Why Hamilton's music festivals need to move beyond grit and guitars

Kojo "Easy" Damptey is a songwriter/music producer living in Hamilton who is interested in using art platforms to tell stories of marginalized peoples and communities.

Music is an art form created in one's own image from a place of experience and passion. 

Today every city, town, municipality and country enjoys music like never before. As the summer approaches, we have numerous music awards, festivals and shows that celebrate the hard work of musicians across the country.

If our city continues to showcase just grit and guitars then we will continue to perpetuate the element of exclusion.- Kojo "Easy" Damptey

This is a great thing that must be cherished. But while this is great, there is still an element of exclusion.

Why do I say that? I have been involved in music for over a decade in Hamilton and have seen minimal changes to how our city celebrates and promotes music that is not historically "Canadian".

I believe that all music genres should be celebrated, however, in our city one genre dominates the music scene.

In a recent article written by music enthusiast James Tennant for Tourism Hamilton, he states, "For a long time, if you thought about Hamilton music, you thought about grit and guitars."

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He is right, while there are other genres of music sprouting in the city we tend to focus on the grit and guitars.

Waiting to be shared

This is due to the historical nature of grit and guitars in the city. But with that focus, we are forgetting that there are Music Production, Controllers (MPCs), djembes, timbales, congas, turntables, drums & bass etc. out there making music waiting to be shared with the masses. 

Every musician, regardless of genre is always looking for an opportunity to showcase his or her talents to an audience. If our city continues to showcase just grit and guitars then we will continue to perpetuate the element of exclusion.

The genres of Soul, Rhythm and Blues, Hip-hop, Reggae, Afrobeat, Jazz, Latino Soul and others need to be showcased in our city especially by local talents.

Why is black music important, Kojo 'Easy' Damptey?

10 years ago

Duration 1:39

As part of black history month, we asked up and coming Hamilton musician Kojo "Easy" Damptey a simple question - why is black music important? It's because its a vehicle to tell stories, he says - of struggle, and of history.

It's exciting to see that the arts community has become vibrant in the last 5 years.

But on the flipped side of things we hardly see local musicians who make music outside of the grit and guitars participating in major and minor music events in the city. Maybe it's about access, maybe it's about numbers, maybe it's about the lack of getting the word out, regardless of the reason, we have to include all genres of music in major and minor music events in the city.

In the past our city has more often than not brought in the mainstream musicians from the genres mentioned above to appease the appetite of citizens looking for more than grit and guitars.

Making a new space

This can no longer happen, as it shows a lack of believe and trust in our local talent.

Professor George Dei, an educator on the issue of Inclusion says: "Inclusion is not bringing people into what already exists; it is making a new space, a better space for everyone." 

Based on this quote, I believe that our music scene needs to start having a discussion about inclusion, especially when it has to do with all the major music and arts events in the city. 

If we continue to exclude other genres... then we are missing out on other stories and other viewpoints...- Kojo 'Easy' Damptey

I began this piece with a definition of music that I believe most people will agree with.

I did this because musicians use their music as a mouthpiece to tell stories that are important to them.

If we continue to exclude other genres from the music scene then we are missing out on other stories and other viewpoints from other musicians. This is a critical piece in building a community through the arts.

Strong communities share stories from diverse perspectives. As such our music scene needs a facelift to employ the mantra of shared stories from all genres of music.