, Rex Omar, Amanzeba and the likes work with a certain framework. You can say maybe, ‘I will use alliteration for the concept of the song’. Once you have subscribed to the framework, then you can come along and enjoy it. Obour’s song [Obour] for instance had exaggeration as its concept. If you listen to my lines in I made use of an analogy between love and car: when it’s new, fairly new and old. So great songwriters take a literary concept as a framework and then fit the theme or story in,” Okyeame Kwame added.

He continued: “After you’ve been able to do that, then you know you can now write a good poem. So how do you turn this poem into writing good melodies? At this point, you stand to gain an advantage if you play a guitar or a piano. So you arrange the song guided by another framework of cords because every cord and an emotion they elicit. Every sound and its relationship with the cognitive. When you put the poetry and the melodic part together, then you can be called a good songwriter.”

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Okyeame Kwame is known to be a master lyricist and universal linguist. He is a Creative Director and Owner of One Mic Entertainment. He swept enviable awards at the 2008/2009 GMAs including the much-coveted Artiste of the Year award.

The former member of the defunct Akyeame music group is out with a single titled, The track produced by Appietus is a fusion of Afrobeats, jazz, French pop and a bit of trap sounds. It was recorded live by the Patch Bay Band. It features Lynx Entertainment’s act, MzVee.

According to Okyeame Kwame, the song has most of its lyrics in pidgin because he is looking forward to market it not only in Ghana but in East Africa.

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