Veteran musicians are not preventing the new generation from making strides in the music industry because there is enough room to accommodate both new and old artists, highlife musician Rex Omar has said.
Speaking to Natalia Andoh on Touch of Class on Class 91.3FM on Thursday 31 May 2018, Rex Omar advised young artists to stop asking the older ones to quit for them to take over.
He noted that it surprises him anytime he hears that Ghanaian musicians above 40 years should sit back and leave the industry to the younger ones.
The Abiba hitmaker said: “Something is happening in this country and I’m surprised. It’s like the new generation thinks that they own something, as soon as you grow, forty years, they say leave it for us. That kind of mentality must stop. Because of that most of them are not ready to learn, they are not ready to listen to anything”.
According to him, the young artists say: “This is our time, this is our generation”, but he believes people and musicians should always have a reference point because elsewhere, musicians perform up to 80 years.
Rex Omar stated that: “Currently, our own legend Ebo Taylor, 80 years, is still touring around the globe selling Ghanaian music, highlife, but we’ve some current 25-, 26-year-old musicians in this country thinking this is their time, so, everybody should stop for them to continue.”
In his opinion, music is an artistic work which has nothing to do with age, “it’s not like a competition, like a football or boxing, artistic work is an idea of creativity. If you’re powerful enough, let your creativity show, but don’t say: ‘It’s our time, why don’t you stop and give opportunity to the new generation,’ nobody is stopping any new generation, the doors are open for the new generation to walk in, so your power to walk in and to succeed depends on the power of your creativity”.
Rex Omar believes “creativity comes in a raw form but you have to continue to learn, you have to continue to nurture your own creativity to make it mature. With artistic work, the more you grow in it, the more it becomes mature.”