Hiplife musician, Barima Sydney has disclosed that supporting the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 2016 with his remix of the ‘Mahama Onaapo’ campaign song did not earn him a dime.
The singer openly confessed to host, Dr. Cann during a phone interview on Happy98.9FM’s Showbiz Xtra that campaigning for the NPP is one move that he took without giving prior thought to and he now regrets it.
“In 2016, I openly declared my support for the then candidate Nana Akufo-Addo. I endorsed that if he’s bringing us free SHS and other things then I support him so I openly endorsed which I regret today”, he said.
Barima narrated that on that day, he was already on his way to Dr. Ray Beatz’ studio to work on a song while everyone was waiting for the Electoral Commission to declare the election results. Upon reaching the studio, Dr. Ray suggested that they put together something since it seemed to them that Nana Addo has won the election and that was how come he recorded the ‘Mahama Onaapo’ remix for the NPP.
He admitted his mistake of not consulting the composer of the original song to ask for his permission to copy and remake his song. He justified this however, saying that at the time, he did not know who the original composers of the song were, nor did he know how to reach them, hence his reason for not seeking their permission.
The singer again noted that he later found out who composed the original song and reached out to him to apologize and make things right.
According to Barima Sydney, although he did not make any money, he does not blame anyone but himself because no one tasked him to record that song for the political party in the first place.
By: Maureen Dedei Quaye
