A local rap artist in the Upper West Region, Samuel Dibie known in the entertainment industry as Typanza has outdoored his first album titled New Dawn at Wa .

The album which was set to be released last year but could not see the light of day as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) infection contained 12 tracks delivered in the Waali and English languages.

Speaking at the launch, the musician, Typanza said he believed that the album would become a yardstick by which other albums by colleague musicians would be measured in the region.

He said it was an artistic representation of some peculiar as well as regular aspects of everyday life experiences and represented a new turn in his career where he had decided to ascribe all the diligence and commitment needed to pursue his musical career.

“I see myself playing my part to grow the music industry in the region in future as people are beginning to appreciate their own artists and the local music industry, hence, we need to as musicians meet their expectations by giving them quality songs”, he stated.

He called on residents to patrionise local music and  encouraged local disc jockeys as well as radio presenters to also give local songs the needed playtime on air to ensure that the songs competed favourably with tracks from outside the region.

On his part,  Principal State Attorney, Mr Saeed Abdul Shakur, who was the chairman of the programme described the album as a professional piece with well-arranged beats and sound that could be marketed anywhere in the world and called on young artists to emulate same.

Typanza has over 20 tracks to his credit and has collaborated with artists such as Wiyaala and other Upper East-based musicians in his songs.

The rapper has so far received three local awards at the Progress Music Award Scheme; Peace Building Song of The Year 2016, Best collaboration in 2017 and Afro Pop Song of The Year also in 2017.

Copies of his tracks were copied on pen drives and sold out to the participants at the launch. The event saw the likes of other artists like Gally, Wiyaala, Kawutey, Mix Stone B and Ferdy Skills as well as Hanny Berry and Gally.

From Lydia Darlington Forjdour