Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, a veteran Ghanaian musician, has raised fresh concerns about the direction of modern music, warning that the industry’s growing dependence on technology is stripping songs of depth and durability.
Speaking on Joy Prime’s Prime Time show, Ambolley argued that young artists are chasing speed and convenience at the expense of creativity. According to him, the quick-fix approach made possible by digital tools undermines both artistry and lyrical substance. “Shortcuts in music are not good,” he cautioned. “It makes your music ‘sharp sharp’; it doesn’t last.” He explained that “sharp sharp” refers to the fast-food style of music production that lacks soul, substance, and staying power.
With a career spanning decades, including his pioneering fusion of rap and highlife in the 1970s, Ambolley lamented that many up-and-coming talents now bypass the discipline of learning instruments, mastering theory, or building stagecraft. In earlier years, he said, such training instilled patience and originality. Today, however, a beat can be downloaded, lyrics patched together, and a track uploaded in hours, often without real collaboration.
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He also highlighted how technology has weakened the human side of music-making. Many young collaborators, he explained, simply send him files to record a feature but rarely follow up before rushing the final product to the airwaves. “When they send the music, I do my part, but after that, they don’t come back for me to listen to the entire song. Before I know it, it’s on air,” he revealed, describing the process as impersonal and fragmented.
Despite his criticisms, Ambolley noted that not all artists have abandoned the essentials. He praised figures like Kofi Kinaata for holding on to songwriting discipline and storytelling traditions rather than bending entirely to trends and algorithms.
“If you don’t have good people around you, there’s no one to advise you when the path you’re taking is not the right one,” he remarked.
