According to Kumi Guitar, a Ghanaian songwriter and singer, most Ghanaian entertainers, especially musicians are unhappy people and depressed.
He said that an estimated ninety-eight percent of musicians are depressed.
Speaking in an interview with an Accra-based FM station, he said “We entertain people. at times, we come smiling but we are pained inside. I can tell you that 98 percent of musicians are depressed. We are going through a lot of traumas but we need to entertain so we smile.”
“Even when you are backstage, you keep thinking. When we are done with our performance on stage, we go back into our shell thinking. If musicians will be truthful, most of them who look like they are making it are not making it.”
Explaining the possible cause of this depression, Kumi Guitar revealed that the country lacks systems that support entertainers in their careers.
He shared his experience that there have been many times he felt like giving up because there was no support from the systems put in place. He added that when he observes the state of legendary musicians now, he even gets scared; often thinking that he will end up just like these legends who seem to be suffering now.
There have been concerns about how legendary entertainers are abandoned in their old age due to the failure of systems put in place to support them. This discussion was even more heated after the demise of legendary musician, Nana Ampadu. Nana Ampadu.
On Tuesday, September 28, 2021, Nana Ampadu, the Ghanaian highlife legend, died at age 76 and this marks a major loss to the Ghanaian music industry.
The family of the late Nana Ampadu revealed that he died on admission at the Intensive Care Unit of Legon Hospital.
Days after his death, veteran musician Akosua Agyepong pinned his death on the carelessness of a doctor at the hospital but this has been contested.
